A Transformative New Chapter for the Community Justice Action Fund

by Amber Goodwin, Founder and Executive Director of the Community Justice Action Fund

I started working on gun violence prevention almost six years ago. At that time a majority of the conversations on gun violence focused on assault weapons bans, mass shootings, and the grief of white suburban families. In 2015, there was almost no legislation providing local funding for Black frontline organizers. There was minimal national, regional and local policy infrastructure to prevent the harms done by the criminalization of our communities in the name of “gun safety”.

As a Black person, and as a woman, I knew that another world was possible.

When we started the Community Justice Action Fund(and our sister organization the Community Justice Reform Coalition) in 2016, I was fearful and hopeful at the same time. The national gun violence “movement” that I knew had the money, power, and influence to enact change. But because these groups were predominantly led by and/or made up of white men, the underlying issues forcing gun violence upon the Black community were not given the attention they deserved. Together with our partners, our voice within the “movement” grew and resonated. Despite little to no recognition from many national gun violence organizations, funders, and policymakers, we at CJAF were able to help shift the national conversation from the effects of gun violence to gun violence prevention.

We could not have done any of this without the voices, presence, knowledge, and grace of the Black and Brown leaders who have done the frontline grassroots work for decades. By bringing together local, state and national stakeholders of color (and of all identities) we have worked as a powerful collective to establish policy campaigns that are led by, and support those working on the frontlines.

With over 19 years of experience in progressive politics, I know firsthand the importance of creating space to recognize, support and train emerging and un-recognized leaders: the survivors and victims of gun violence. CJAF’s organizational model focuses on amplifying the leadership of frontline gun violence prevention leaders who are the closest to the issues. Our approach is to lift up their leadership instead of exploiting their stories. My personal philosophy also warrants that I examine my own unearned privilege of leading a gun violence organization when I am not a survivor or impacted by gun violence on a daily basis.

All that said, and with a heart full of joy and gratitude, today I announce my transition from the position as the Executive Director of the Community Justice Action Fund in the spring of 2021.

All of our work as a national organization started by seeking changes at the local level, and learning from our ancestors. Our work is the result of generations of struggle towards liberation. Each generation has helped build the infrastructure our movement needs to change politics, culture, and save lives, and I know it is time to make space for new leadership.

Serving CJAF for the past five years has been the honor of my life. I will never “leave” the gun violence prevention movement. The people on the frontlines are my family. The partners I have worked with are my friends. The team we have built is my blood.

The words I have are inadequate to express how fortunate I feel to have worked with our incredible team, especially with the Black and Brown folks on the movement’s front lines to end gun violence. If any of you take the time to read this: thank you. Thank you for saving my life, and all of our lives everyday.

I am not leaving this position thinking we’ve done everything or enough, but I leave knowing that we have made tremendous progress and built a solid foundation for the work to continue. We took the challenges of being a Black woman- run organization in a white-led movement and pushed against those barriers to create a force that drove us to do more and dream bigger together.

I could not have led the organization without the support of our incredible team, funders, partners, and Board. I feel confident that I will be leaving the organization in capable and compassionate hands. Since 2016, we have grown from one staffer to nine full-time employees. In addition to our legislative investment work, we have added programs to help support local and state policymakers through Policy Makers for Peace. From the ground up, we built a plan to support and invest in the storytelling of Black and Brown organizers through our Speakers Bureau. Through our Elect Justice campaign, we will contact over 500,000 voters who are directly impacted by gun violence in this year’s election cycle alone. We helped get over 20 million dollars in direct funding to frontline activists through direct lobbying and legislative fights. We fought to get the first ever Office of Violence Prevention in the state of Texas earlier this year, and are working on supporting half a dozen other cities implementation. We testified and pushed policies in front of ten state and local legislatures in the last year, and spoke in front of the House Judiciary in a historic hearing on violence in our cities.

Despite our success (and many failures along the way), at every turn we refused to profit off our collective Black pain.

This year alone, we raised almost a million dollars more than our projected budget. We did this proudly and precisely without taking money that should have gone to local organizations. We didn’t profit or run to the quickest news story so we could raise money if it meant that we would exploit our people. I will leave CJAF in excellent financial health, and the organization will continue to have incredible leadership after I am gone.

I know there might be some questions right now about what’s next for me or the organization’s leadership. We are currently forming a transition committee, and I look forward to telling you more about the rest of our exciting plans by the end of the year. But today is about celebrating how far this organization and our national movement has come, while acknowledging the work left ahead of all of us.

One of my favorite poems is by a Sufi poet who said, “A long time ago, God drew a circle in the sand, and you were always supposed to be here.” At this inflection point, I am excited to stand in the circle to celebrate everything we have been through together on this incredible journey.

I will always support CJAF’s mission and work. I will always support my comrades on the frontlines: the interrupters, the interventionists, and the freedom fighters. With a grateful heart, with gratitude, and with justice always at the front of my mind, I will always believe that another world is possible. I look forward to offering my experience and commitment in a new way that will allow me to model the changes I hope to see in the world.