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Jay Travis

Jhatayn "Jay" Travis-Executive Director, Kenwood Oakland Community Organization 35 Under 35 Leadership Award Nominee

At age 34, Jay Travis is a force within Chicagos organizing community. Jays unwavering commitment to democracy at the grassroots level and racial justice have led her to impact the landscape of organizing pertaining to education, housing, youth employment and public safety issues. At age 28, she became one of the youngest executive directors in Chicago, appointed to lead the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization (KOCO), one of Chicagos oldest grassroots organizations. As executive director of the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization, Jay played a pivotal role in the renaissance that returned organizing to the forefront of KOCOs organizational agenda.

Jay Travis has worked to highlight the intersection between housing and education issues throughout Chicago. A proponent of equitable education opportunities and affordable housing, Jay is actively engaged in organizing campaigns to ensure quality education and affordable housing for neighborhood families. Ms. Travis played a critical role in creating a citywide coalition that informed the public of how school closings have a disproportionate impact on students of color from low-income families, particularly in neighborhoods that are impacted by gentrification. In 2004, an education initiative called the Mid South Plan was created to close 20 of 22 schools in Bronzeville over a 6-year period. Many students in Bronzeville had already been forced to transfer from their neighborhood schools; some students had attended 3 schools in a 5-year period. In partnership with many community and labor organizations, her organizing efforts ultimately led to changes in Chicago Public Schools Closing Policy, which now includes provisions that make it difficult to close a large number of schools in one geographic area.

She has worked with youth leaders to develop strategies to create legislation to secure employment opportunities for youth throughout Illinois. She has also worked with organizers to assist residents in forming tenant councils in several buildings in the North Kenwood and Oakland communities as a means to maintain the affordability of their units. Recently, she has worked with Clergy Committed to Communities, to address issues pertaining to the safety of women in the Bronzeville community where a number of women have been critically and fatally injured. There was previously no press coverage and demure response from the Chicago Police Department because these women were suspected of being prostitutes. Ms. Travis efforts have since brought greater attention to this issue from the community, press, and law enforcement.

Born and raised on Chicagos Southside, Jays community work began in the North Kenwood and Oakland communities when she was 19 years old. She became actively involved in youth organizing initiatives that were collaborative efforts between the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization and the American Friends Service Committee. Many young people emerged as leaders and created community based projects that exist within several schools. It was then that she found that working in her community would shape her personal and career goals. This work affected her perception of her capacity to bring about positive social change. From that point organizing was intrinsically tied to her sense of purpose.

Ms. Travis has worked within several multi-racial and multi-ethnic coalitions. Consistent with her view that all children, regardless of race and economic status deserve a high quality education, Jay has involved KOCO with the Chicago Learning Campaign, a coalition of community organizations and post secondary educational institutions who have created the Illinois Grow Your Own Teachers program, designed to address the issue of high teacher turnover in inner-city schools. Grow Your Own Teachers allows parents and para-professionals that want to teach the opportunity to pursue their certification for free, with the stipulation that they must teach in hard-to-staff schools for a minimum of 5 years. KOCO is partnering with Little Village Development Corporation and Illinois State University to develop and train a cohort of students to become teachers.

Under Jay's leadership, KOCO has also joined an exciting new coalition called United Congress. United Congress is a multi-ethnic body that looks to reframe the issues that impact different communities by seeking out the common connections and supporting each other as we address our concerns. United Congress maintains that affordable housing, quality education, juvenile justice, health care and other quality of life concerns are really human rights issues. United Congress seeks to have global impact, and Jay is one of the core committee members that brings energy and expertise to this coalition.

During the past 15 years Jay Travis has worked diligently to impact the quality of life of low-income and working residents within North Kenwood and Oakland. Ms. Travis has aided in the creation of over 20 innovative, youth driven initiatives that have created leadership opportunities for young people within Chicago Public Schools, universities, and at the United Nations 3rd World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerances (2001). Jay has also created gender specific programs for young women and girls. Her opinion regarding race and class issues is regularly sought by organizers, academics and community leaders. Ms. Travis is a graduate of the University of Chicagos School of Social Service Administration.

The work that Ms. Travis has accomplished has been nothing short of incredible. She has endured ageism, sexism and racism to lead KOCO with consistency, strength, professionalism and elegance. As board president of the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization, I am honored to nominate Jhatayn Jay Travis, our executive director for the 35 Under 35 Leadership Award.