Melvin works as the advocacy, training, and power building director for Springboard to Opportunities, a Jackson-based nonprofit that helps families with housing, employment, child care, and other essential needs. She and her organization are part of the Our JPS coalition helping to implement the community schools approach in the district.
Press
Locked Out: Black Women, Wealth, and Homeownership
Expert co-authors connect the lived experiences, hopes, and dreams of low-income Black women and their perspectives on homeownership to the historical and current policies that fuel our exclusionary housing market.
‘It Helped Ease My Burden’: Seven Moms on What a Year of Guaranteed Income Meant to Them
It’s time to celebrate another year of the Front and Center series—a Ms. and Springboard to Opportunities’ Magnolia Mother’s Trust (MMT) collaboration that provides a national platform for low-income Black women in Jackson, Miss., to share their experiences receiving a guaranteed income.
Front and Center: Guaranteed Income Helped This Mom and Her Kids ‘Actually Enjoy Life a Little’
What possibilities could open up for low-income families if financial survival weren’t always top of mind? What dreams would these mothers and families be able to pursue? What activism and community leadership might arise?
Pivoting Out of Poverty: The Economic Impact
It seems too good to be true, but a program that started in Mississippi — right here in Jackson — has now spread to other areas across the nation. Magnolia Mother’s Trust gives African American mother’s living in poverty $1,000 dollars a month for a year with no strings attached and no taxpayer money.
Forbes: Juneteenth
Juneteenth Reminds Us What Freedom Costs, And Who Still Pays Most
“Black women understand that success is holistic. It is spiritual. It is relational. It is grounded in family, faith and the ability to live without constant financial strain. That is not a narrow definition of well-being. It is a fuller one than many of our public policies are designed to recognize.
If policymakers are serious about helping families thrive, they need to start by listening. Listen to Black women when they say financial stability creates joy. Listen when they say the safety net should not feel degrading. Listen when they say economic policy is not just about survival, but about the right to rest, to care, to hope and to enjoy life.
This Juneteenth, that is the definition of freedom we should be focused on. True liberation should mean more than endurance. It should mean a fair shot at security, rest and a life that is not perpetually one unexpected bill away from crisis.”