Category: Ally Stories

By V. Châu Ham Chơi is the craving for play a feeling akin to the delight of a child  around a sprinkler on a hot summer’s day But Ham Chơi isn’t so simply childlike joy; there is subtext; a steep price. Ham Chơi is an accusation of pretense; A desire to put on a show. Ham Read More

By Marquise Williams When I was making this Pride In Me Photo Mood Board, I thought about what Pride means to me and how I feel when asked to explain who I am. I thought about all the layers of my identity and the ways in which I have both hide and pealed them back. Read More

The following is the transcript of an interview conducted by Public Allies Milwaukee with AmeriCorps member Ni’Sea Thurman-Wamubu, who is serving this year with Public Allies at the Victory Garden Initiative (VGI). Public Allies Milwaukee: Congrats on your Seeds of Liberation Gallery opening. The gallery is an inspiring creative project! Tell us the why of Read More

On this Earth Day, we celebrate our Public Allies AmeriCorps members and partner organizations working daily for sustainability and environmental justice. Aiti Rai and Jayson Hughes (Connecticut) partner with KNOX to build greener, stronger, healthier and more beautiful neighborhoods in Hartford. “I believe that everyone should have access to healthy food,” says Aiti. “My passion Read More

By Anjeneé Cannon “Damn fool!” you shouted as the showcase contestant bid over her prize amount. “I told her that was too high.” “You know people on the T.V. can’t hear you, right?” I smirked. “Mind your business!” you replied, sticking out your tongue, thumb on the tip of your nose, wagging the other digits. Read More

“Unity” is a poem and painting by Ally member Alicia Green (Central Florida ’21): The opportunity For a community to come together, to break down old walls and barriers, Letting the past teach the present, The present holding the future. It is a gift, magnified day by day, By God’s grace in my heart, and Read More

Two weeks after the tragic murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, the global movement for Black lives has been as active as ever. City by city, demands for justice and equity have resulted in tangible policy change—and the sea change is far from over. With a long-standing commitment to dismantling systems of inequity and building Read More

Public Allies members come from diverse educational and professional backgrounds, yet they all have a calling to serve something greater than themselves and see Public Allies as a pathway towards achieving that. Current Public Allies Arizona Members Channtal Polanco and Iyamidé May are great examples of this. Channtal has her high school degree, and was Read More

Meet Jermal Muhammad, a second year Member at Public Allies Connecticut. Jermal is Lead College Access Advisor at Higher Heights Youth Empowerment Program (HHYEP) where he has been piloting a citywide FAFSA completion drive in New Haven, Connecticut. When we checked in with Jermal, he had already held 8 FAFSA  workshops and assisted over 150 students to complete their Read More

Last September, Maria Todd began her 10 months of service as an AmeriCorps Ally with the organization Cincinnati Works, which helps individuals get on the road to economic self-sufficiency and away from poverty. In this story of hope and the power of service, Maria shares the story of a man, Hanif, whom she met right after he Read More