Ujamaa Place

At the heart of Ujamaa Place is the “Ujamaa Man” (referred to as “Participant”), whose enrollment into the Theory of Transformation (TOT) programming, results in a transformative empowering experience of teaching young African American men how to navigate inequality, poverty and a criminal justice system build to perpetuate recidivism. Ujamaa Place data network infrastructure is built around a sophisticated Theory of Transformation framework / methodology, which serves as the brain for Ujamaa Place’s data that is analyzed and reported to participants, the community and supporters it serves. Staff use the data to enhance service delivery to the participants, who are the most marginalized men in society.

Trained coaches develop high-context relationships that meet participants where they're at, rather than applying a prescribed approach to all. Coaches have often overcome similar obstacles in their own lives, providing inspiration and models of empowerment for participants.

The United States’ over criminalization project put more than two million people behind bars (at any given time) over the past four decades. The United States has a rate of incarceration that exceeds every nation in the world, and reveals disturbing racial and ethnic disparities particularly among the Black and Hispanic population. According to a Star Tribute article by reporter Andy Mannix . . .“Minnesota’s crime rate dropped 24 percent, but the incarceration rate increased 1 percent, making it among only a dozen states that saw prison populations grow in the eight-year period, according to the study.”
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Ujamaa Place uses its data to monitor historical trends and research that informs us that there is an urgent need for Ujamaa Place to increase funding at an accelerated pace to accommodate the need and to prepare for a rise in enrollment. The Ujamaa Place data platform that includes key performance indicators (KPIs) that are wrapped around the Theory of Transformation that incorporates the seven principals of measurement to track Ujamaa participants from their initial intake, following them throughout their transformation with status updates that track performance success.