Meet Tinisch Hollins | Activist, Social Justice Leader, Culture Keeper

We had the good fortune of connecting with Tinisch Hollins and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Tinisch, what do you want people to remember about you?
I want to be known and one day remembered as someone who someone who loved, uplifted and removed barriers for my people. I want to inspire others to believe there is nothing we can’t do and to fully understand our power. That we can get what we want and need righteously. I want build more healers, leaders, and generational curse breakers. I want my legacy to create pathways for social and economic justice.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I am a social justice leader, community organizer, policy advocate, and changemaker. I am a native San Franciscan and I begin my career as an organizer in my early 20s responding to issues of violent crime in my neighborhood. I was first inspired to do this work to help my own family who was impacted by the war on drugs, poverty, and unaddressed trauma. I became an advocate because I got tired of seeing my community blamed for the conditions and issues imposed on them by policies and ideas that our community did not care about their own safety. Every response had some kind of punitive consequence for our people. Black mothers and victims of crime were treated as if they caused their own victimization and received no support to heal or rebuild their lives. Police flooded our neighborhoods and made matters worse. I began advocating and organizing our people to come up with our own solutions and pushed our city leaders to give us the resources we needed to deal with the root causes violence in our communities. Over my career I have worked in local government agencies and nonprofits that focus on public safety, removing barriers to stability, and supporting families in crisis. Over the years I’ve lost numerous friends and family members to gun violence, overdose, and the criminal justice system. I also lost two brothers to gun violence and one recently to suicide by gun. All three of my brothers were also formerly incarcerated. These experiences help me better understand the ways that the criminal justice system and other state agencies create barriers to safety for victims, surviving family members- particularly for black people and other marginalized groups. Also had a better understanding of how barriers created by the criminal justice system Make all of our communities less safe. Today I serve as the Executive Director of CA’s largest criminal justice reform organization, The state Director of the largest network of crime victims and survivors in the state,. I work on criminal justice policy reform and expanding rights and protections for victims of crime from our communities. I am also the cofounder of San Francisco black Wall Street, and advocacy organization that is fighting for black home ownership, black business, and cultural space in San Francisco.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I am from San Francisco so my favorite spots in my city are café envy, the jazz room, Boug Cali Creole Café, The old clam house and other seafood spots to get fresh Dungeness crab. If I’m in Atlanta my spots are SPK, Kat’s Cafe, The Roof, Paschals, flat iron Grill, And other Soulfood restaurants.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
There are too many to name. First, thanks in acknowledgment to my ancestors and to my immediate family for loving me and trusting me to be our vanguard. To my mentors/ancestors Sharon Hewitt and Mike Brown for showing me how to speak truth to power and unapologetically center and protect my people. To Lenore Anderson, Mike Farrah, and Charlene Smith who taught me how to understand systems and move them. To my SF Black Wallstreet co-founders and community family for grounding me and inspiring me to continue pushing for what we need and deserve in our city.

Instagram: @only1Tinisch

Linkedin: @TinischHollins

Twitter: @TinischHollins

Image Credits
Tinisch