Keisha Robinson grew up on the north side of Milwaukee and like many people in her community, she experienced hardships like poverty and discrimination while job searching. She eventually worked her way up to her current role as Program Director at Black Leaders Organizing for Communities (BLOC) where she uses her personal experiences to help the people in her neighborhood get involved in the political process. The team at BLOC believes that change needs to happen from within the community because sharing experiences creates a deeper level of trust.

Before Robinson got involved in social justice work, she was struggling to get by and unsure how she was going to pay the bills. Voting and learning about candidates running for office was not on her priority list. A week or two before elections, people from outside her community would come to her door asking her to vote, but she felt it was disingenuous. From our standpoint we’re thinking, they just want our votes, so we stay out of it,” she says. To her and her community, these outsiders have their own agenda and would disappear once the election was over. They didn’t understand the neighborhood’s struggles so why should Robinson and her community bother to get involved?

Once she eventually found her way to BLOC, Robinson’s perspective changed. Early on in her role, she came up with the Ambassador Program which teaches residents about the political process so that they can go out into their communities to teach others the importance of participating. BLOC specifically focuses on the North Side of Milwaukee and the 53206 zip code because of its historically low voter turnout. In the program, these ambassadors learn about things like election cycles, general elections versus primaries, the candidates and how to register to vote. They then use that new education when they knock on doors and make phone calls. They encourage their communities to vote, but more importantly, they empower them with knowledge so that residents can make their own informed decisions.

BLOC and their ambassadors knock on doors and reach out year-round, not just around election time. Because these leaders are from the neighborhood, they know that the only way to gain trust is by continuously showing up and listening to what the people have to say. The original 15 or so ambassadors that BLOC hired are now lead ambassadors who are training 50 new ambassadors from the community. “We employ from the community,” says Robinson. “I see the visions and I see how we can include the community.” BLOC’s rapid growth since their inception in 2017 clearly shows the impact they are making.

In this movement for change, it’s important to look back at our history, explains Robinson, and understand how our black communities have become so traumatized. That’s why she gives her ambassadors extra homework, helping them understand parts of our country’s past like voter suppression, which led to our current situation. “Generation after generation, trauma begets trauma. It’s deep,” she says. “Once we learn the history of how things played out, we will know how important it is to change the dynamics of the future.” She has learned that trust comes with patience and for people to get involved, they first need resources and knowledge.

Learn more about BLOC at www.blocbybloc.org.

Read this article on the Shepherd Express, part of the column “Hero of the Week.”