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Speaker 1: What's it's Way Up with Angela Yee. And I'm excited

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Speaker 1: to have these two guests joining us today. So we

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Speaker 1: have Jocelyn Rainey here, the CEO of Brooklyn Org, Angelini England,

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Speaker 1: who is also the CEO and co founder of Good Call.

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Speaker 1: So welcome to both of you. Thank you, thank you

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Speaker 1: to be here to Way Up with Angela ye And

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Speaker 1: we're going to get into all of the details of

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Speaker 1: this important work that you both are doing. So first, Jocelyn,

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Speaker 1: tell us about Brooklyn Org and what you guys do.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, So, Brooklyn Org is a foundation. We are focused

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Speaker 2: on the best borough in the city. Brand I know

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Speaker 2: you're a Brooklyn girl as you know, and you know

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Speaker 2: we are. We're a foundation, we're a philanthropy, but we're

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Speaker 2: really thinking about how we could do philanthropy different. We're

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Speaker 2: trying to bring everyone to the table, making sure that

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Speaker 2: everyone feels like they can do something to help their neighbors.

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Speaker 2: We're trying to do it in a way that it

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Speaker 2: is from the bottom up instead of from the top down,

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Speaker 2: and making sure that we're getting funding to those nonprofits

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Speaker 2: like Good Call that are doing the work on the

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Speaker 2: ground that really changes lives. And I just want to

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Speaker 2: share that all of our making is participatory, which means

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Speaker 2: that our Brooklyn community makes the decisions on where the

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Speaker 2: money goes because we believe that the people who are

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Speaker 2: on the ground, they know what's needed more than we do.

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Speaker 1: Now, You're absolutely right, and I want to say that

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Speaker 1: right now. In particular, it's so important for us to

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Speaker 1: make sure that we take care of each other. And

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Speaker 1: I know people can be very discouraged by what's going

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Speaker 1: on in politics by you know, waiting for governing officials

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Speaker 1: to do things, but sometimes we have to be the

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Speaker 1: ones that really make it happen. Yep, I agree, and

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Speaker 1: Jelani good Call, all right, let's discuss this because I

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Speaker 1: know you founded this company in twenty sixteen.

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Speaker 3: Yes, yes, so.

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Speaker 4: Good Call is a tech hybrid, a black lead, community

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Speaker 4: centered tech hybrid working to dismantle the system of mass

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Speaker 4: incarceration by creating better access to legal support. You can

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Speaker 4: call our hotline and be connect to an attorney. That

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Speaker 4: attorney will invoke your rights to the police not to

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Speaker 4: question you and then help you with making sure that

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Speaker 4: you have the right information to deal with your case.

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Speaker 4: It's important that we get this information out to the

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Speaker 4: people because there's a huge gap that exists within our

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Speaker 4: legal system. People enter the system that's like a black hole.

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Speaker 4: They have no idea what to do when arrested, and

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Speaker 4: we're just trying to be there for folks.

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Speaker 1: I mean, we think about the exonerated five. We all

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Speaker 1: know this story and what happened. Imagine if they would

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Speaker 1: have been able to have a good call back then

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Speaker 1: and have representation so that when they were coerced into

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Speaker 1: making confessions not knowing what their rights were. That's a

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Speaker 1: difficult thing and a position to be in for. I

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Speaker 1: was looking at this eleven year old girl who the

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Speaker 1: police put handcuffs on because they said to massive description

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Speaker 1: of somebody who stole a car or something. And that's

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Speaker 1: a traumatizing situation, you know, to happen to a child.

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Speaker 1: And I know you when you were young, Jelani, had

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Speaker 1: an instance where you were unjustly arrested.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, you know growing up here in New York City.

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Speaker 4: I actually grew up in Queen's grew up of Farackway,

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Speaker 4: moved in my teen years, but I always was back

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Speaker 4: and forth to the boroughs. Got arrested for a minor infraction.

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Speaker 4: You don't when they started talking about not going through

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Speaker 4: the train cars. So like I was doing other stuff,

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Speaker 4: but I got arrested for going through the train cars.

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Speaker 1: That's crazy. I've never seen anybody get arrested for that.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, and I spent time in the precinct and then

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Speaker 4: they moved me to central book in whole process twelve hours.

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Speaker 3: I'm just like, what is this for.

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Speaker 4: When I was my first arrest, they questioned me about

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Speaker 4: things that were going on, but I always knew and

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Speaker 4: I learned from growing up not to say anything to

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Speaker 4: the police. So that was one of the instances where

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Speaker 4: I first saw, you know, the system can really take you,

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Speaker 4: and that's how you could become one of the three

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Speaker 4: when they talk about one out of three black males

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Speaker 4: could be arrested in their lifetime. You know, it's so

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Speaker 4: simple for that to happen to anybody.

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Speaker 1: Right, and now let me ask you. So let's just say,

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Speaker 1: what's the process for good call?

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Speaker 5: Right?

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Speaker 1: Somebody gets arrested and then what happens or detained?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, so if anyone is detained, they're brought to a

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Speaker 4: precinct of all their belongings. Right, You're given the option

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Speaker 4: to make a couple to give to make a call

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Speaker 4: on the diw pad phone. You can call the Good

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Speaker 4: Call hotline yourself, or you can have a loved one

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Speaker 4: call on your behalf. If you remember your loved one's

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Speaker 4: number first, they can call on your behalf. The first

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Speaker 4: thing that happens is that they'll be connected to an attorney.

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Speaker 4: That attorney will inquire where they are, they'll act to

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Speaker 4: speak to the arresting officer, they'll invoke the rights, and

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Speaker 4: then they'll give you information to make sure you know

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Speaker 4: what's happening in the process. It's important to know that

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Speaker 4: that time that you are into preacinc is crucial. That

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Speaker 4: twelve to twenty four hours before someone's brought to Central

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Speaker 4: Booking is where you can receive that limited scope representation

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Speaker 4: that we provide. We want to make sure that folks

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Speaker 4: aren't course in the signing statements. Police are allowed to

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Speaker 4: lie to you when you're in the precinct at least

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Speaker 4: are allowed to lie to you wild so you have

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Speaker 4: to be able to sign it. If they want you

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Speaker 4: to sign a statement, you have to be able to

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Speaker 4: know I'm not signing anything until I have legal representation.

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Speaker 4: I need to speak to somebody and consult because it

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Speaker 4: like just.

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Speaker 1: You can sign it to go home, right, and then

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Speaker 1: you sign it and don't go home. You don't know, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: you don't know what's going on. So does this cost money?

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Speaker 1: Because I know people are listening and they're probably like, Okay,

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Speaker 1: I want to call, but lawyers are expensive. I don't

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Speaker 1: want somebody to represent me, and then I get slap

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Speaker 1: with this huge bill.

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Speaker 4: No, our hotline is completely free. Thank you for folks

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Speaker 4: like Brooklyn, Oregon and doctor Rainy here that help us

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Speaker 4: our organization. We fundraise for this so that we can

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Speaker 4: make sure that we can provide this resource free of

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Speaker 4: charge to everybody.

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Speaker 1: Now, doctor Rainey, how did Good Call get on your radar?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? You know Good Call has been doing this work,

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Speaker 2: as Johnny says, since twenty sixteen. They've been on our radar.

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Speaker 2: They are one of our long term partners. When we

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Speaker 2: think about the work that we do in regards to

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Speaker 2: funding nonprofits that are in Brooklyn that are focused on

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Speaker 2: racial justice, there is nothing more important than the disparate

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Speaker 2: outcomes that happen in our in our criminal justice system,

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Speaker 2: especially to young people. And I want to say how

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Speaker 2: important Good Call is because even when you're not doing anything,

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Speaker 2: like you were going between trains, which is nothing, but

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Speaker 2: the truth is that our communities are five times more

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Speaker 2: policed than other communities. So not only would do you

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Speaker 2: have an opportunity to be to have an interaction with

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Speaker 2: the police officer, you also have it's going to be

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Speaker 2: more opportunity for you to be unjustly detained or arrested.

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Speaker 2: So organizations like Good Call, like the other organizations that

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Speaker 2: we're giving funding to for Spark, which we're really excited about,

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Speaker 2: are organizations that create a level playing field for black

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Speaker 2: and brown people in Brooklyn, in communities where they're the

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Speaker 2: most marginalized. And yeah, so brook Call has been Good

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Speaker 2: Call has been a friend of ours for a really

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Speaker 2: long time and an organization that we really strongly believe in.

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Speaker 1: Now, when you give the grant, because you mentioned Spark

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Speaker 1: and you guys did win the Spark grants, yes, right,

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Speaker 1: When you talk about the money that they are are awarded,

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Speaker 1: that is unrestricted and that's true, all right, So explain

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Speaker 1: what that means because people may not understand when you're

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Speaker 1: playing for grants. What I'm restricted versus restricted is thank you.

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Speaker 1: I think that you know.

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Speaker 2: One of the things that I believe in having run

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Speaker 2: a nonprofit is that nonprofit leaders need to be able

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Speaker 2: to meet the needs of what their participants need and

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Speaker 2: that moment, and so many times funding, whether it be

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Speaker 2: city funding, foundation funding is restricted, which means that you

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Speaker 2: can only use it for very specific items. And all

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Speaker 2: of our funding is unrestricted. So this is one hundred

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Speaker 2: thousand dollars that will allow Jilani and his eating him,

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Speaker 2: for them to dream, for them to dream and be

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Speaker 2: able to serve people in the moment for what they need.

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Speaker 2: So unrestricted means that we trust you, We've gotten to

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Speaker 2: know you, we know your work, and here here is

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Speaker 2: the funding for you to be able to do what

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Speaker 2: you know is best for your community instead of us

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Speaker 2: telling you what we think is best for your community.

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Speaker 1: Right, because raising capital is one of the most difficult things.

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Speaker 1: You can have the best product, but being able to

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Speaker 1: So that's why this is so important. Now, Jelani, can

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Speaker 1: you tell us from twenty six seene until now how

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Speaker 1: Good Call has grown into what it is today.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, So it's interesting.

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Speaker 4: When Good Call first started, it was myself and my

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Speaker 4: co founders at the time, and we were at a

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Speaker 4: co working space and it was four desk zero dollars.

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Speaker 4: I was eating a lot of Romen for real, and

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Speaker 4: we were trying to find out how we can, you know,

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Speaker 4: make this way. And after we had conversations with public defenders,

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Speaker 4: had conversations with individuals that had been arrested, we had

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Speaker 4: our Aha moment where it's like, if we can connect

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Speaker 4: them to each other sooner in the process, that could

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Speaker 4: caan somebody, that could change somebody's case trajectory overall immensely right.

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Speaker 4: But there's no resources. The city isn't doing this, the

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Speaker 4: city isn't paying for it. How are we going to

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Speaker 4: pay for it? So we literally got on the ground

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Speaker 4: to our started talking to people figuring out where we

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Speaker 4: can actually pitch this product and idea. And it was

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Speaker 4: an investor that a nonprofit investor that heard about us

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Speaker 4: through the grapevine and gave us our first check of

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Speaker 4: a hundred thousand dollars in twenty sixteen, and myself and

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Speaker 4: our team split that money to figure out how we

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Speaker 4: can continue to fundraise. But what really happened along the

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Speaker 4: way was us being able to prove it out. We

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Speaker 4: were able to really develop a model where our organization

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Speaker 4: not only provides this legal access, but we also transformed

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Speaker 4: into an organization that provides internship support, that provides policy support.

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Speaker 4: So now thinking about all of these things, we knew

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Speaker 4: that we had a three prong approach to really make change,

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Speaker 4: so we needed to find the funding for that. Our model,

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Speaker 4: we were able to fine tune it to say good

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Speaker 4: Call offers structural change, native change, and systemic change.

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Speaker 3: And we do this in three ways.

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Speaker 4: We have our technology, which is a structural change which

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Speaker 4: we implement into the system. We have our Native change,

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Speaker 4: which is our internship program where we work with youth

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Speaker 4: that are from alternative to incarceration programs, giving them civic

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Speaker 4: engagement skills and giving them some community organizing skills in

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Speaker 4: twelve weeks. And then we also have our policy work

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Speaker 4: where we're working to actually codify access to Council for

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Speaker 4: Youth in New York State. So we want to see

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Speaker 4: this lasting change. And we were able to bring that

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Speaker 4: model fine tune to folks and they were able to

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Speaker 4: digest that because it wasn't just you know, an organization

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Speaker 4: I was doing random things to support people. This was

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Speaker 4: a fine tune model that had a proven track record

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Speaker 4: of success.

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Speaker 1: I want to also point out that Jelani, at a

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Speaker 1: young age in high school, you started your own business.

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Speaker 1: Even back then, I have to ask about your background

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Speaker 1: and how you know so much and where you got

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Speaker 1: this entrepreneurial spirit from.

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Speaker 3: So it's funny you did your research. Yeah, yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 3: I know y'all do.

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Speaker 4: So I started an organization called nobones dot net. I was,

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Speaker 4: in my teen years an entrepreneur from early jump. I

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Speaker 4: think it's my Capricorn nature too.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 4: I feel like when I when I put my mind

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Speaker 4: to things, I really get into the weeds and try

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Speaker 4: to figure it out. And there were no summer jobs

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Speaker 4: out there, so that really sparked my entrepreneurial spirit of like,

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Speaker 4: all right, how can I make a path for myself?

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Speaker 4: So I taught myself dream weaver CS three and created

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Speaker 4: a website that can sell electronics refurbished to folks in

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Speaker 4: the community. And that's how I started getting I actually

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Speaker 4: got a scholarship for college for that.

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Speaker 1: Wow, that's amazing.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, but that was the same year that I actually

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Speaker 4: got arrested for a minor infraction. And imagine that you

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Speaker 4: can do all the good in the world, but you

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Speaker 4: still have the pitfalls that exist as a young black man.

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Speaker 4: You know, my entrepreneurial spirit led me in so many

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Speaker 4: different directions. I had to focus how to use that

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Speaker 4: for good and that's really what helped me, you know,

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Speaker 4: change that.

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Speaker 1: And you were only sixteen when you got arrested. How

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Speaker 1: did that even affect your mentality and how you even

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Speaker 1: looked at the police, Because sometimes those interactions can make

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Speaker 1: you be like, I don't even want to ever have

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Speaker 1: to deal with any police. I'm not calling you off

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Speaker 1: for anything after what you did to me.

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Speaker 4: So to be honest, growing up, I always we never

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Speaker 4: really Yeah, I grew up in far Rockaway in New York.

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Speaker 4: My family members has been arrested. Nobody's looking to call

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Speaker 4: the police first. But when it comes down to it,

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Speaker 4: we see how police act for other communities and how

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Speaker 4: they're there to support other communities.

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Speaker 3: It doesn't exist for us.

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Speaker 4: And I realized that when I got arrested, there was

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Speaker 4: no one for me to call. There was no form

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Speaker 4: of recourse. It was guilty until proven innocent. It wasn't

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Speaker 4: innocent until proven guilty. I felt like I had to

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Speaker 4: figure out how to you know, talk my way out

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Speaker 4: of it, or you know, how to call somebody that

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Speaker 4: can defend me. And I realized that there was nobody.

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Speaker 4: My mother's not a certified attorney.

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Speaker 3: Like, who am I gonna what to do?

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Speaker 4: We're all gonna call my mother's Guyanese. She's the first

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Speaker 4: that I don't want to call her let her know

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Speaker 4: that I got arrested, you know. But real talk, it

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Speaker 4: was a moment where I just had to honestly understand

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Speaker 4: that there was nobody there to save you in these instances,

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Speaker 4: and we have to educate ourselves about what to do

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Speaker 4: when these experiences happen.

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Speaker 1: Right now, what if somebody really did commit a crime,

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Speaker 1: right and they call a good call. Let's just say

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Speaker 1: they really did do something, but you still deserve representation

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Speaker 1: and to know your rights. So does that everything still apply?

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Speaker 4: Everybody is innocent until proven guilty, full stop.

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Speaker 1: Okay, period. Now, Doctor Rainey got to ask you this,

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Speaker 1: Brooklyn or I know people are listening and they're like,

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Speaker 1: I have this, or I do this, I do that.

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Speaker 1: Tell me how I know? You said you work from

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Speaker 1: the ground up, and the community really tells you what

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Speaker 1: they need as you're raising money and giving grants to

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Speaker 1: some of these organizations. So for people who are listening

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Speaker 1: and they're like, well, I have this organization. You know

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Speaker 1: that we've been working in the community for x amount

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Speaker 1: of time. How can they contact you?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so you can reach us at Brooklyn dot org.

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Speaker 2: You can also follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn and

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Speaker 2: all the social media platforms. Yeah, that's the best way

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Speaker 2: to reach us. So we can hear more about what

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Speaker 2: we're doing. And we'd love to hear from nonprofits know

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Speaker 2: the work that they're doing. And we also want to

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Speaker 2: hear from other community members that are interested in how

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Speaker 2: they can get involved and support organizations like Good Call

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Speaker 2: and the other organizations that we support in Brooklyn.

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Speaker 1: You know, people talk about criminal justice reform all the time,

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Speaker 1: but it's nice to see an organization that you started

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Speaker 1: that's really making a difference. Can you give us an

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Speaker 1: example of how Good Call was able to step in, say,

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Speaker 1: when somebody called you guys.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 4: A story that it sensed me for a while every

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Speaker 4: time I think about it is there was a woman

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Speaker 4: who gave birth and she was in need of postnatal

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Speaker 4: care and went to the hospital and the hospital ended

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Speaker 4: up calling the police because they suspected that she did

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Speaker 4: something to the baby. Oh wow, And this woman was

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Speaker 4: cuffed in the bed in the hospital bed and police

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Speaker 4: were interrogating her, asking her questions. Luckily a family member

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Speaker 4: was able to you have one of our cards call

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Speaker 4: and the lawyer was able to speak to the arresting officer,

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Speaker 4: get them to uncuff her and to leave the hotel

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Speaker 4: room and stop the interrogation.

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Speaker 1: That is wild. You are already concerned about your baby,

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Speaker 1: trying to figure out what happened, and then you have

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Speaker 1: the police cuffing you and interrogating you. That's wild.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, it's it's the police are relentless and there's no

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Speaker 4: form of recourse once you're suspected of a crime if

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Speaker 4: you don't know what to do, and that's why we

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Speaker 4: always push making sure that if you don't remember anything

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Speaker 4: else from this interview, don't say anything to the police

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Speaker 4: until you have legal representation. They are allowed to lie

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Speaker 4: to you. They can tell you that you will go

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Speaker 4: home and you won't go home again.

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Speaker 1: And eight three three three good call? Is that?

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Speaker 3: One?

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Speaker 5: Eight three three three four six three four six six

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Speaker 5: three two two?

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Speaker 1: Is that?

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Speaker 5: So we say eight triple three okay, four six six

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Speaker 5: three two two Okay. I want to make sure people

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Speaker 5: know the number. Okase, God forbid, you need it, but

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Speaker 5: at least you can have it.

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Speaker 4: So that's why we always say eight triple three good call,

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Speaker 4: And when you're looking at the phone, calling it from

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Speaker 4: a precinct, the two l's are silent.

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Speaker 3: You could just dial in good call, it call regardless.

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Speaker 4: Okay, but eight triple three good call one, eight three, three, three,

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Speaker 4: four six.

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Speaker 3: Sixty three two to two. Now gonna put that number

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Speaker 3: on the bottom.

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Speaker 1: Now. But that's important. And lastly, I want to say,

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Speaker 1: I see that they're also going to be adopting good

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Speaker 1: Call in other cities too, right, is.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, So we're working on that now. We're having conversations

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Speaker 4: with different municipalities because there's two ways that this can

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Speaker 4: really work. You know, they can utilize the good Call

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Speaker 4: technology to actually launch hotlines in their city, or they

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Speaker 4: can work with good Call tech span the good Call

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Speaker 4: hotline in their city. So we have two routes where

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Speaker 4: we're having conversations with cities to see which route works best.

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Speaker 4: But we know that there are legal deserts that exist.

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Speaker 4: There's some cities that you know, they don't have as

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Speaker 4: many lawyers as New York does, and there's people that

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Speaker 4: are sitting in jail.

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Speaker 3: There's backlogs that exist because people just have.

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Speaker 4: Not had their fair day in court and they haven't

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Speaker 4: had that access to representation. So we're able to actually say,

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Speaker 4: what does it look like for us to partner with

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Speaker 4: these different municipalities to actually launch hotlines to help take

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Speaker 4: care of some of the legal deserts that exist.

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Speaker 1: How does a police department fail about you?

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Speaker 3: Oh, we're friends. I'm joking. I am joking. I am joking.

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Speaker 4: You know, it's honestly interesting because there are some police

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Speaker 4: officers that the relationship could be seen as out ofversarial.

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Speaker 4: But there's some officers that grew up in our community

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Speaker 4: and they understand. They're like, you know, old buddy saying

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Speaker 4: too much. They go and hand them a good call card.

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Speaker 4: Like we've had people that have said that they've gotten

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Speaker 4: a good call card from an officer because they realized

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Speaker 4: that what was going on in the precinct shouldn't have

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Speaker 4: been going down.

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Speaker 3: You know.

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Speaker 4: But our relationship with the police is on a touch

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Speaker 4: and go basis. We believe that we are trying to

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Speaker 4: make the process of their us fair and provide transparency.

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Speaker 4: There's no reason why I should be a black hole

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Speaker 4: and people have no idea what's going on?

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Speaker 1: Okay, perfect well, doctor Ranny, any last words regarding Brooklyn Org.

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Speaker 2: No, I mean, I just want to say that we're

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Speaker 2: really excited. Our Spark Prize is February twenty fifth. It

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Speaker 2: is one of our most heartfelt moments. The best breakfast

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Speaker 2: in Brooklyn. You know, as a Brooklyn girl, you know

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Speaker 2: that Brooklyn is the most populated borough and all of

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Speaker 2: Brooklyn with almost three million people. We have thirty seven

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Speaker 2: percent of the nonprofits doing amazing work like Good Call,

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Speaker 2: and right now Brooklyn only gets about eight percent of

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Speaker 2: all funding. So one of our challenges and one of

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Speaker 2: the things that we work towards is how do we

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Speaker 2: bring more people into our family and making sure that

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Speaker 2: people have what they need and that organizations like Good

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Speaker 2: Call can expand and can do the good work that

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Speaker 2: they're doing.

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Speaker 1: All right, well, I love this. We got a Brooklyn girl,

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Speaker 1: We got a capricorn. There's mine, but again that's Brooklyn

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Speaker 1: or that's Good Call. Thank you doctor Rannie. Thank you

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Speaker 1: so much Johanni for joining us today. Got to make

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Speaker 1: sure this information goes out spread the word.

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Speaker 3: Thank you well