The REDF Community is a national network of 180+ leaders of employment social enterprises (ESEs). Representatives from ESEs across the country gathered in Los Angeles, California, for the 2024 REDF Community Retreat in June.
Hear from a few of these leaders about their experience partnering with REDF and being part of this vibrant, entrepreneurial community.
Transcript
Maria Kim (REDF): Not everyone of us started on the same starting block. And when we realize that, we realize, holy cow! We’re missing out on so much talent all around this country.
[music]
Michael Hollingsworth (Nu-Way Staffing): The REDF Community is an ecosystem of organizations that is doing what [we] previously thought was impossible, which was to take the most marginalized individuals and dignifying them through work.
David Sall (Conservation Corps of Long Beach): [I’m] repeatedly humbled by the people I’m surrounded by, and I think that that honestly is the value in terms of what REDF offers: that connection to community and other people who are trying to do this same work.
Robin Kumabe (Touch A Heart): Being with the other ESE members and having shared missions, shared beliefs, shared desires for the future, has been very exhilarating. It’s like I’m part of a movement that can move forward, and we can do it together.
Matthew Cuff (Just Q’in): [I’ve] been engaged with REDF throughout [my organization’s history] as an organization with a vast amount of resources and connections and knowledge. And I come back to my organization with my hair on fire, ready to work and make changes and grow and love on the people that we serve. We can see the horizon is approaching us fast. I’m excited about it; I really am.
Meg Erskine (The Refugee Collective): REDF is just a really special group. Part funder, part educator, and really, community builder.
Tracey Williams (Urban University): [Inaudible] came to me and was like, ‘Did you know REDF had an accelerator?’ And I said no. I went to the community, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, these people talk like I talk. These are my people, my tribe.
Father Greg Boyle (Homeboy Industries): I think once people inhabit the truth of who they are, that they’re exactly right, and then they start to heal, and then they let love live through them… well then, obviously this enhances their ability to recognize the talent that they have.
Maria Kim: What excites me most about REDF and the future of the ESE movement is this sense of possibility. What happens when moms and dads and doers and dreamers get onto their new beginning? What happens to them, the families around them, the communities around them? That sense of possibility, it fires me up. And I can’t wait for us to take this ecosystem to the next level.
