Scratchwerk ^EDU
"Scratchwerk ^Edu," hosted by Ronnie King, CEO of Scratchwerk Tech and founder of the MyVillage Project, is a dynamic podcast at the nexus of Black communities, technology, business, education, and current events. Each episode dives deep into the role of emerging technologies in promoting equity, enhancing workforce development, and reshaping education.
Join Ronnie as he explores how technology can be leveraged to uplift and empower marginalized communities through insightful discussions with experts, activists, and innovators. From the practicalities of tech entrepreneurship to the impact of community-led initiatives, "Scratchwerk Edu" is an essential resource for anyone interested in the intersection of technology and social change.
Learn about the success of tech incubators such as "Coding in Color", which has trained over 2,000 students in emerging skills and secured over $800k in funding to support young Black tech entrepreneurs, and discover how initiatives like the MyVillage Project Community Fund has united organizations and disbursed over $4M to support 220+ Black-led nonprofits across the country. Tune in to be informed, inspired, and involved in reshaping a more equitable tech future.
Scratchwerk ^EDU
Conversation with Charles Griggs - The OG's Playbook on Community Leadership
What does it take to create lasting community change? For Charles Griggs, Director of Community Initiatives in Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan's office, the answer lies at the intersection of experience, empathy, and strategic advocacy.
In this candid conversation, Griggs shares insights from his journey through media, marketing, public health, and public service. As the architect behind the relaunch of Jacksonville Journey Forward – a comprehensive initiative addressing crime prevention and community engagement – he brings a uniquely holistic perspective to some of today's most pressing challenges.
"If you don't understand how the machine works, you can't effectively change it," Griggs explains, cutting through the noise of well-intentioned but often ineffective advocacy efforts. With a refreshing blend of historical awareness and forward-thinking pragmatism, he challenges listeners to move beyond simply identifying problems toward developing data-driven, community-supported solutions.
The discussion takes a powerful turn when examining narratives around Black boys and men. Drawing from his role as a board member for National 100 Black Men of America, Griggs articulates how exposure and opportunity create pathways for better choices. "Young people don't know what they don't know," he observes, underscoring the importance of intergenerational mentorship during times of social change and uncertainty.
Whether you're engaged in community work, interested in effective advocacy, or simply trying to make sense of complex social challenges, Griggs offers a masterclass in how principled leadership can bridge divides and create meaningful impact. Listen in and discover why information isn't just power – it's the foundation for transformational change.
Did we get to see his fresh haircut?
Speaker 2:Oh, I don't know where Charles is. He grabbed his computer so clearly.
Speaker 1:Oh, this is you, the other square.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's my otter.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's, you. Oh, okay, okay.
Speaker 2:You know, otter's on a whole other thing. Now you know what I'm saying hey, otter, otter's on a whole nother thing. Now you know, say hey, otter. What is this meeting about?
Speaker 3:This meeting is about an interview with Charles Griggs, oh right Even welcome to the future.
Speaker 4:Right, what's happening? Hey y'all got say what you supposed to beall Y'all got me.
Speaker 2:Say what now You're supposed to be at the office, ain't you?
Speaker 4:I am at the office. I'm at my office. I was coming over there, but I figured I would save some time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's what you do when you're running late.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I was at the barbershop, man, and my barber was running a little behind oh okay, see, I got my fresh do.
Speaker 1:Uh-huh, it looks nice.
Speaker 4:Thank you.
Speaker 1:You heard how confident he was yesterday. Ronnie, I'm getting out the chair at 830.
Speaker 4:That's normally the case.
Speaker 1:You didn't say what time you get in the chair, but the time you get out, or you were confident.
Speaker 4:I got in the chair at 8.05 and he got me out the chair at 8.40. Okay, you got that much hair going on. Some things be happening. You know we have to talk about all the things that you talk about in the barber shop. Oh, I'm sorry, ron, you ain't been there in a while.
Speaker 2:I go to the barber every week. Okay, I get. Oh, I'm sorry, ron, you ain't been there in a while. I go to barber every week. Oh, yeah, I get my shaved head and beard did every week. You know what?
Speaker 4:I'm saying, oh yeah, I'm an every two week guy so I got to stay. I actually left my computer at the office yesterday because I had to go to a thing and I thought I was coming, coming back and I ended up not coming back. I ended up going straight to that little think bowl reception. I started out at cooper's hawk and um and ended up um over there at the at the event and then the bowl's dead.
Speaker 1:So yeah, so I let cooper's hawk top me into the wine club. Is that crazy?
Speaker 4:now I'm getting wine every month so you don't drink it well, you know what I do whenever I go there. I always call one of my friends who has you know part of their phone number, yeah and I get. I get me a bottle yeah, I do enjoy it.
Speaker 1:I found one that I really like, though, so I may actually start going to get that one, but at least I get to show it to people's house with a wine bottle, as if I just went and bought one.
Speaker 4:Let me guess it's sweet.
Speaker 1:It is sweet, even though my favorite wine is actually not sweet, but the one at Cooper's Hall, it's like a blood orange sangria. Scratch for EV listeners, if this stays on the podcast, check it out If you like sweet wine. It's actually really good.
Speaker 4:I hope this doesn't stay on the podcast.
Speaker 1:You don't want. Well, this part my wine.
Speaker 2:But you don't want to be on the podcast, Greer. You don't want people to know you drink wine.
Speaker 4:Oh, no, man, Listen, I drink whiskey. Okay, oh yes, whiskey and bourbon, so brown liquor. But yeah, and it's weird that I wasn't really a whiskey drinker until I started to try to get to know the story of the Uncle Nearest brand.
Speaker 1:Oh, Lord, not Uncle Nearest.
Speaker 2:I heard the founder. She's in town today.
Speaker 4:Yeah, she was part of the event last year, gotcha, and so this year, I think, there's a dinner or something that she's doing. Yeah, tonight, yeah.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, Charles, we know that we have children to get to today, which will be so exciting. I have looked your bio up on ChatGPT.
Speaker 4:You did.
Speaker 2:You might be the first person. I'm just. I already know you use ChatGPT, but you might be the first person we done had on here for a while when we've done this little exercise, that has actually used ChatGPT. Everybody else is like, nah, I don't really. My guess is Charles done created his own bio. That's how he creates his own bio on ChatGPT. I'm still curious.
Speaker 4:I have not taken the bio route, but I have. I got a couple of bots working for me right now.
Speaker 4:You know, I got a couple of separate bots working for me, embrace the bots, and so we've got to. My son and I have a couple of different resource chat GPT for a few different things and it's pretty deep and resourceful. I don't rely on everything I see, you know, I do, you know fact check and I'm usually looking for format right. That's what I'm normally looking for. How would I approach something without going out and hiring a consultant or hiring someone else? Usually that provides that's what the framework the chat GPT gives me. It gives me one step ahead of what I need to be.
Speaker 2:I love it. You got to embrace the bots. You know what I'm saying. Hey, otter, summarize this meeting that we've had so far.
Speaker 3:This meeting involves an interview with Charles Griggs. Discussions include for appointments, wine preferences and event experiences. Charles Griggs and Tia Leathers share their interests in whiskey and wine, while Ronnie King contributes to the conversation.
Speaker 2:At least I contributed.
Speaker 1:Hey, our Ronnie also likes whiskey and wine.
Speaker 2:She didn't hear that part. She didn't hear that Embrace the bot.
Speaker 1:So, charles, this time I ended up with two different bios. Usually chat gpt just spits out one, so this one is allowing me to choose my response. Um, and so I'll have to see which one. Uh, in a minute, my mo, I'm gonna go with the one on the left, because we read from left to right, you ready?
Speaker 4:I'm ready.
Speaker 1:All right Scratchberg EDU listeners. Today we have with us Mr Charles Griggs and his bio. Her chat GPT says Charles Griggs is a distinguished community leader, communication strategist and public servant based in Jacksonville, florida. He currently serves as the Director of Community Initiatives in the office of Mayor Donna Deacon, where he oversees programs focused on public safety, crime prevention and community engagement, including the relaunch of the Jacksonville Journey Forward initiative.
Speaker 1:Griggs brings over three decades of experience in media marketing and government relations. He is the founder and CEO of Aitham-Whitner Group LLC, a firm specializing in policy engagement and community-focused initiatives. Previously, he held leadership roles at the Florida Department of Health in Duval County, serving as Director of Communications and Community Engagement and later as Director of External Affairs, a longstanding advocate for mentorship and health engagement, and later as director of external affairs, a longstanding advocate for mentorship and health equity. Griggs is the president of the 100 Black Men of Jacksonville Inc and serves on the board of directors for the National 100 Black Men of America Inc. Under his leadership, the Jacksonville chapter launched the award-winning Men Tackling the Big C Initiative focused on cancer education and prevention among African-American men.
Speaker 1:Griggs has been recognized for his contributions with several honors, including the James T Black Health and Wellness Award from 100 Black Men of America, the Mayor's Lifetime Journey Award for his service on the Jacksonville Journey Oversight Committee and the US Small Business Administration's North Florida Minority Small Business Advocate of the Year Award. In addition to his public service, briggs has contributed to local media as a columnist for the Jacksonville Free Press and as a panelist on WJCT's First Coast Connect. He is also a graduate of Leadership Jacksonville and has served on various city commissions, including the Jacksonville Human Rights Commission and the Arts in Public Places Commission. Greedy's extensive experience and commitment to community development make him a valuable voice in discussions on public policy, health, equity and civic engagement. Now I feel bad for the president of the 100 Black Men of Jacksonville. That's why I started laughing.
Speaker 4:That's why I said framework.
Speaker 1:Pass off to Mr Chris Jett, who is the current president of the 100 Black Men of Jacksonville. With that exception, what do you think of your bio?
Speaker 4:It makes me sound like a decent dude. I got to get to know that guy right.
Speaker 1:Listeners, we call him OG. Three decades in. Y'all heard it. And he still uses bots and chat GPT. So if you come on now, you're listening, no excuses.
Speaker 4:Actually it's four decades. So you know, I started out Really as a professional in 1981. So the first, the very first time I produced a piece of work and got paid for it was in 1981. I love this. I started paid for it was in 1981.
Speaker 1:I love this. I started out as a human in 1981. Is that?
Speaker 2:something I knew she was going to do, that I knew at the moment you gave that year Greggs, I was like here it comes, here it comes.
Speaker 1:And why do you know my year? Because you were kind of somewhere around there somewhere.
Speaker 2:I don't know. I wasn't going to pick on the brother. You know what I?
Speaker 1:mean.
Speaker 2:Well, I was going to let him tell his story.
Speaker 1:We got our starts in 81. Greg and I share a lot of things. 81 is one of the things.
Speaker 4:Right, right. And I only graduated from high school two years before that, so hey, Right, there you go, there you go. That's still like a road traveled, you know, and, of course, with the technology, like we were discussing earlier, it feels like there's still more to do. So, yeah, not bad.
Speaker 1:There's definitely still more to do. And here you are for decades and working in the mayor's office right now, not retired, not with your feet up Working at the mayor's office. Usually we start from the beginning, but why don't you start here and tell us how everything that you've done kind of, is helping you in this place and space? Chatgpt knew what you were doing for the mayor's office, but what are you thinking about being called and asked to serve at this stage?
Speaker 4:being called and asked to serve at this stage. You know, when it happened I was really sort of I was shocked, really, to be honest, because you know I didn't really. You know I didn't work in anyone's campaign, didn't work in the mayor's campaign, you know, certainly was. I was an observer because of my role in the media at the time. I was then working primarily, you know, doing my consulting work as a policy guy. You know, helping organizations with, you know, have build relationships with elected officials and, and on the media side, I was, you know, hosting, hosting my podcast. I was hosting, you know, working with WJCT at First Coast Connect and you know so I was I, you know I was really kind of surprised, to be honest, but I knew that and I had, once the mayor, deegan had been elected, once the mayor had been elected, we did have a couple of you know Very brief, nothing too intimate, all in public settings conversations about the work ahead and I did let her know that. You know I had experience, you know, work. I served on the journey board previously and if there's anything I do to help you know I'd be happy to do so and you know that sort of kind of evolved into how we got here.
Speaker 4:I'm passionate about this work because I think that it gives me the opportunity to combine my experiences working in public health with my experience is working with the community. You apply to, to. You know the public health principles. You know start with prevention Right, and if we can go back up the river far enough, you know we can save a lot of lives before people, you know, end up drowning down the river, a lot of lives before people end up drowning down the river. So that is really sort of my concept is to stay as far ahead, or at least use this opportunity to stay as far ahead of people in the community and help provide opportunities so that we can prevent a lot of the folks from having negative impacts in their life. And I'm not talking about just crime, I'm talking about the need to have we're looking for healthier outcomes all around. You know folks having the ability to make better choices and those choices end up having better outcomes. Those better choices give them opportunities to have better outcomes.
Speaker 4:So that's you know. That's where I am here. That's why I'm here. We have a board. The journey forward is launched now. We have a board. 11th board member will be coming on here in, I guess, a few weeks and once the board is fully staffed up here with board members. We've had two meetings and they're off and running, and so we'll we'll work real hard. I'm trying to help steer it, but the board is going to be doing all of the work and representing the community.
Speaker 2:You know I'm familiar with the Jack's journey, you know, and Jack's forward type of initiatives, I guess you know for the listeners. Can you kind of, you know, break that down just a little bit? I know it's definitely a crime prevention type of type of deal. I have some some strong opinions about it. I kind of want to ask you about after the fact but, yeah, can you just break that down in terms of what we are even trying to do as part of that entire initiative? And also too, for for those that do not know, you know just Jacksonville's structure, government, wise, in terms of consolidation, and you know how the county and the city is the same. I think that also has some impact on that. I know you've done a lot of work related to consolidation, but, yeah, if you could just kind of break that down for us, break that down for us.
Speaker 4:Yeah, so Jacksonville Journey Forward originated about 16, 17 years ago with the original Jacksonville Journey, and that was brought on by the fact that our murder rate was so high. There was a young lady in 2006, an eight-year-old girl named Drushawna Davis. She was killed in a drive-by shooting while she was in her home playing with her little cousins. She saved their lives by laying on her little cousins and she was the one who took the bullets. It so enraged the community. The mayor at the time was John Payton. We had a group of pastors. The sheriff was John Rutherford. All of them came together and said this this has to stop. We as a community have to do something. The mayor's administration came up with this idea to collaborate throughout the community, called the Jacksonville Journey, and it's interesting because one of the brain thrusts of that, one of the originators of the idea, was Suze Wiles, who's now chief of staff for President Trump. So it was the old. The steering committee was chaired by the late Senator Betty Hosendorf and Paul and John Rood and John Rue. Those two opposite sides came together and ended up spawning this 144-person, seven subcommittee task force and over a period of time they came up with these recommendations. Those recommendations were then presented back to the mayor. The mayor then prioritized those recommendations. City Council passed a budget for those and then the Jacksonville journey was born with $30 million in the pot to go out and do prevention, intervention and to assist with some errors in enforcement. The first four years of that were was very successful. You were getting to the root causes of a lot of the activity that was going on On the enforcement side. They were adjudicating people who had been sitting out on bail or sitting in jails for a long time and we invested a lot in after-school programs and in-school programs through the collaboration with DCPS. After about four years we saw the numbers. You know numbers got better. You know murder rate went down. But after about four years the city started to divest in funding for the Jacksonville journey and so over time, you know we could see that that lack of investment ended up translating to our crime problem getting bad again. You go through three mayor cycles and you end up with no journey at all.
Speaker 4:Both candidates campaigned on bringing back the Jacksonville journey and when this was a priority of the mayor, when she came back. And so now we've relaunched Journey and it's as close to its original form as we could get this time. Two things that I'm hoping that we'll do differently. One, we'll have more private investment, because the first time we had a lot of money all of the money it was public dollars. It either was from Jacksonville or from the federal government.
Speaker 4:This time we're looking we need to see the private sector stand up you know corporations, and they may be able to fund a specific lane, but they should be taking ownership of some of the work that needs to be done resource wise. And the other thing is the transparency. Back then we just wasn't utilizing the technology to keep the citizens and those people who work doing the work as close to this process as possible. My goal is to make sure that people who are impacted most impacted by the work are very much involved in doing the work, and so I think that the more transparency we provide, some of that will be through data dashboards and things like that, but some of it also will be provided through getting out in the community, hosting events, meetings, using young people as resources, social media, the like you know. So the more we're engaged we are, the closer we bring the community to the work, the more everybody's involved and the more people take ownership of the work that needs to be done.
Speaker 2:You know I, I love the, the, the concept in general. You know, I think it's always good to see folks from both sides of the aisle come together. Try to work on some of these initiatives there. Try to work on some of these initiatives. As you know, I chaired the Safety and Crime Commission, which was a, you know, kind of a subversion of what you're talking about for the city and those were some quasi frustrating times, I guess, for me, mostly around the narrative of crime in Jacksonville.
Speaker 2:I too often it felt like when we were talking about crime it specifically pointed to black communities and it specifically pointed to, you know, young black males, right, and you know there was a sense and I ran the math myself, you know. You know there was a sense and I ran the math myself. You know I mean in Jacksonville. I mean ninety, nine point, you know nine, eight or whatever it was, percent of the white population in Jacksonville will not commit a crime, a violent crime, in the course of a year. And ninety, nine point nine, six percent of black folks in Jacksonville would not commit a crime. Folks in Jacksonville would not commit a crime.
Speaker 2:But somehow it's like when we do these crime initiatives we just kind of do a shotgun blast across the black community as if that's going to solve the crime. I don't see us doing the same thing with other crimes. I mean, if it was a I don't know if we busted a meth lab, I don't see us activating programs to go into, you know, the rural white communities to make sure that young white boys do not, you know, grow up and create meth labs. Right, it's just a different mentality. It seems like that horrible tragedy with that student, with that young girl, that resulted in almost all these black boys being quasi labeled as potential, you know, criminals, future criminals, I guess you know what. What is the balance between addressing the problem, which we all want to do Right, and pushing a narrative that I feel sometimes is damaging in the long term?
Speaker 4:Yeah, I see your point and I think we are guilty of sort of following the numbers, following the going where we think crime is being questioned by city council, was that this isn't an initiative to just work on the urban core or, you know, black parts of town. This is an initiative to examine how we provide better access to things and areas and tools and resources that young people in particular, but also people who've been touched by the criminal justice system, can can get their arms around and feel like they belong Right. The earliest we can provide that to anyone, the more we reduce the risk of them making poor choices down the road making poor choices down the road, and I think that's what we're after, and if we end up servicing more Black boys than anyone else, then so be it. I think that one of the challenges, like I always think about my experiences I think about my experiences when we were having this conversation while we were in. You don't know what you don't know, and a lot of young people have not been exposed to certain things. Right, they just haven't been.
Speaker 4:We're having conversations about young men going to college. You know, we all read the article. It was a big deal, you know. Maybe they don't want to go. Why they don't want to go? Because if they, if they knew the advantages that they could you know they could they could take advantage of while they are in college.
Speaker 4:Things are being put before them and the access that provides they may want to go to college, they may be motivated to try earlier. That's with anything. If people knew what it would be like to be to play tennis, well, they might want to play more tennis. And we just haven't exposed, we don't have enough avenues to expose people to everything and we just want to get as many people in the game as possible to circle the wagons and say young people matter on all levels. And there just happen to be people. Young people matter on all levels. And if it just happened to be people young people who are, who have fewer opportunities to you know, to go to a decent after school program or go on a field trip or go on a college tour? All of that is exposure and while that's not everything, it is a major component of how you grow and decide to make decisions and make choices down the road.
Speaker 1:So you have a media marketing kind of background as well. I'm curious what. What is happening, or is there a plan for shifting the narrative a little bit in terms of the image of even black boys? While we're on this topic, I think about I forget which movie they went to see with my daughter and her dad and there was a little white boy in the hallway, you know, when they came out and he said he's scary, you know, like it's just a black man standing there. But he literally was like there's a scary guy, like what's scary about him? He's standing there waiting. But he literally was like there's a scary guy, like what's scary about him? He's standing there waiting on his daughter coming out the bathroom.
Speaker 1:But I think over time, what we also get to see, be it through, you know, the violent crime or whatever is out there, I think it is, given our world and especially in the climate we're living in our nation, over time, some image that this black male is some scary being in general, and I do think that the media are in some way responsible a bit for the way that it's shared or maybe overshared, depending on what else could be shared that may not be shared. Anyway, I'm just curious about any efforts at all to approach the other side of how black males are being seen.
Speaker 4:You know I would say to that, being a black male, it took a while, maybe half my life. But you know, I just don't worry about what people think of me as a black man and I don't walk in that space anymore because I don't feel like that. That is relevant to what I'm doing, my being. I think it's better if we teach young black boys, black men in particular, to understand their value and what they bring to their own personal space, their families, their friends, their community. Understand your value and that other stuff. You know you don't want to be connected to that anyway, right, I don't want to be connected to that energy anyway. If it's someone who feels like that, I'm scared because I'm black, that's their problem. So, you know, just go somewhere and be afraid.
Speaker 4:Then I'm more interested in helping people to understand what they bring. You know what all they're capable of doing, everything they're capable of being, and you know to get in a space where they can bring themselves peace of mind and understand that. You can't take any of this with you, right? You know all you can take with you is that which you've given away, and so you should be trying to live a life of service. Just understand what value you bring to this world and this in your space and leave all other stuff. You know there's always going to be those people over there. You know they're always going to be there. Ron, it looks scary.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I like that, actually that's advantageous. Sometimes I mean speaking of speaking of, though. I like that, actually that's advantageous. Sometimes I mean speaking of speaking of though I you know being scary.
Speaker 2:I guess I've had the luxury of kind of serving with you for the hundred black men of Jacksonville, you know here locally and that's I think that's pretty much where we met too as well, you know, and doing good work here locally, but you served at the national level and it's funny, you know, even I.
Speaker 2:You know good work here locally but you served at the national level and it's funny, you know, even I never really heard of the 100 Black Men, but I know when I first joined it was like man, that's such a strong name. I mean, you know you can't even hide, especially in the time right now DEI, you know rollbacks and things like that. I mean it's the 100 Black Men of America, you know, wearing the polos and those types of things, right, but I guess you know on a national level, you know, can you, can you talk a little bit about? Obviously you know some of the work that we do as organizations across the country, but more importantly, you know what is the vibe now, what is the, the posture of the hundred black men of America.
Speaker 4:You know, in a time like now, where we are talking about black boys and mentoring and so on and so forth, yeah, I would say I just returned from a board meeting a couple of months ago and the vibe really is to move forward. You know, we had a. It was it's been a few years ago, but we had a conversation with a, with a national author who came in. He was doing one of our sessions I'm not going to say his name and he told us that we need to take the black Out of our name. You know, because that was that was, you know, probably scaring, and everybody was kind of like you know, like what is he talking about? What is he talking about? No, man, this is the brand. The brand and no matter where you go, if you're, if you're part of a chapter, a small chapter, that you are connected to an organization that is standing on who you are is, in fact, you know, the message we absolutely want to send Right. The organization on a national level is is really doubling down on where we need to be in this date and time. We need to be more of a resource to young people who we intend to serve, because they're going to be in a confused space because of all of the things that are going on right now.
Speaker 4:I remember when Obama was elected my kids were. Both of them were at Florida A&M and it was a huge celebration. You know it was like party of elites, right, everybody. They think it was a glorious time and they got to feel the real breath what that meant to be a young adult and to have a black print, you know, of the United States man. He just got elected Unheard of. You know, when I was born Jeff Kennedy was president, so you know he was.
Speaker 2:you know, there you go. Now you're bringing it up. Now we, that wasn't us.
Speaker 1:When you were born, you were getting paid contracts there you go.
Speaker 4:It was really a freelance job. But the thing the point I'm trying to make is that, you know, you move from a moment of pride to where we are. It's kind of a moment of confusion. Young people don't really embrace history. They haven't been able to embrace history like we have. Y'all old enough to know a lot of the history that's been going on. Y'all ain't that young, but being able to be touched still touched by the civil rights movement, you know, knowing the people who were active in those spaces and knowing what was important at the time in order to get you a place where people want to put enough energy into turning back the clock Right, this is another one of those times. Want to put enough energy into turning back the clock? This is another one of those times.
Speaker 4:The first time was, obviously, when we came here. The next time was when slavery ended. The next time was the end of construction. Just think what would have happened if Reconst had been able to run its course. Right, there would have been no Ku Klux Klan, there would have been no Jim Crow. We would be in a different age. Then the next time was the Civil Rights era, you know, with the Civil Rights Act. Right. These were three areas where the black folks were, three areas where black folks had to find, had to adjust their place in American society.
Speaker 4:Now we are trying to figure out where we belong, because people are telling us that through diversity, equity and inclusion, we did not earn our place. I don't know anyone who hasn't been prepared, who's working in a profession, who hasn't worked twice as good, twice as hard to get half as far. Everybody, all of us, we know what that means. We know, when we step in the room, we have to be, you know, doubly prepared for that space. You know doubly prepared for that space. And so it's insulting, you know to be, you know, sort of boxed into one of those things. So, from a national front, we're understanding those things, we're understanding how, you know we need to respond to not only young people but adults as well, who are finding themselves in these spaces where they don't know which way to turn. They don't know whether to protest or be or just let everything run its course. And you got to stay. You got to stay active and make sure that you, you don't shrink in this moment and continue to do the work.
Speaker 2:That's. You know that that's one of the things, and I know we have side conversations about this all the time, but I know I think about whether it's this moment or, like you said, reconstruction, civil rights movement. I feel that you know there's been no other community. I give, I give our community a lot of credit who's been able to navigate these troubled waters here and make the advancements that we have made. So we absolutely should be proud. I don't, I don't know of another community that can do what we've done here, especially here in America. But you know, in addition to that, though I often feel like, sometimes especially you know, as of late, maybe over the last 20 years or so, especially, you know, as of late, maybe over the last 20 years or so, it's almost as if like we are missing the mark a little bit on what we should be advocating for and and trying to change, and especially at a local level. You know, even I know, when I think of consolidation here in Jacksonville, one of the things that that kind of bothers me, for those who don't know, I mean it is the entire county in the city is is the same Right, and so you have folks from entirely different communities that have a lot of budget influence, policy influence on other areas of town, right, and so I think advocating for from a policy perspective, whether that's nationally or locally, is a little bit, you know, misaligned with our end goals.
Speaker 2:I mean, I'm with the marching, I'm all for that. Let's. Let's get Black Lives Matter written down on the on the concrete, but, as we can see, we can just take that back up, right. What are the? What are the things that we are fighting for? So, locally, I guess, what are some of the things that you feel like we should be pushing for, particularly now that we have, in my opinion, an administration that seems to be open to, to supporting marginalized communities? What's some of the things that we should be thinking about outside, just kind of the. You know the protesting and the other things. You know the protesting and the other things.
Speaker 4:Yeah, you know I would start before that. We need to have more people who understand how the machine works. You know I talk to so many people who say, can we just do this? And you know it's not a matter of just doing that. You know there are things that have to occur in order for that outcome to happen. Right, there's a process. It starts with understanding how government works. If you're looking for change in government, understand how government works.
Speaker 4:Most people who run for office. They don't have any idea how government works until after they get elected, right, and then you know they're behind the eight ball and by the time they get up to speed it's time to get reelected again. They got to think about what to do there. They can't focus on the real policy ideas. Second, you know most of the real good policy ideas come from people in the community, but they don't formulate them with their elected representatives. In other words, what I'm saying is that you have an idea, say you want to. You know you want to. You want to put more traffic lights in your neighborhood. Right, you got five blocks that you feel like they need to have traffic lights. If you just say tell your councilman that I need to have these traffic lights there. You know that's not going to move them, these traffic lights there. You know that's not going to move them. You know what's going to move them is is that you come in and say, hey, here's why we need fire traffic lights. You know this is how much money is going to save, this is how many lives are going to save over this period of time. And we've done the homework. We've done all this and all you have to do is turn it into policy. And not only that, but I got 150 people behind me that are going to come when people start asking you questions about it. We're going to be standing behind you to advocate for those fire traffic lights. We lose it when we say we want fire traffic lights. You better give us fire traffic lights or else. And then nobody's standing there with any data, no reasons, no plan and then, lastly, not a voice to help move that along.
Speaker 4:You've seen how a lot of these movements have been working on. I would say they've been negative to the black community. You saw how. What was the? What was the first one before the? It was critical race theory. Right Damn, they turn it into a thing. Then it ended up being policy People had. Then it turned. Now we've DEI being a bad term right.
Speaker 4:So if you watch these movements, you will see how these policies end up coming to fruition, and one of the things that hasn't occurred in our community is we haven't taken, you know, a careful look at what it is we think would be most impactful and then outlining that in a way that can be received or turned into policy, and then making sure that we have the right advocacy for that. You know there are. There are a number of things that we could advocate for. You can start with education. Right, we got people telling us what books can't, can and cannot be in schools.
Speaker 4:Well, what if? What if it was reversed? What if you want more books and you want more content and you want to open that up, because you know that those are the kind of things that drive curiosity and help kids stay immersed in reading and comprehension, and so if you, instead of just sit back and go and look what they're doing to those books, you need to have your own advocacy plan going on, and we haven't done that. We haven't looked at any of these policies that are having a negative impact, nor have we come up with anything that is unique to our own needs to our own needs.
Speaker 4:The last time there was a federal policy passed in this country solely for the benefit of black people was the Civil Rights Act. That's the last time, and you know. So, if you can point to one piece of and now you know some of that, the Voting Rights Act is being dismantled in some, in some places, and so is some areas of the Civil Rights Act. So you know there's a lot of work to be done, and I think that we have a lot of smart people who want to see their communities get better, but don't have the knowledge to formulate these ideas into ways that they can get turned into policy.
Speaker 1:I think sometimes not just the knowledge is the challenge. I think the route is also the challenge. We don't all agree that we should advocate for the current system to be different and include the books, for instance. I think sometimes we have a group of us that say, why did we leave it to them to teach our kids and decide which books in the first place? We should be doing something altogether different. So I think with that, whatever we're going for, it just seems that the alternative ideas they tend to seem to just agree with whatever that route is and fight hard together for whatever that is or just roll with it, because it's some variation of what is okay for them as opposed to, I guess, the way that we get a little bit split up in what we're deciding and sometimes to the point of just not doing anything.
Speaker 1:I don't know what that looks like on this side. I can't help but go back. So my undergrad was public relations and I had a class where you had to make, I think, a B or better or something. Anyway, if you got one error, you made a zero on the assignment. That's how much they like forced us to try to be as accurate as possible. So basically I'm sharing this, so you know that it's PTSD in me regarding some of this communication strategy and things like that.
Speaker 1:But when you talk about civil rights and you talk about the current generation owning you know the history or knowing the history and being able to speak it, the first thing I think about is that we do think about exposing them to certain opportunities and you know things that they haven't seen and this is going to change their mindset about a lot of things past and present. But also, are we exposing them and the good work that they're doing in terms of, like, shifting the narrative for real? Are we actually doing our part to show that maybe there is a civil rights movement happening right now, but Martin Luther King was all over the TV, and who was over the TV now? Not not the good, not the stuff that's fighting for right, you know, like not not in some large way, Not in some large way.
Speaker 1:So I'm still kind of back on the responsibility, if any, for the efforts that we have to be intentional about exposing the great stuff, the things that we should see. Are we asking our media outlets for anything intentional? Are we saying that we expect a certain percentage of something to be good news. I know that they want clickbait, they want people to see whatever they have there, but is there a plan really to be intentional about the narrative we are putting out there? So that you know, I think sometimes we do laud and magnify the historical perspective and that's great. I mean, I'm not the one to talk about that. You know, Shirley Chisholm is my heart. You know, like she's a Nazi for me. I love the history, I'm not talking against it. But what are we sharing about what's great now that wants them to be so proud of past and present? I just feel like everything that's out there is not as positive about us and I want to see us be more intentional about that.
Speaker 4:I think, again, I think we lead with that. I mean, we're the ones who have to be the you know, we have to be the ones who put that information out there. You know, the kids are the young people are, you know they're. The social media is king, you know, and they're talking to each other about all of their problems and issues through social media. They're, you know, criticizing each other, they're lifting each other up through social media and you know they're showing off everything about their lives. They're living their lives in public on social media. And so we have to, we have to lead with that. We have to understand like, hey, teach them that, hey, whatever you put out, that's OK for you to. You know to brag about or show that you're good at something, but remember that you know this is your life. You know this is your book that you're putting together, that you know this is your life. You know this is your book that you're putting together and people have access to that, right, and then other folks, when they look at that information, they will see the same thing that we see. Oh, that looks good. I can appreciate how Tia is. You know she's showing me that she likes, she loves reading, or she loves going to the park, or you know she loves taking trips. You know that positive information needs to come from us and I think that we're the ones to hold that up. We, you know I don't like, depending on, you know, the traditional media to, you know, to provide me everything, the things I need to be provided. I think those people who already got it in their head that we're bad people are going to there's nothing to say or do to change their mind.
Speaker 4:When I, 30 years ago, I used to wonder how come people who were older than me wasn't really trying to help me with my career, you know they. Just then I had to realize I wasn't. I was like one of the really the only people with my career. You know they. Just then I had to realize I wasn't. I was like one of the really the only people in the career. He's like there weren't people in advertising, black people in advertising and PR back in the 90s, not locally here.
Speaker 4:And then secondly was that they were having their own issues and problems, right, so all of that taught me that you know I would be, I would have to be my own PR manager, my own chief of staff, my own marketing person and be and be attentive to my. You know what my my forwardfacing look was. We call it our public relationship. Face right and make sure I manage my own brand, and we see young people doing that. Now they have to manage their own brand. We have to teach them how to do that. The news is going to say what the news is going to say. Broadcast television is going to say what they're going to say. It's enough tools and resources out here for us to control our own content and control our own messages.
Speaker 1:So, charles, I have to make sure that our Scratchwork EDU listeners see, if they don't get to see you, they don't necessarily know you, and I want them to know who they're listening to. So y'all have heard the four decades, right, but this is the OG. This is who we call OG. Let me start with that. This guy that you're listening to is do you have any enemies? I don't know if he's ever met an enemy. If so, don't kill this. For me, ron, it looked like well.
Speaker 1:I'm just kidding, however, y'all, he plays basketball with the young folks. Okay, he can talk to somebody that's 105.
Speaker 2:Well, can I jump in there, though? I don't want Greg to gloss over that.
Speaker 1:As far as I'm concerned, he's dunking. He's dunking on y'all every week. You know what I'm saying In my head? Because this is OG.
Speaker 4:Okay, he won't leave me open, that's for sure. Nah.
Speaker 1:He's out there moving. He talks to people, young and old. He is just a very, very genuine, kind, laid back guy. That guy and I am curious just from an intergenerational approach, especially as we talk about uniting and all that we can do together and how we need to support one another's. You know things that are in and out of these podcasts. How do you manage to do that, or why is that important to you, as this, four decades in professional, personally and professionally, you are committed to connecting with everyone, and I don't know any age that doesn't actually connect. That feels like it was the old guy talking to me. How do you do that? Share your tips here.
Speaker 4:Well, it's personal, because when I graduated from high school I felt very ill-prepared for the world. I had a 3.7 GPA and I was the last person to walk into the then Jacksonville Coliseum to receive my diploma because I felt disconnected from everything. You know, no one had given me any advice on college. No one had given, other than my uncle had recently retired from the Air Force and he told me you should join the Air Force and because and you know, ronnie knows this back in the day, if you were an athlete and you wanted to be, you wanted to play for a certain school, you had to. Your coach was the one who received the letters. And then, you know, they were coming through their coaches and he would look at the letters and he would give them to you. Hey, you heard from school XYZ. Well, our coach kept all our letters and it would remember.
Speaker 4:Now, this was five years after desegregation. So five to six years after desegregation, so there was still a lot of that, you know, five to six years after desegregation. So there was still a lot of that, you know, embedded Racism kind of thing going on in our desegregated schools here, and so because of that I really didn't get the opportunity to get a real good look at playing college basketball and I thought that that was it. If you didn't play ball in college, you just didn't go to college, right? That's all I knew, because that's what we saw on television. We thought we talked about access before. I just didn't want that to happen to anyone else, right? I think that we're, as young men, we're all knuckleheads and we become knuckleheads throughout a certain period of our life. And then, you know, for whatever reason the light bulb comes on. Sometimes that light bulb comes on when you're 19. Sometimes it comes on when you're 29, you know, but eventually the light bulb comes on.
Speaker 1:Sometimes when you're 72. Go ahead.
Speaker 4:But the next part I was going to say but when the light bulb comes on, you're turning around, you're looking at what do I have to work with here? Now I'm ready to go forward, I'm ready to be serious, I'm ready to do what I got to do in order to be a real man. I'm getting ready to stand up, but what do I have around me to work with now and now you don't have. If you're 29, you probably have fewer tools to work with. If you're 29, you probably have fewer tools to work with. You know you missed your opportunity to go to school. You missed your opportunity to get trained or whatever. You know upward mobility in your job. You know you're working with fewer tools At the age of 18, 19,.
Speaker 4:If the light bulb goes off then, or even if it doesn't, if you've gone through certain things, if you're college ready and maybe you did go to college, maybe you decided to join the military, maybe you.
Speaker 4:But you've got more things in your toolbox right, and so when the light bulb goes off, maybe you're 23 when it happens, you can now create whatever path and just go ahead and do what you got to do right.
Speaker 4:And so I try to stay connected because you know, information is power, Right? If you can say something to someone, in particular these knuckleheads, if you can say something to someone and it makes them sit up, you know, just for a moment to think about what are their possibilities in their life will be, then I've done my job for the day, you know, and that's because I just don't want anybody to go through what I went through, you know. You know, standing in the middle of the room, I had no idea that my grade point, my GPA and my SAT score mattered. No one talked to me about this stuff, Right, and I just don't want young people to go through that, no matter what stage they're in. They're 17, they're 27, they're 37, 47. You know, there are ways that you can advance yourself by understanding your value and what it is you actually want to do with your time.
Speaker 1:Well, charles, I just want to say thank you publicly for doing that, especially as a mother. Every child, young adult, whatever that you touch, we all know it takes a village, and you for sure are part of that, no matter who you meet. And I also want to reiterate something I heard you say you didn't say it directly, but I think you were letting Ronnie know that had you not gone to high school five years after desegregation and your basketball coach kept your letters, had you played college ball, you would be whooping them up right now.
Speaker 1:Is that what I heard?
Speaker 2:Listen that's basically what he said and we liked it. When we have our guests on, this is your thing. You know what I mean. We want to make sure that you feel good on these shows and we want to give you the credit. You know I'm going to give you credit as well for the Scratch for EDU listeners. Charles Griggs can shoot. He is a shooter. I will give him credit. He got a baseline three. You know what I'm saying. He's a good, he's a good shot at that angle. Now I will not give him credit for doing anything other than shooting that baseline three. I'm not going to do that. Um, you know I was tempted to let it ride, but he want to go into deep detail on the stories on it, so we're not, we're not, we're not doing that you know, every now and then I might play a little bit of defense, but I would say, ronnie, that's a pretty good, that's an accurate description.
Speaker 4:You know, at 63, you know, headed for 64, I'm oh you're playing good though. Yeah, I'm. You know, I'm more concerned about injury than points right now.
Speaker 2:Griggs out there playing, I will give credit and you know to tag along to that. You know, yeah, you know Griggs, obviously you know we've been friends and it's odd because you know you asked them that kind of intergenerational question and so when I do think about you know somebody's like, well, who do you hang out with in Jacksonville? You know I'm like, yeah, I guess I do hang out with Griggs. I mean that's yeah, I hang out with Grease, because you know Grease, you got a lot of energy, man, so I might need to switch to that vegan diet.
Speaker 4:Yes, sir, come on in, baby.
Speaker 2:He's doing vegan and Uncle Nearest and somehow that's helping them still navigate on the basketball court.
Speaker 4:Got to start out with that beet juice, though.
Speaker 1:That's the entree Into it, yeah, yeah yeah, Well we're happy that you joined us today. For sure, I hang out with Greaves too. We all hang out with Greaves. Greaves, thank you for being a community jewel. We're happy that you joined us on the Scratch Work EDU podcast today. We didn't even scratch the surface, but we can't do that with somebody with four decades of good good stuff Coming up on five.
Speaker 1:Coming up on five decades. Y'all we'll let you know when we host the celebration. Come out and let's toast to Greaves and his five decades of service in a year or two, Year or two.
Speaker 4:No, lord have mercy.
Speaker 1:All right, well, thank you for coming. We have some students to see Y'all. We're off to see great things, absolutely.
Speaker 4:Until next time. I appreciate the opportunity and thanks for having me.
Speaker 2:Sounds great, hustle up, griggs, you got to play the.
Speaker 1:September song Ronnie, when you edit.
Speaker 4:That's right.
Speaker 1:I mean, but Griggs' birthday is come on. Do you remember the what night of September? Griggs, the?
Speaker 4:21st night of September, the 21st night of September, greed.
Speaker 1:The 21st night of September. The 21st night of September, ronnie, do you remember?
Speaker 4:It's the second most famous day in the year, according to the research.
Speaker 2:There you go, so weave that in somewhere for Greed we're going to try to we're going to try to make it special for you, greed. You know what I'm saying, especially now. You know what. I've been holding back a lot, you know me and Grizz be jabbing at each other why you held back? No, no, no this is. Grizz episode. You know what I'm saying? It was going to have something to do with the haircut you just got. I'm not going to.
Speaker 1:It looks nice for the listeners. Very dapper, very dapper.
Speaker 4:I'll have to come back and we'll do just a A dozen show. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:The remake. Take two.
Speaker 2:Alright y'all. Bye.
Speaker 5:I like to be educated, but I'm so frustrated. Hello to my loneliness. I guess that endurance is bliss. Take me back to before the noon. No, I ain't take it out of cue. Innocence can be a human's game Signed up for the hall of shame. I wish I knew how much I missed that moment. Now we're all screwed when we play our roles and ignore the problems. I like to be away and more patient. Stay up. I feel so outdated. How can we look the other way? Sun is out, but the sky is gray. What would happen if I took a chance? It's always hard at first glance. I don't wanna, but I know I gotta do it. The truth is hard to swallow. I think I'll chew it. I wish I knew. I wish I knew how much I missed not knowing that we're all screwed when we play our roles and ignore the problems. I wish I knew how much I miss not knowing that we're all screwed when we play our roles and ignore the problems. I wish I knew.