Chekemma J. Fulmore-Townsend, President and CEO of the Philadelphia Youth Network, joins us for this episode to discuss the evolution of youth justice work in Philadelphia, and her own personal journey from working directly with youth and families, to running Philadelphia’s major youth-serving nonprofit.
Chekemma J. Fulmore-Townsend, President and CEO of the Philadelphia Youth Network, joins us to discuss the evolution of youth justice work in Philadelphia, and her own personal journey from working directly with youth and families, to running Philadelphia’s major youth-serving nonprofit.
Weaving together progress in the community, creating effective programs for youth, and the City of Philadelphia’s youth justice reforms, this episode focuses on the many different sectors and partners (including the community itself) that must work together – through good times and bad times – to create progress. While there’s a lot still to be done to create justice in the city that gave birth to America, Fulmore-Townsend finds hope in new innovations and approaches being tried out.
Guest Bio
Chekemma J. Fulmore-Townsend is President and CEO of the Philadelphia Youth Network. Prior to her appointment, Fulmore-Townsend served as PYN’s VP of Program Services, where she led a team accountable for program design, implementation, evaluation, compliance, and continuous improvement.
Prior to her work at PYN, Fulmore-Townsend served at the Philadelphia Workforce Development Corporation as the Senior Director of the Emerging Workforce, fusing data-driven decision-making with project management to implement and improve adult and youth workforce programs. In 2019, she was named as a Promise of America Awardee by America’s Promise Alliance. In 2017, she was featured in The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s special report titled: “The Influencers: People Quietly Changing the Nonprofit World.” In 2016, the Obama Administration honored her as a White House Champion of Change.
As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, The Aspen Institute is nonpartisan and does not endorse, support, or oppose political candidates or parties. Further, the views and opinions of our guests and speakers do not necessarily reflect those of The Aspen Institute.
Visit us online at The Aspen Institute Criminal Justice Reform Initiative and follow us on Twitter @AspenCJRI.
May 4, 2021
Copyright 2021 Aspen Institute Criminal Justice Reform Initiative
Announcer (00:00):
Welcome to Shades of Freedom from the Aspen Institute's Criminal Justice Reform Initiative. This week's guest is Chekemma Fulmore-Townsend of the Philadelphia Youth Network.
Chekemma J. Fulmore-Townsend (00:12):
Young people always have a great opportunity to see how it could be different. And if we listen more as adults, we would figure out how to make their vision a reality in the confines that we are working in.
Dr. Douglas E. Wood (00:27):
I'm Douglas Wood, Director of the Aspen Institute's Criminal Justice Reform Initiative. Welcome to Shades of Freedom. Today's guest on Shades of Freedom is Chekemma J. Fulmore-Townsend, president and CEO of the Philadelphia Youth Network, otherwise known as PYN. Prior to her appointment, Chekemma served in various capacities throughout the organization. Most recently, as PYN's Vice President of Program Services, she led a team accountable for program design, implementation, evaluation, compliance, and continuous improvement. Prior to her work at PYN, Chekemma served at the Philadelphia Workforce Development Corporation as a Senior Director. In 2016, the Obama administration honored her as a White House Champion of Change. As a leader, Chekemma seeks to inspire passion, commitment, and collaboration. Chekemma, welcome to Shades of Freedom. We are so pleased you could join us.
Chekemma J. Fulmore-Townsend (01:32):
I am equally pleased to be joining you and excited about the conversation we're going to have together.
Dr. Douglas E. Wood (01:40):
Chekemma, as we are recording this episode of our podcast the day after the George Floyd verdict. Before we begin, I just wanted to give you an opportunity to reflect on what that verdict means to you, to our country, your beloved city of Philadelphia, and to African Americans in particular.
Chekemma J. Fulmore-Townsend (01:59):
Wow. I'm just going to take a breath for a minute before I answer that. I spent yesterday holding my breath all day long. And so I think what it really means for me was the ability to truly exhale, but to also be seen in this country, to finally have a moment that acknowledges the reality in such a clear way. The moment that they poled the jury was, I can say, life changing. I watched it with my 11-year-old daughter who asked me so many questions about the process. But one of the things I was able to share with her is that accountability and justice had finally been served. And I think, I'm hopeful that there will be more moments like we had yesterday in terms of taking responsibility for the choices and the actions and responsibility for reform.
Chekemma J. Fulmore-Townsend (03:02):
It means a lot in the birthplace of our nation here in Philadelphia to see that justice in a place where black and brown people are continuing to struggle beyond the pandemic, same place where Dr. Ala Stanford really made our community health needs vocal. So I think for many of us, it is a collective sigh of relief, but also the beginning of hope, the birth of hope that this criminal justice system will not only be reformed, but will finally deliver justice for all, not just for some.
Dr. Douglas E. Wood (03:39):
Mm-hmm (affirmative). Mm-hmm (affirmative). Historically, young people have led the fight for civil and human rights worldwide. Tell us about yourself. How did you become a nationally recognized advocate for young people?
Chekemma J. Fulmore-Townsend (03:52):
I'm not sure I know exactly how it became nationally recognized. What I like to tell people, "Till where you're planted," or "Make excellence your signature." And so, for me, it was always in the little things. My first work with the community was in a health space where I got to meet young people who were looking for their health center to perform in a certain way. And then I moved on to work with young people who were connected to the juvenile justice system. And every time I had an opportunity to work with young people, I always just sort of tried to make excellence my signature, tried to hear them very clearly, tried to think through the challenges they were bringing before me, and try to use my space as an adult, or as an actor, or the person in charge from their perspective to make the change happen that they were seeking to accomplish.
Chekemma J. Fulmore-Townsend (04:49):
And so in some cases it was small things. We would like these snacks and I would take that on like it was going to change the world, just like the big things that I now. And so I think it's keeping their voice focal and important, keeping their solutions also focal and important, and being able to utilize your power, whatever power that is. In some cases, I was just like the assistant to somebody else. So you would say, "Oh, maybe she doesn't have that much power." But the time I had, taking their concerns, pushing forward solutions, making suggestions, and really trying to convince others to at least try something different. I think young people always have a great opportunity to see how it could be different. And if we listen more as adults, we would figure out how to make their vision a reality in the confines that we are working in. Mm-hmm
Dr. Douglas E. Wood (05:45):
Mm-hmm. Well, tell us specifically about the Philadelphia Youth Network. Let's talk about PYN more generally, but I'd like to hear about PYN's prevention, alternatives to incarceration, and reintegration efforts.
Chekemma J. Fulmore-Townsend (06:01):
Sure. So the Philadelphia Youth Network is a little over 20 years old, 22 years old to be exact. And for 22 years, we have been working with different systems, the school system, policymakers, the foster care system, and the juvenile justice system to answer the common question of how can we work together more seamlessly to create opportunity for young people. And particularly, opportunities for them to excel in their educational pursuits and to prepare them for future careers.
Chekemma J. Fulmore-Townsend (06:33):
For a very long time, over 16 years, the Philadelphia Youth Network has been an ardent partner to the juvenile justice system, working to connect young people who are either returning from placement or being, or have been adjudicated to placement, helping them to reconnect to their community, helping them to stay on their academic path, and helping them to connect to jobs. And particularly, summer jobs. And the way that we really try to foster collaboration within the system is to look at equity, look at gaps in educational performance. We look at gaps in access to the services, and also to generate solutions together on how we could be different to so the population.
Chekemma J. Fulmore-Townsend (07:19):
And so we wanted to make sure that when young people were returning from incarceration or placement, we call it juvenile placement, that they had a sure path back into the community for productive activities.
Dr. Douglas E. Wood (07:32):
Mm-hmm (affirmative). Well, as you know, since death of George Floyd and even before, there's been a clarion call for communities to have the opportunity to define what safety and justice means to them. Can you talk about your work in communities in Philadelphia? And in the words of my grandmother, "I'm going to boil it down to the low gravy." So in other words, to get very specific. I'm talking about communities such as North Philly, Charleswood, Strawberry Mansion, East Side Abroad, Mantua and West Philadelphia. Remember, I'm a Teddy P. Fan. So I'm familiar with some of those areas. So tell us about some of the work in those communities specifically.
Chekemma J. Fulmore-Townsend (08:10):
So the one thing that I love about working at the Philadelphia Youth Network is that we don't do any of our work alone And we partner with over 86 nonprofit organizations, all who have homes in the communities that you're talking about, because we truly believe that community has the closest answer and that we need to be able to empower those service providers to connect with young people and deliver the services. So our job is to aggregate the impact, to make the process easy, to navigate all the regulations that come with the different funding. Also that the community based agency can do their part the way that they know how, which is to identify kids who are in need, to support them through the application process, to make sure they're connected to the productive activities. And so we do sort of divide and conquer in that way.
Chekemma J. Fulmore-Townsend (08:59):
I would say, in the past couple of years, of course, this past year has been challenging to bring community together as much as we would've liked to. But some of our strategies included having community meetings, especially around alternative education and the data that we were seeing with our Project U-Turn work. And the same is true for making WorkReady more prominent in working with our city council and our local nonprofit organizations to ensure that the job opportunities are available to young people. And then the other place that we work really closely with community is trying to attract new resources. And so I could think about our work with the Promise Neighborhood, which is in the Mantua section of West Philadelphia. I could think about the new work that we're working with, two nonprofit organizations, JEVS and 1199C, to bring in new training programs so that young people have better access to middle-skilled jobs.
Chekemma J. Fulmore-Townsend (09:56):
So not just looking at entry level career options, but also looking at the full career spectrum and making sure that we have an ecosystem of options. There's no one size fits all. And I think that's the piece about partnership that we respect the most. And so we do have to understand the demographics of community. We have to understand the proximity to resources. And we make sure that we serve the whole of Philadelphia. So our program is not concentrated in one neighborhood. We try to make sure that we have nonprofit providers who are serving all of the neighborhoods. And then we do monitor the data. We monitor the data to make sure that young people from communities that are disproportionately impacted by violent crimes, young people who live in communities where their school high school graduation rate is less than the average for the state of Pennsylvania. We do want to concentrate our efforts with the young people that have the most need. And we are intentional about that.
Dr. Douglas E. Wood (10:56):
I want to pick up on that phrase, "ecosystem of options." What do you mean by that?
Chekemma J. Fulmore-Townsend (11:01):
It really does require you to work in a way that is both partnership-driven and collaborative, but also less territorial, I guess, is the best way I would say it. I'm not only invested in what I would say my programs, right. Or the ones that we directly fund I'm much more invested in, do we have diversity in our programs? Are we in the right neighborhoods? Do we have clear pathways for all types of young people to get to the services that they need?
Dr. Douglas E. Wood (11:30):
I mentioned this idea of communities defining what safety and justice means to them. When you hear that, what does that mean to you? And what does that look like?
Chekemma J. Fulmore-Townsend (11:40):
For far too long, especially with nonprofit services and the ways in which sometimes policy is developed, it is from a theoretical academic lens and this should work. And I think people in community understand exactly why certain things don't work the way that we thought it should or why the theory doesn't always meet the practice. And so when I hear that community gets to decide, it is voice for me. It's voice and access to power and decision making. It's opening the door for conversation and dialogue. It's considering different points of data and valuing lived experiences. And also, I think it is finally putting community in the driver's seat where they should always be.
Dr. Douglas E. Wood (12:31):
Tell us about your work with this city of Philadelphia's Department of Human Services, specifically improving outcomes for children.
Chekemma J. Fulmore-Townsend (12:39):
So we currently maintain a very close relationship with the Department of Human Services, and they have expanded the city's efforts to the Office of children and families. So we spend a lot of time with our Department of Human Services, but even more time with the Office of Children and Families, which is headed by Deputy Maya Cynthia Figueroa. That partnership is vitally important because it provides us with both so many different types of resources to holistically address family needs. And so I would say before the Philadelphia Youth Network, very, very clearly could work directly with young people and really focused our energy. With our partnership with the Office of Children and Family Services, we're now able to address whole family needs. And so I think some of the greatest things that have happened in that partnership is the sharing of resources, especially as families are challenged with their meeting their basic needs with food insecurity.
Chekemma J. Fulmore-Townsend (13:38):
So now, we're a part of a larger ecosystem to address community needs and WorkReady or PYN's employment programs become one of the offerings, but we also can connect our participants to a larger array of offerings as we focus on economic recovery, but also ensuring that basic needs are met. Many Philadelphians lost their jobs as a result of COVID. And so that means that some of the basic things like housing security become even more challenging, definitely a large focus on food, food security. And safety, safe alternative for young people for engagement. And we've been shoulder to shoulder with the Office of Children and Family Services during this time.
Dr. Douglas E. Wood (14:25):
You once told me that with cross agency collaboration, there are challenges, but you also said that you have to address the historically siloed culture embedded within these agencies. Can you say more about that?
Chekemma J. Fulmore-Townsend (14:41):
Sure. So I've been working with young people in the juvenile justice system since I started this work. And one of the things that always struck me as a professional was if I had a meeting at family court. Whenever I had a meeting at family court, it was always anxiety producing for me. I was always really curious because they would show up with their badges out, sometimes guns on their hips. And that always perplexed me as a civilian individual thinking I'm coming to a meeting to discuss how we're going to set up the next, let's say, welcome session for young people. And what I realize after several years, number one, what that must feel like for young people. So I'm an adult. I am not in trouble. I have not committed any crime. And yet I feel anxious, scared, confused as to why the climate is like it is.
Chekemma J. Fulmore-Townsend (15:42):
What I realized also in working in partnership when I talk about silos is that language matters. And so we would sometimes use the same language, but mean two different things. So I thought to myself how confusing this could be for young people, where you have two systems trying to work together. We're giving messages using the same words, but we actually mean different things. We all want safety for the community. We all want that, but we also want the ability for rehabilitation and restoration of community capital, and we want young people to find their passion. It was just the order in which we were putting those priorities that may be different. And so addressing silos really is about having courageous curiosity. I think you have to be courageous enough to acknowledge what you don't know or the thing that's creating fear in you. And curious enough to ask questions that may provoke change or at least promote greater understanding.
Dr. Douglas E. Wood (16:41):
Well, as you know, in February of 2019, Philadelphia district attorney, Larry Krasner announced several juvenile justice reforms. And we know that in Philly, the vast majority of children and in the juvenile justice system have not committed serious violent crimes. And prior to this announcement, 72% of children who were sent to juvenile placement were being sent there because they were not complying with their probation and not because they had committed another crime. So DA Krasner announced changes in seven areas, including pre-adjudicatory efforts, reporting consent degrees, detentions, dispositions, review hearings, use of solitary confinement and bench warrants. So, in your view, are these reforms working and also essentially what's not working in Philadelphia?
Chekemma J. Fulmore-Townsend (17:34):
So I was there for the announcement and a part of... I've worked very closely with the DA's office and several of his staff have been ardent partners with the Philadelphia Youth Network. And so I do think that what you just described is the basis for systemic change. It is really looking at policy and asking ourselves what's necessary, what makes sense and what promotes the goal. And when you look at young people, part of what was driving that change is there among them most redeemable. And so to your point, not only were the type of crimes, not violent crimes, if we truly believe in rehabilitation and growth, well, young people have the greatest capacity for that. And so why would we want to vilify a young person for a bad choice? And certainly, we want to address those behaviors. But to continue to sort of further punish them with so such challenging requirements, it doesn't make sense and it's costly.
Chekemma J. Fulmore-Townsend (18:38):
Those changes, while they were challenging to get up and running, it was a huge deal because it's the step to reform. It's creating what we don't see. And so I think that's something that is working. What's not working? I will say that like many cities across the country, we have seen an uptick in violence. And what's not working, we can't seem to get the right interventions up fast enough. And for me that feels very troubling, heartbreaking, because one child dying to serious gun violence is one too many. And Philadelphia has had several. I think the number is climbing up to... We're like number two in the country for the most violent crimes. And so something is not working. I don't think we quite know. What I will say is what encourages me.
Chekemma J. Fulmore-Townsend (19:41):
There's a Philadelphia Safer Community Plan that encourages me, that it's focal and the political dialogue and the resource distribution. What inspires me is the collaboration between schools, the workforce, juvenile justice. Everybody sees themselves as being a part of solution and therefore is at the table. So that excites me. And what excites me is the intentional efforts that the city is to hear more from community and also open the doors to smaller nonprofits who are doing the work day to day. That they're in the community every single day. They know those young people by name, and have history and trust with the young person in order to influence behavior. And I think putting the solution or the capability to help in the hands of those organizations is a smart move.
Dr. Douglas E. Wood (20:39):
Let's build upon what excites you. So my question is how can you strike that balance of activists and advocates working in partnership with government officials and government agencies to get something done in communities where there's overlapping inequities?
Chekemma J. Fulmore-Townsend (21:00):
It's a tight rope walk. It's a tight rope walk. And I think sometimes I feel like with any misstep, I'm going to fall off. And I think that one of the biggest challenges of being an advocate is managing your critical eye of the system. Because there'll be some folks who are ready for change and want to acknowledge gaps. And then there are others for whom the system is working and they do not want to change it. So acknowledging that you have all sides at the table, and then you're looking for the one way or the next step. So you may not fix the problem. And I think that sort of also makes it feel like a tight rope because you know you're going to make a change and it will move us forward, but it won't completely solve the challenge.
Chekemma J. Fulmore-Townsend (21:49):
And I look at youth employment and I think we have a skills gap. We have talent, employers are needing talent. But we also have many challenges on the demand side or building talent that really does impact the closing of that gap or the bridge building the bridge from talent to opportunity. And what do we do? You can admire the problem, or you can try something different, like bring in new skills programs or push yourself to develop different entry points for young people, or be critical of your own results as well. And so I think, and we, we are all of those things, like we are critical of our own results. We're always asking, who's in and who's left out? We're asking, what role do we play in keeping them out? We're asking, is it something that we can change? And if so, how?
Dr. Douglas E. Wood (22:41):
Mm-hmm (affirmative). We always ask our guests this question at the end of the podcast. And that is what does the phrase Shades of Freedom mean to you now and into the future?
Chekemma J. Fulmore-Townsend (22:55):
When I think about the term Shades of Freedom, and I think about the Derek Chauvin verdict, it really reminds me of visibility. It reminds me that my hue, my color, my blackness is a part of the shades. And it also reminds me of what it feels like to truly be free. Every time I am taking an exhale, I'm reminded of how much of my blackness is present, how much of my femaleness is present. And so Shades of Freedom for me is really hopeful. It's hopeful that every person can be authentically who they are. It's hopeful that every person will be accepted and not just accepted and tolerated, but celebrated for their uniqueness. It's hopeful to me that freedom is truly for all. And not just for those who can pay for it, not those whose whiteness has brought it for them. It really is a term that gives me joy, not just hope, but really joy. When I think about a world that my daughters can grow into where they can see different aspects of life, different cultures, but they all are free to be exactly who they are.
Dr. Douglas E. Wood (24:14):
Thanks so much, Chekemma. It's been such a pleasure to have you on Shade of Freedom, and all my best for all your work ahead.
Chekemma J. Fulmore-Townsend (24:23):
Thank you. This has been such a fun time, and I'm so glad that we could talk about important changes both on a systemic level, on a programmatic level, but also most importantly, that we are able to lift up young people's voices in community as we move towards a more just world.
Announcer (24:41):
Thanks for joining us for Shades of Freedom from the Aspen Institute's Criminal Justice Reform Initiative. We'll be back soon with more thought provoking guests. So please subscribe on your favorite podcast app. This podcast was produced by Erin Slomski-Pritz and Lynnea Domienik, with research assistance by Willem Patrick. It was edited by Ken Thompson. Special thanks to Christian Devers and Wanda Mann. CJRI's programs are made possible by support from Arnold Ventures, the Bank of America Charitable Foundation, the Arthur M. Blank Foundation, the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative, Maya and Mike Crothers, the Ford Foundation, and Google.