For & With: Why I Believe in a Different Model for Change
The Heart Behind This Space
Welcome to the For & With blog. If you’re here, you probably care about nonprofits, community leadership, and real, lasting impact. So do I.
I used to think leadership was about being in charge. I wanted to lead—not out of humility, but out of ambition. I was drawn to influence, to being the one with answers, to the idea of making a difference on my terms. But South Dallas changed that. The people I met—leaders who were already doing the work, neighbors who had been serving long before I showed up—challenged me with a loving, honest, unflinching truth: I had a lot to learn. And more importantly, I had a lot to unlearn.
That’s where For & With comes in. It’s not just the name of my consulting practice—it’s a philosophy. My goal is to support and strengthen community-anchored leaders, helping them build sustainable, effective organizations that serve from the inside out. Leadership isn’t always about stepping forward—sometimes it’s about stepping back and making space for the people who have been leading all along. This blog is a space to explore that philosophy in action.
What You Can Expect Here
This isn’t just a blog about theory or abstract ideas. Instead, it is a place to:
Reflect on Real-World Work – I’ll share insights from the field, lessons learned, and challenges faced in helping grassroots leaders build nonprofits that last.
Talk About the Hard Stuff – Nonprofit leadership isn’t all inspiring mission statements and grant wins. It’s burnout, funding struggles, board challenges, and tough decisions. We’ll talk about those things here, honestly.
Share Practical Strategies – Whether it’s fundraising, coalition-building, or donor engagement, I want this space to be useful to you as a nonprofit leader or supporter.
Challenge Traditional Nonprofit Thinking – Too many organizations are built around outsiders deciding what a community needs instead of empowering the people who already live and work there. What if the way we’ve always done things isn’t the best way? What if we need new models of leadership, funding, and partnership? Let’s explore that together.
This Isn’t the Work—It’s a Conversation
The work happens out there, in communities, in relationships, in action. This blog is not where I do the work—it’s where I reflect on it, process it, and hopefully, encourage others who are in it too. If you’re a community leader, a nonprofit founder, a donor, or just someone passionate about real, meaningful change, I hope you’ll stick around.
Let’s build something together. For the community & With the community.
- Joey