who is JyObaX?

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  • A shift in animal welfare approaches has focused more on the human-animal bond (HAB) between diverse people and other animals (1). Scientific curiosity about the significance of these bonds is led by prestigious academic research institutions and organizations like the Human-Animal Bond Research Institute (HABRI). Although interdisciplinary study into the phenomena has become prevalent, animal bond disparities between historically excluded populations persist. Read More

  • Community advocates, scholars, and global social justice activists often undervalue the knowledge produced in marginalized, minoritized, and subjugated subaltern communities, diminishing the efficacy of equity-focused interventions and inhibiting collective work. This thesis articulates and theorizes the concept of community wisdom as an uncharted technology of knowledge production. Similarly, the literature review illuminates comparable concepts noted as subjugated and resistant knowledge, which are distinctive to those oppressed by societal structures of power and privilege. As such, an argument locates resilience, agency, and resistance as constitutive attributes essential to how marginality intuitively devises strategies to survive and sometimes thrive as outsiders, sometimes referenced as deviants, in Western society. Read More

Johnny L. Jenkins Jr. (JyObaX) has over twenty-five years of experience in program strategy, community engagement, philanthropy, and non-profit management. His talents have supported mission-driven efforts prioritizing equity and well-being across movements ranging from animal welfare and LGBTQ+ equality to racial equity, diversity, and inclusion. Jenkins has held leadership roles with local and national non-profits and served as a lead community organizer, program director, and multi-million-dollar grant portfolio manager with national philanthropic organizations. 

Jenkins holds a Master of Science in Justice Studies from the School of Social Transformation at Arizona State University and a Bachelor of Business Administration from Western Michigan University’s Haworth College of Business.

His research interests include racial equity, strategy development, coalition-building, and theorizing the value of community wisdom as resistant experiential knowledge and tools to strengthen organizing strategies within historically underserved communities. As an advocate for human and animal well-being, he draws from lived experiences to engage people and communities to promote equity and access to opportunities that improve the quality of life.

Johnny has served as an executive-level program strategist, community organizer, and grantmaker. He has also led local and national equity and well-being initiatives within the corporate, non-profit, and community to advance racial equity, diversity, and advisory committees.