Episode 1: Get to Know Taili

Tell Us A Bit About Yourself

Taili was born and raised in a big family in Southwest Michigan. He is the youngest out of 8 siblings and from a young age, always felt like he was a leader, although this wasn’t always positive. After high school, Taili joined the United States Marine Corps, and learned skills of survival, self-sufficiency, and independence. 

“I often wish I could regain this discipline that the military gave me. Sometimes when you leave a structured place, you feel a sense of freedom.”

After the military, Taili joined the University of California San Diego as a double major in Ethnic Studies and Psychology. 

While attending UCSD, Taili was also part of the Eta Sigma chapter of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, a historically black fraternity founded in Cornell University in 1906. 

Taili eventually went on to become president of the National Panhellenic Council, composed of the nine historically black fraternity and sorority organizations,  as well as President of his chapter.

“I learnt what it meant to be a black man in America, and how to be ready for the challenges that came with it.”

 He began to understand leadership more, and grew and guided the community he was a part of.  He was the first leader to organize a collaborative Community Step show, where the Divine 9 all stepped together, and also created the first Unity Week, an event for all the black student organizations in surrounding colleges to come together and foster community and education.  

During this time, Taili was introduced to spoken word and attended a biweekly event at the R Spot Books and Barber, where he began performing spoken word poetry. From this, he built relationships with a variety of powerful poets like Rudy Franciso, Chris Wilson, Ant Black,  Kendrick Dial, Cherehe Rose  and the big homie Eugene,  to eventually initiate the launch of Collective Purpose, his spoken word family, and the venue Elevated, which later included Jessica Molina and Viet Mai.  

“Working with this collection of inspiring human beings solidified an understanding of the  value of Spoken Word, not just as an artform but a form to create movements.”

His next years included work with Environment California and a job as a Student Resource Provider at the first High-Tech schools in San Diego.  This was a transformational time for Taili. He saw firsthand how impactful and valuable education could be through project-based and student-directed learning.

Taili then enrolled in the  Community-Based Block Master’s Program in San Diego State University. The program brought together 27 individuals from different backgrounds to become well rounded educators and counselors. As part of this master’s program, Taili was introduced to a variety of perspectives by learning from other people and their experiences, preparing him for the advocacy work that he now does with URO.  As the director of a Collective Impact Driven Initiative, Taili deals with a multitude of people from all walks of life and the most important aspect of this work is the person and individual connection.   

“There was unity between each of our different experiences. We learned to be present with each other by sharing stories, learning, and counseling each other educationally. We became aware of the challenges other types of people faced and were able to become more empathetic and conscious of other types of struggle beyond our own.

Following the completion of this program, Taili enrolled in a Masters of Teacher Education program at National University. He simultaneously became a student science teacher at the King Chavez Preparatory Academy in Barrio Logan Heights, a predominantly Mexican community. Although the school was previously one of the lowest performing schools in San Diego, it eventually set the California state record for Average Yearly Performance on the state exams in the first year that Taili taught there. Taili formed a close relationship with the Great Douglas Harrel, the principal of this school. Mr. Harrel’s mission was to create a loving, thriving environment for students to succeed. His work included creating a Teacher Assessment rubric to measure teacher-student relationships and student engagement. 

“For the first time in my life, I worked for a leader that was more than a personnel manager, Douglas Harrell’s leadership was inspirational and I took that approach to facilitate systemic change while leading URO.”     

After two years of teaching, he then moved on to become a College Prep Counselor for the University of California, at Davis Educational Talent Search Program.  This was a program for first generation, income-challenged students in grades 9-12 to prepare for college.  Working with these students and developing meaningful relationships with them was one of the most gratifying professional experiences he has had to date.  With the autonomy to move about the school he worked at, he noticed a trend in which African American students were often placed in in-school detention by the same English teacher, whose actions took away from their education and experience at school. If students suffered failing grades in English, they would not be able to complete the four-year English requirement needed to enter a four-year undergraduate program.  

“As I helped these students move through school, I saw that the kids often gave up after seeing that the odds were stacked up against them. I realized that there was a lack of support, especially in areas beyond the walls of the school. I could see the education to incarceration pipeline getting strengthened in front of my eyes.”

While he was a college prep counselor, Taili also coached the Cross Country and Track and Field teams at Foothill High School in Northern Sacramento. He also worked at a group home for troubled youth who were involved in the juvenile justice system.  Both occupations aligned with Taili’s mission to maximize potential among youth.  

What got you into work in reentry, and specifically work for the United Reentry Opportunity organization?

During the time in between his time as a U.S. Marine and at UCSD, Taili experienced a period of incarceration. Incarceration hampered his job opportunities from then on and he was forced to scramble to create connections in the job market. 

“I knew I was going to be discriminated against, not only because of the incarceration checkbox, but because I was a black man.”

Getting outside that 10-year point was a relief for Taili. He didn’t have to check that box anymore, he was no longer bound by the effects of incarceration.

Taili was able to also see firsthand how the employment system could have a negative effect on an individual’s opportunities to thrive and reach one’s goals. For this reason, Taili came into this work to find a way to create new avenues and fight against the obstacles that keep people in the cycle of incarceration.

What are some of the projects you have done at URO that have been especially meaningful to you?

In 2018, URO was the first organization in Upstate New York to facilitate a reentry job fair. This job fair initiated conversations in which employers started to seriously think about employing individuals with criminal convictions.

The Sunflower Housing Project was a monumental step for URO.

“Housing is healthcare. This is a part of the vision we have for humane societies.”

What are some sneak peeks into the current work that URO is doing?

“How do we cultivate and create an environment in the workplace to recruit, hire and retain reentry employees? 

Taili and team are working on the Beyond the Box employer certification with Ian Greer of the Cornell ILR, Jan Bridgeford-Smith of the Women's Opportunity Center, and Althea Brennan, a junior at Cornell to create scoring rubric and protocols that make the hiring, recruiting and sustained employment process more equitable and inclusive. 

URO’s goal is to facilitate and develop awareness of the humanity of employees beyond being a worker and make employers more cognizant of trauma, economic situations, and transportation issues and what reentry looks and feels like.

Other goals for URO include:

• Sharing the Sunflower Housing Project data and information learned to  shift viewpoints to be more communal rather than individualistic.

• Learning about childhood trauma and neglect. Taili and team are organizing a Community Book Read for My Grandmother’s Hand by Resmaa Menakaam. The goal of this book read is to help the community understand each other’s trauma, recognize it, and focus on developing a healing community.

• Reducing and eliminating recidivism.

• Creating a more vibrant and safe community.

And of course, to create an environment in which humans humanize humans.