A Movement on the Block
On a warm spring afternoon in Birmingham, Alabama, a public housing complex turned into a hub of hope. Children giggled over face paint. A DJ played old-school tracks. Local nonprofits handed out resources, books, and hugs. But what looked like a block party was something far deeper.
It was Pull Up for Peace—a grassroots violence prevention initiative led by a man who knows both the streets and the solutions.
Jacobie’s Story: From Hustler to Practitioner
Jacobie Williams, the founder of One Hood W.E.N.S. (West, East, North, South), isn’t your typical community leader. He’s not backed by a big nonprofit or national campaign. He’s a native son of Birmingham, a voice people trust—not because of a degree, but because of his consistency. The neighborhoods know him. And now, thanks to a powerful new partnership, the rest of the country is getting to know him too.
Jacobie is a part of the Institute of Research for Social Justice in Action (IRSJA)—a national think tank and leadership engine co-founded by Dr. Jamila T. Davis, a formerly incarcerated author and educator, and Angelo Pinto, Esq., a renowned civil rights attorney and movement strategist.
Pinto, who has spent the last decade turning protest into policy, brought the systems framework that helped elevate IRSJA from a powerful idea to a national force. Before co-founding IRSJA, he was one of the architects of the Raise the Age campaign in New York, which led to major juvenile justice reform.
He also co-founded Until Freedom, a national movement organization known for its work on the Justice for Breonna Taylor campaign. And as an attorney and strategist, he’s advised everyone from elected officials to community organizers, bridging grassroots power with policy action.
“This is about infrastructure, not inspiration,” Pinto says. “We’re building the skeleton of what community leadership can look like—for cities, for schools, and for movements.”
IRSJA doesn’t just train activists. It certifies credible messengers, mentors community leaders, and gives system-impacted people the tools to scale their impact—and be seen as the professionals they already are.
For Jacobie, Pull Up for Peace wasn’t just an event. It was a lab. A practicum. A place where his lived experience met the framework of policy, healing, and long-term change.
“This is curriculum in real time,” Dr. Davis said. “We’re not just teaching people how to show up—we’re showing them how to build.”
Redemption in a Cap and Gown
On April 29th, Jacobie will walk across the stage at Kean University in New Jersey as a certified Community Practitioner, part of IRSJA’s second graduating cohort. The program, developed in partnership with university faculty and public health experts, teaches trauma-informed care, community engagement, and systems leadership.
Many of the graduates are credible messengers, formerly incarcerated leaders, and survivors of violence who never imagined themselves in cap and gown.
“It’s not just about being certified,” Jacobie says. “It’s about being legitimized—for the work I’ve been doing, and the work I’m about to do.”
From Incarceration to Innovation
That same spirit of transformation runs through IRSJA’s DNA.
Dr. Jamila T. Davis spent over a decade in federal prison for bank fraud. While behind bars, she wrote a powerful curriculum called the Voices of Consequences Enrichment Series, a trauma-informed healing guide for incarcerated women. Today, that series is officially approved by the Bureau of Prisons and qualifies for First Step Act time credits—meaning women across the country are literally earning time off their sentences through self-healing and self-education.
That legacy of purpose has expanded into a full ecosystem of programming—from youth entrepreneurship and peer-to-peer trauma recovery to workforce development and academic certifications.
At the heart of it all is the belief that lived experience is expertise—and that justice-impacted people don’t just deserve a seat at the table. They deserve to build the table, set the agenda, and lead the room.
“People talk about reform,” Pinto adds. “But we’re not reforming—we’re redefining. We’re creating a new leadership class of system-impacted professionals who aren’t just being included. They’re building the systems from scratch.”
The Road to 20 Cities
This June, IRSJA will host the first-ever National Pull Up for Peace Conference in Atlantic City, NJ—a three-day gathering of frontline workers, credible messengers, city officials, and justice-impacted leaders. Created in partnership with the City of Atlantic City and One Neighborhood Evolution, the event will offer certification tracks, healing sessions, and real-time strategy building for those doing the work in the streets.
“This isn’t just a conference,” Pinto said. “It’s a convening of people who’ve been holding their communities together with grit and love—and now we’re giving them the training, structure, and spotlight they deserve.”
IRSJA is now active in six cities—with plans to reach twenty by the end of 2025. From Birmingham to Boston, from Newark to East Orange, the organization is planting seeds in cities ready to invest in their own people.
They partner with universities like Seton Hall and Kean. They create custom programming for youth, women, reentry communities, and credible messengers. And they don’t do it from an ivory tower.
They do it from the block.
From the classroom inside a youth center.
From a folding chair at a community pop-up.
From a cell turned into a writing desk.
From a graduation stage where redemption wears a robe.
This Is the New Classroom
What Dr. Davis and Pinto have created isn’t just a nonprofit—it’s an institution. A new kind of university built not for prestige, but for proximity. For power. For purpose.
It’s the kind of university where a man like Jacobie Williams can go from grassroots to national stage—not by changing who he is, but by being recognized for who he’s always been.
Because real leadership doesn’t come from letters behind your name.
It comes from what you build.
And this? This is The People’s University.
This progress wouldn’t have been possible without the leadership of Uche Bean, Birmingham’s Director of Community Safety Initiatives. Recognizing the need for community-centered solutions, Bean was instrumental in bringing IRSJA to the city, fostering collaborations that have led to tangible reductions in violence.
Since IRSJA began its work in Birmingham in January, the city has already seen a noticeable decline in violence. While many factors influence public safety, local officials and residents alike credit the presence of certified community leaders like Jacobie Williams—for helping shift the energy on the ground. Bean’s leadership, in collaboration with organizations like IRSJA, has helped turn former hotspots into hubs of healing and hope.
Much of this progress has been supported by Birmingham’s bold leadership. Mayor Randall Woodfin’s vision for a safer, more equitable city laid the foundation for transformational violence prevention efforts, including the establishment of the Birmingham Crime Commission and a citywide focus on evidence-based public safety strategies. Under his administration, the City launched its Office of Community Safety Initiatives—led by Uche Bean—who played a critical role in bringing IRSJA to Birmingham. Their partnership with community-led efforts like Pull Up for Peace has already shown measurable results, including a significant reduction in violence since January 2025.
To learn more about the Institute of Research for Social Justice in Action, explore upcoming events, or join the movement, visit www.theirsja.org
