California Criminal Justice Funders Group Member Meeting: Building Narrative Power

Sade Dumas is a Black Southern woman, movement strategist, and philanthropic co-conspirator committed to shifting power and holistically resourcing grassroots movements for justice. As Program Director of the Spark Justice Fund at Borealis Philanthropy, she directs millions in funding to directly impacted communities leading the fight for racial equity, pretrial justice, and anti-criminalization efforts. Before stepping into philanthropy, Sade led justice reform initiatives in Louisiana, serving as Executive Director of OPPRC and Chair of PAC for Justice. Her leadership was instrumental in cutting the New Orleans jail population by over 50%, launching a non-police crisis response team, securing the election of Louisiana’s first progressive sheriff, and banning the use of tear gas against protestors, among other campaigns. Sade's work is rooted in her lived experiences with incarcerated loved ones. 

Sade serves on the board of the Foundation for Louisiana and is a 2024 Exponent Philanthropy Next Gen Fellow and a 2019 She Leads Power Coalition Fellow. Her impact has been recognized with the 2023 Black Excellence in Philanthropy Award, the 2022 Clyde Merritt Award, and the 2022 She Leads Community Activist Power Award. Sade's insights have been featured in The Washington Post, The New Yorker, The Appeal, The Times-Picayune, and more. She holds a B.A. in Sociology from Tulane University, with a concentration in crime and human development, race relations, and the sociology of education.

Jeree Thomas is a Black southern woman dedicated to resourcing the liberatory imagination and safety of Black, Indigenous, people of color. She is the Program Director of the Communities Transforming Policing Fund (CTPF) at Borealis Philanthropy. Before joining Borealis, Jeree was a Skadden Fellow and attorney for youth incarcerated in Virginia. She led a state campaign to close youth prisons, and served as a national policy director to end the prosecution of children in the adult criminal legal system. In 2015, Jeree was selected for the Youth Justice Leadership Institute with the National Youth Justice Network (NYJN). In 2016, she was the inaugural recipient of the Youth Justice Emerging Leader Award from NYJN. In 2018, she was the co-recipient of the Shaping Justice Rising Star Award from the University of Virginia School of Law. In 2021, Jeree was selected for the second cohort of the Rockwood Institute’s Equity in Philanthropy Fellowship. From 2021-2024, Jeree served as a member of Funders for Justice’s Organizing Committee and a co-lead of the Eroding the Power of Police Union’s Working Group. When Jeree is not working she is taking long hikes with her husband, Ben and her beagle, Cooper or volunteering with the Richmond Community Bail Fund. Jeree graduated from the College of William and Mary with a B.A. in Social Justice and Community Advocacy. She graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law with a concentration in Law and Public Service.