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<<First Name>>,

Whew! It's been a little while since you have heard from me in some official capacity, but I'm back and more refreshed than ever! So without any further ado, let's dive in….

November 2021 marked the first time I've EVER taken a break from this movement work. Rest, let alone a whole sabbatical, was a foreign concept to me. Then, in 2021 my Deputy Director Rockie Gonzalez joined the AJC family. She has taught me that far too often, many of us that do this type of work - whether it’s direct service, community advocacy and organizing, dismantling systems, etc. - find it incomprehensible to ACTUALLY rest because there's always urgency, something we think most certainly, unequivocally NEEDS to be done. And while it's true there's always a fire to extinguish, getting the rest you need to be able to show up as your best, most energized and authentic self WHILE DOING THE WORK is equally - if not more - important. Capitalism has us believing that we are not inherently entitled to rest, that we must sacrifice our wellbeing until we feel we’ve “earned” it. For Black, Indigenous and People of Color in movement work that means coping with the impacts of racism within the systems we are transforming, the expectations of our leadership and the general stress of day to day life and work - all now within the context of a global pandemic.

This time of rest showed me just that. It allowed me to become brutally honest with myself by discovering a very simple truth: I WAS BURNT (yes, not burned: BURNT!) OUT! I realized that after 7 years of non-stop marches, rallies, speaking engagements, meetings, community events, more meetings, interviews, planning events, grant writing, more meetings, and even a couple of death threats that I was completely D R A I N E D! In retrospect - because of the freetime I had to unpack all of this over the break - I realized that this fatigue from "the Work" rolled over into my personal life.

Being BURNT OUT essentially resulted in me being a lousy friend, a terrible partner, and just overall, a generally grumpy person. For seven years I have put my all into building the AJC that many of you have grown to respect and support today. Now that I feel rested, the question at the center of my mind and many of yours is, "What's next for AJC? What's next for me?”

My Deputy Director Rockie Gonzalez continues to amaze as she builds our capacity, supports all staff work and designs and implements the structure that is allowing AJC to scale equitably, radically and sustainably! We're continuing to staff up to make sure we are providing for our beloved community in as many ways as sustainably possible. With the addition of Policy Director Chris Harris and Policy Manager Amber Watts to our team, we are ready to lead the way with new, radical approaches! We’re getting clearer and taking a more strategic approach with our housing justice work under the leadership of our Organizing Director, Joao Paulo Connolly who, in addition, is continuing to build a new grassroots power in Austin through our district organizing project, DOPE. Our staff Organizer D. Dallas has been laying the groundwork with youth groups that serve Black and Brown communities on the east side, bringing resources and developing partnerships for new and exciting programming from AJC. Our Communications team, led by Comms Director Ishia Lynette and Digital Comms Manager Alleyha Dannett has scaled up our presence and communications across our work and are eagerly preparing to launch AJC’s new Media Center housed at our new offices! We will be producing and bringing you much more custom made AJC content so stay tuned! Our Sr. Policy Director Sukyi McMahon is leading the charge with the police contract negotiations and my Executive Assistant Soyla Luna continues to be a crucial part of my growth and ability to show up.

Some of the amazing AJC staff co working in our new space!

We're also going to be making a pivot from focusing solely on Criminal Justice policy and entering into a new but very necessary arena - Economic Justice. As Austin continues to grow and become the tech hub of the south, the cost of living is going up - not to mention rent - and we're going to focus on making sure the economic inequities that prevent Black people and other people of color from FULLY enjoying the growth that the city is currently experiencing are fully eradicated! We'll be rolling out our Ju$tice Now campaign later this year which calls on these billion dollar corporations to do their due diligence and become human-centered, responsible corporate neighbors. We want to make sure that the Black, Brown, PoC, and indigenous communities we strive to serve can ACTUALLY afford to reside in Austin.

Internally, we’re striving to be leaders in how a workplace with Labor Justice values should operate. AJC has implemented policies that make sure our people are rested and excited to do this hard but necessary work. It's in that spirit that we have shifted to a 4-day work week! Working Mon-Thurs ensures that our staff is well rested and fully equipped to show up as their best selves for the community we aim to serve WITHOUT a reduction in pay AND lots of effort toward planning to ensure that we don't fall into the trap of squeezing 40 hours of work into a 32 hour work week. AJC staff is laser focused on strategy and planning to make this transition smooth. In addition to unlimited PTO, paid holidays, and equitable pay, we believe modeling a 4-day work week can become a blueprint for how other nonprofits and for profit entities in the city can operate to maximize their staff's potential and show up even better for the Austin community at large.

In 2022, we plan on slowly rolling back into in-person meetings and events in as safe of a way as soon as possible. While the pandemic continues to loom over everyone's lives, we KNOW how imperative it is to be in physical community with one another in order to build the future we all so desperately want and deserve. Some of our staple events such as Black Art Matters and State of Black Austin are scheduled to happen with Covid testing protocols and mandatory masking to ensure the community can enjoy these events as safely as possible. We can't wait to see you all this year in a safe capacity.

As for working with other entities, AJC will consider partnerships with ALL organizations, no matter who is in charge, with a more ideological lens. We learned over the last few years living through this pandemic, Winter Storm Uri, and the Summer of Racial Awakening/ Reckoning of 2020, that some people and organizations have uniquely different approaches in doing "the work". That is totally and completely OK. However, here at AJC, we're in the business of truly dismantling ALL SYSTEMS of white supremacy and oppression. White supremacy is a disease that is so systemic and institutionalized, that its philosophies, ideologies, and practices are not unique to only racist white people. In order to protect the integrity, values, and principles of our staff, brand, community and supporters we will take into consideration much more closely who we partner with moving forward. We aren't asking individuals/organizations to be perfect, but we do believe, firmly, in alignment. Some people's definition of healing, justice, liberation, freedom, transparency, partnership, empowerment, etc. are just different from ours. And again, totally ok. We believe it's better for us as an organization to move forward more intentionally with groups that are aligned with our values to better serve the community. We want to invest in our relationships with our values and intentions forward.

I've also learned over my brief sabbatical that I literally have the best staff this side of the Mississippi. While AJC continues to grow and internal structures come to be, our staff has stood tall to changes and have become a VERY well-oiled machine. I am beyond excited for you all and the community to experience this new and improved version of AJC! 2022 is going to be a year of quality and abundance because of the magic this team is cooking up! You won't want to miss this!

In addition to being back at the helm, I intend to focus more on things that bring me happiness and joy. I've recently launched my Twitch career! Random fact about me: I love video games! And I've been lucky enough to reach affiliate - a program that allows content creators to get paid to stream - on Twitch so I plan on doing that in my spare time. So with that said, if anyone wants to support my dream of becoming a mega-star content creator, a follow and/or subscription to my Twitch channel would be greatly appreciated. I promise I won't forget about any of you when I become famous, pinky promise! I'm also interested in addressing the inequities in the gaming industry when it comes to Black Gamers/ content creators- everywhere I look there is good work to do! More on this later…

Finally, going forward I will be dropping quarterly updates. You will get a message regarding the state of AJC and local politics as a whole. I think I owe it to the community to share my thoughts and insights regarding where we are as a city to make sure we, collectively, stay the course.

The break I experienced was very necessary. I'm refreshed. I'm rejuvenated. I'm fired up, and I’m ready to GO! I'm in a good space mentally, emotionally, even physically… and my vision for AJC and this city is clearer than ever since I've been doing this work. I look forward to continuing to do the work with EACH and EVERY one of you to make Austin a TRULY equitable, affordable, and just city rooted in anti-racist, human-centered values to ensure we all enjoy this city that we call home.

So as I've said time and time again: let’s just do the work!

With love and solidarity,

Chas Moore (he/him)
Founder, Executive Director
Austin Justice Coalition