Just-In-Time Initiative:

When Just-In-Time Initiative brought me on as Strategic Communications Consultant in October 2024, I encountered a tension familiar to anyone working in grassroots organizing: a mission so vital and a vision so clear, yet virtually no funding infrastructure to sustain it.

The organization's work supporting justice-involved individuals transitioning back into their communities represents exactly the kind of transformative community care our systems desperately need. What they needed was someone who could build the communications infrastructure and systems to make their essential work visible and fundable.

Image: Cover from the book by Just-In-Time Initiative founder Denise Hien

This partnership embodies what I believe about community development work. Just-In-Time Initiative had already proven their commitment through years of direct service and relationship-building with people navigating reentry. Their approach centered dignity, mutual support, and genuine belonging rather than surveillance or punishment.

What they needed was strategic communications support that could translate this groundbreaking work into sustainable funding streams while maintaining the integrity of their community-centered approach.

Building Infrastructure from the Ground Up

My academic background in community development and my experience with mutual aid organizing gave me a clear framework for understanding how grassroots organizations get caught in a funding gap. They're doing work that mainstream systems won't fund because it challenges those very systems, yet they need resources to sustain their impact.

Drawing from my research on belonging and my practical experience with systems building, I worked alongside the Just-In-Time Initiative team to create foundational infrastructure: brand guidelines that honored their voice and values, donor systems that made giving accessible, and communications strategies that could tell their story to diverse audiences without compromising their radical approach to reentry support.

Strategic Communications and Development

My work centered on creating sustainable systems across multiple areas:

Brand Development: Created comprehensive brand guidelines that established visual identity, voice, and messaging frameworks. This gave the organization consistency across all platforms while maintaining authenticity in how they showed up.

Infrastructure Building: Developed donor forms, communication templates, and organizational systems that could scale. Built frameworks that volunteers and future staff could use without needing me there to interpret.

Fundraising and Events: Planned and executed the Holiday Fundraiser that generated $3,500 in profit, demonstrating that their community would invest in this work when given clear pathways to participate. Created donor engagement strategies that centered relationship-building over transactional giving.

Digital Presence: Developed social media strategy and website frameworks that could showcase their work, connect with community members, and reach potential funders. Built platforms that told stories of transformation and belonging rather than deficit narratives.

Grant Development: Supported MOVA grant application and tracking processes, helping translate their community impact into language that funding bodies could recognize and support.

Collaborative Systems Design

This partnership reinforced my understanding that effective nonprofit infrastructure isn't about imposing corporate models onto grassroots organizations. It's about creating systems flexible enough to serve the community's needs while robust enough to meet funder expectations.

By building communications and development infrastructure that prioritized accessibility and authenticity, we created pathways for Just-In-Time Initiative to secure funding without compromising their commitment to dignity-centered reentry support. The systems we built can grow with the organization as they expand their capacity and reach.

Reflections on Justice and Sustainability

This work deepened my commitment to supporting organizations doing transformative justice work. Too often, the most innovative community solutions struggle because they challenge the very systems that control funding. Just-In-Time Initiative's approach to reentry support through mutual aid and genuine belonging represents a radical reimagining of what justice and rehabilitation could look like.

Building sustainable infrastructure for this work means more people can access the support they need, more communities can benefit from Just-In-Time Initiative's model, and more funders can invest in approaches that actually transform lives rather than perpetuate cycles of incarceration.

The $3,500 fundraiser profit wasn't just about money. It demonstrated that community members believe in this work enough to invest in it. That's the foundation for sustainable growth.