The times are urgent, let us slow down.
- Bayo Akomolafe
Who We Are
The Omowale Project is a national nonprofit initiative, primarily rooted in New York City and California, dedicated to transforming justice movements by strengthening the leadership, sustainability, and effectiveness of directly impacted organizations and leaders. Founded and led by Emani Davis, a longtime leader in the movement for justice, The Omowale Project is built on a legacy of liberation, self-actualization, and healing for Black and brown communities impacted by incarceration.
Meeting the Moment
Nonprofits are facing a crisis of sustainability, as many organizations that received funding in the wake of George Floyd’s murder are now losing resources and struggling to survive. For formerly incarcerated leaders, this challenge is even more complex—many built their organizations from personal trauma, and navigating change requires deep emotional work and expert guidance. Without structured, long-term solutions, the movement risks fracturing, jeopardizing hard-won reforms and the progress made toward justice. To ensure lasting impact, funders must invest not just in programs but in the sustainability of movements and leadership. The Omowale Project is meeting this moment by strengthening the critical issues, strategies, and leadership structures necessary for the justice movement to not only survive but evolve and thrive.
Increasing Endurance.
Building Organizational and Community Trust.
Leading with Grace.
Meet our Founder
Emani Davis, Founder and Executive Director of The Omowale Project, was born into the racial justice movement as a child directly impacted by the incarceration of her father, who served nearly three decades in prison. As one of the first teenagers to speak publicly about the impact of parental incarceration in the 1990s, Emani has been pivotal in raising awareness of the impact of mass incarceration on children’s well-being. She played a key role in the development of a Bill of Rights for Children of Incarcerated Parents that has been adopted by states and countries around the world. In 2004, Emani was the first person from the Global North nominated for the World’s Children’s Prize for the Rights of the Child.
Emani has taught parenting and child development to incarcerated fathers in New York and California, worked with the New York City Family Courts and the Office of the San Francisco Public Defender to support children of incarcerated parents, and trained Oakland police officers using a child-centered curriculum that she developed. Acting as an advisor to local and state corrections and criminal justice agencies, Emani was able to bridge the divide, as personally-impacted leaders gained increasing prominence across social movements. At the same time, over the next two decades, Emani witnessed a troubling cycle: individuals with lived experience were giving their lives to movement work without the support they needed to heal from years of trauma or viable structures to make their work and lives sustainable.
The Omowale Project launched in 2020 to meet a moment defined by both immense opportunity for social justice reform and vast need for racial repair, and has grown into a robust national nonprofit organization with a team of experienced trainers, educators, writers and advocates. Under Davis’ inspired leadership, we are shaping the contemporary conversation without ever losing sight of the need for immediate care and relief.