Drayton Jackson experienced homelessness for almost 20 years. Today, Drayton utilizes his lived experience to advocate for others in a similar position—but it wasn’t always easy adjusting to having a seat at the table. Drayton, now the father of eight, is setting boundaries and goals for himself to achieve a healthy work-life balance. Along with running two foundations and being a community leader, Drayton continues to work towards his educational goals of earning a college degree. In this follow-up of his story from season one, reporter Diana Opong checks in with Drayton to get an update on the activist’s accomplishments.
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David Croom: Welcome to 1 in 5, which takes its name from the one in five college students in the US who are also parents. I'm David Croom from Ascend at the Aspen Institute. This season, remarkable student parents past and present share their educational and professional achievements, and the pitfalls they've encountered along the way. Each episode reveals a different stage in the journey toward earning a college degree, and a roadmap for overcoming obstacles to access, support, and opportunity.
In this episode, we meet again with Drayton Jackson from season one. He's a student-parent and community leader who provides a safe space for unhoused people in Bremerton, Washington. Drayton's path to a college degree has not been easy. Most of the time he's either helping to run the two foundations he started, or attending to his duties as a board member for the Central Kitsap School District. He's a New York native, working hard to build a life and a better future for himself and his family. Reporter Diana Opong has this follow up story.
Opong: Drayton Jackson's story is one of hope and tenacity. In season one, we learned that Drayton has eight children, six from his first marriage, and two with his current wife, Nijhia. After moving from New York to Washington State, Drayton turned his experience of living unhoused into a passion for helping people in similar circumstances. He started two foundations: one is the Family Day Foundation, which provides low income, or unhoused families, with opportunities to attend events like local baseball or basketball games; the other is the Foundation for Homeless and Poverty Management. They help people break out of chronic homelessness and poverty for themselves and their children. Drayton and his wife, Nijhia are raising two elementary school age sons in the city of Bremerton, about an hour west of Seattle. When I met up with Drayton, he was in the middle of a meeting. He smiled and laughed as he sat tall in a black office chair while looking at his laptop.
Jackson: Is it just centered on... Well, it's not student-parents, so it's parents. Okay.
Opong: He was in a sunlight corner office on a virtual call in preparation for an event with the Aspen Institute.
Jackson:` Okay, gotcha. All right. And then is there any, as they say, people with lived experience? Because that's what I think everybody's starting to say now, is also with people with lived experience.
Opong: Lived experience. It's a phrase that's used by organizations that focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion. As a community leader, Drayton is often asked to represent the perspectives of people who share a similar lived experience to his.
Jackson: One of the things that I find is that people are constantly asking me like, "Well, how do we do this? How do we make that space for you?" But I also think is, what do organizations need to do to make that space?
Opong: Drayton Jackson's story is also one of setbacks and perseverance. He went back to Olympic College in winter quarter 2021 because he had more time in his schedule. COVID lockdowns and social distancing stalled his other projects. This wasn't the first time Drayton attempted to go back to school to further his education. He's been working towards his high school diploma and Associates of Arts degree, or AA, for about a decade and a half. Drayton dropped out of high school before his junior year. After taking a few years off to work in the music industry, one of his sisters encouraged him to go back to school. So he enrolled at the Borough of Manhattan Community College, or BMCC, in the heart of New York City.
Jackson: And I was taking a 21 credit program, which allowed you to get credits and all of that. Right before I had my daughter. I didn't really understand school until I got into BMCC and my sister, she was just like, "Well then take business. You like the music industry." And I ate it up, man, I loved it. I loved it. It was everything. And while I was in there, my ex-wife, she got pregnant and everything to me was work. I was just like, forget this. I got to work. I have a child. I'm not going to be that stigma. I'm not going to do the things that other Black men do. I'm going to do the right... And I just worked.
Opong: When he became a father to the first of his six daughters, Drayton had to walk away from school again. His desire to get an education never died though. Before the rest of his daughters arrived, he tried to go back to school another time. This time it was because he had a dream to become a police officer. He started to attend at the John Jay School for Law in New York.
Jackson: I love John. I think John Jay was there.... The only thing that I, and I'll say this, the only reason why I went to John Jay is because I had put in for the police department. I passed. I went for my psych eval. I was ready. And then Giuliani changed…
Opong: He means former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Jackson: That you had to have a certain amount of credits to be a police officer. Like 60 credits to have a police officer... And I was just like, "Really?" And I went in and I was like, "Oh, this is going to be easy. I'm going to get this." And like I told you, one child, and then two children. And then it was just like, all right, this is too much for both of us to go to school.
Opong: Even though Drayton's path to his AA, and then a bachelor's degree, is taking longer than he would like, he's doing the best he can to see the bright side. And he's learning a lot about himself now that he's living on the West Coast. In Bremerton, Drayton enrolled for a third time at Olympic College. He calls it OC.
Jackson: When I got to OC, I think I did one year at OC, strictly going in, I took an organized leadership program that changed my life. It made me just understand who I was. I've always been a leader. Did not understand what that was though. Because growing up in the projects, you're like, "leader? There's no leader besides the gang leaders, right?" So you don't realize that you have that, but it's a quality that you have, but you're trying to nurture it and fill in... And what OC's program did was really open my eyes to, "wow, these is the qualities I've always had that people said was wrong." I'll say it this way, that people used to say it was always "charismatic" and all of this. And they would use it in a downward. They were like, "Oh, well that's just who you are, an oil slick person." And then come to find out that that's one of the key parts of leadership, not knowing that.
So it kind of really gave me a sense of identity of who I was as a person. And that class changed, the whole program, changed my life. And I do plan on finishing it there with my bachelor's. Because now they turned it into a bachelor's program, so I don't have to go anywhere. I could stay here.
Opong: We last checked in with Drayton Jackson about a year and a half ago, and he's been keeping a busy schedule in many roles. First, he's the Interim Executive Director of the Foundation for Homeless and Poverty Management. And...
Jackson: I'm the co-chair for the Governor's Poverty Production Work Group. So if you go to dismantlingpoverty.org, you'll see our 10 year plan that Governor Jay Inslee set us out with people with lived experience. We actually put that... Help put that report together with our suggestions. And I sit on a school board.
Opong: At the end of 2019, Drayton ran unopposed and was elected to serve on the Central Kitsap School District Board of Directors where he oversees four local schools in his district. He's in his third year as a member of the board, and has been the board president since March, 2022.
Jackson: It's been trying not to say the less of all the agendas that are there, but I enjoy it. I think that, like me, your voice being heard is important. And I think a lot of the parents and what you see from parents are just wanting to be heard. So I'm not something I'm not used to. Some of the anger that's geared towards us, I think is the only thing that sometimes I just wish wasn't there, but I do get it, is that they want to be heard. And I'm always open to that.
Opong: He still needs to decide if he will run for office again.
Jackson: I know that my voice and me coming to my lens from poverty, homelessness, coming to the table, brings just a different view. And I am the only Black person on the board. And I think the lens that I come from with my lived experience in poverty and homelessness brings uniqueness to the board. And I just have to talk to the family because it took up a lot. It took up a lot.
Opong: When he says it took up a lot, he means not just time away from his family for meetings, some of which lasted over three hours alone, but also the emotional and mental energy it takes to field the many projects he is passionate about. It's part of the reason why he works with several organizations and committees, and participates in speaking engagements. He works hard to make connections that allow him to propel his hopes for the foundation forward. And his work with the school district includes travel.
Jackson: We do a lot of advocacy work for Impact Aid. So I'm always either talking to some representatives in DC, or out there advocating for policies and changes. So I'm back and forth a lot.
Opong: Drayton has come to the realization that he can't do it all. Between travel, speaking engagements, and family obligations, it all started to become too much. In 2018, he made the decision to put school on hold. Taking a break from school allowed him to keep up with all of his commitments, especially his work as the co-chair of Washington State Governor Jay Inslee's Poverty Reduction work group.
Jackson: I was in these avenues and the Poverty Reduction work group became something of a real passion for me, because I saw the good work we were doing. So for that whole year with the Poverty Work Group in 2018, it was hard for me to think about anything else, because the work that we were doing… there was work. It was school work for me. It was like, all right, how do we solve this problem? So 2018, 2019, my focus was just, "Hey, the governor gave us a task. How do I work with these people to make them see it? How do I make sure the steering committee's voice is there?" So right around 2018 is when that was my last... I was like, I'm focusing on this.
Opong: But it wasn't always this way. Before all of the speaking engagements, board positions, and creating his foundation, Drayton worked for Aramark, a company that provides food, facilities, and uniform services to stadiums and other businesses around the world. Drayton says, getting a job at Aramark changed his life.
Jackson: It led me down a road of just having fun and knowing my leadership skills and who I was. So I did that for a while. And so I wind up actually running Husky Stadium club level, which is a big job, especially as a Black man in that field, and just enjoying my job, enjoying the employees, and had fun. But I had just... The time had came to transition because dealing with advocating for people in poverty, people with lived experience and homelessness became my driving force.
Opong: Drayton says he was homeless for almost 20 years. He also shared that he and his family are making less than the poverty threshold. According to US Census data for 2021, that's less than $32,000 a year for a family of two adults and two children. In Kitsap County, where Drayton and his family live, an estimated 8.6% of residents live in poverty. Because of his experience, Drayton believes he can be a source of wisdom and innovation when it comes to creating systems that actually help people, all while trying to pursue higher education. He wants to meet people where they're at and help them improve their lives through services and support.
Drayton took classes at Olympic College in Bremerton in 2014 with a focus on organized leadership and technical management. He says trying to balance everything and make time for school was tough. One of the ways he and his wife Nijhia made things work was by taking turns at going to school.
Jackson: You know what my wife and I did was one year she would go to work. One year I would go to school. So we can balance it out and try to flip what we did. But it is... Even now, it's still hard because somebody needs to be there for the boys at home. So we are trying to balance that out.
Opong: Nijhia is tall and slender with striking features. She wears her hair in delicately twisted locks that fall past her chin. She says watching Drayton's pursuit of education inspires her to do the same.
Nijhia: If he could do it, I know I can do it.
Opong: They both know how challenging it can be to raise a family and balance education and career goals. She has goals too.
Nijhia: The goal is to get my high school diploma and then graduate from Olympic College.
Opong: While school is on hold, Drayton is making progress on the Foundation for Homeless and Poverty Management. About a year ago, the foundation began leasing a two-story building. It's older, built in 1978, and needs some work, but it's a little over 8,000 square feet and sits on about three quarters of an acre in Bremerton, Washington. Having a space this size allows the foundation to operate and create what they are calling the Rejuvenation Community Day Center. The Day Center will give those experiencing homelessness a place to go during the day when shelters are not always open and available in their community.
Jackson: When we walked in this building, we knew it was ours. Like, there was no question. I prayed on it, I put the oil on it and everything. I like, "this is ours."
Opong: With this big boisterous laugh, Drayton beamed sharing the story of how he and his business partner, Diana Sullivan, found the building.
Jackson: This project came about, the Rejuvenation Community Day Center, was about almost three years of research. I went through probably two decades of homelessness between New York and Washington state.
Opong: With the help of the Communities of Concern Coalition, run by Josephine Tamayo Murray, the foundation was able to lease, with an option to buy, the building located at 2741 Wheaton Way, in Bremerton.
Josephine: I met Drayton Jackson on the Governor's Poverty Reduction work group and the Community Concern Commission did a presentation for the work group on our racial equity efforts. And Drayton became very interested in the work that we were doing. In fact, the Community Concern Commission was featured in the work group's report to the governor. The foundation submitted an application to the commission. So the commission provided funding for pre-development and tenant improvements to the building for the day center to provide services.
Opong: In 2020, the Washington State Department of Commerce issued a check for $80,000 to Drayton's Foundation to help make the building habitable. The funds were provided by the Communities of Concerned Coalition.
Josephine: As I understand, the building was vacant for several years and so, needed to have some things done to bring it up to code for occupancy. And so we were able to help them... To help the foundation do that.
Opong: The support didn't stop there. Washington State Representative Tara Simmons, helped Drayton secure funding to buy the building.
Simmons: Drayton is a really motivated and person and he had proposed this also to the governor's office and it appeared on a special project list. I couldn't get it through the local community projects because it was too much, but I was able to advocate for it through another program and get it into the capital budget, and it made its way to the governor's office and it was about $1.5 million.
Opong: In addition to her work as a Representative for the 23rd legislative district in Kitsap County. Simmons is a lawyer and non-profit director who is using her experience to help people who struggle with addiction. She and Drayton's partnership is one of mutual respect and vision.
Simmons: I know Drayton Jackson because he has been a strong community advocate here in my city, in Bremerton, for probably about a decade. I first met him through his advocacy for homelessness and poverty issues and we've had a strong relationship for at least three years now. And we just have a many common interests. We both come from poverty and homelessness ourselves. Fortunately for him, he didn't get incarcerated and I did. But we really bring our lived experiences to the work that we're doing.
Opong: Drayton says he watched the unhoused population grow significantly since he first started living in Washington state. And a personal loss had him asking himself, "What do those struggling with homelessness and poverty actually need?"
Jackson: It was just one of those things that, I knew people that was out there on the streets. One of my friends was homeless. I really... I wound up losing him a couple years ago on the streets, and it just really got on me. What could I have done? It was nothing I could have done. But what could we have done as community, as politics, as everything else? And one of the things that came about was, "What do you need?" And what I came back with asking so many people that were homeless, living in tents throughout Washington was, "I just want a place to go so I can get showered, get better, and then just get some normalcy in my life to think about my day." And that surprised me because it wasn't housing. It wasn't like. "I need this..." It was just like, some place to just go. Let me figure it out.
Opong: He has a clear vision for how he wants to use the space to help others experiencing homelessness and poverty.
Jackson: So that's our goal. Our goal is to get, and have this as a one-stop shop, that when somebody comes here, they go downstairs, they just have a normalcy of their life. And then after that, be able to just say, "Hey, you know what? I want to get better. I want to figure that out." And then be able to come right upstairs and we get them on that journey. That's the real case of it. We think it's more about wellness and more about just having that atmosphere, rejuvenating, which means to bring back, to come back, to start over again. And that's what this is for us.
Opong: Before Drayton and I talked for this podcast, he was trying to decide whether to take a summer class for math in order to get a little closer to completing his AA degree. He says he has a math class to take and...
Jackson: And I think it's a sci... Yeah, one science that I have to take now. It was gym. I got the gym thing taken care of, which was hard because we went hybrid. We was trying to do it with... I was trying to record that's what it was. But if I can get... Like, even this summer, I'm going to take the math class and just see how much I can get out of the way. Because the summer's going to be a little bit slower this year. And then the other class I'll probably try to do when fall comes around to see, but I got to finish it. That's the main thing.
Opong: Drayton wishes the path to obtaining a degree was a lot easier for student-parents who work and have entrepreneurial aspirations as he does.
Jackson: What is stopping me from finishing school is somebody has to help change the system. The system that's in place in government to help people with lived experience and lived voice, people are not doing it as fast as they need to do it. And I think that, if you look at all the work that I'm doing in activism, in being involved with the parent power solution, all of these things that take time away for me to focus on school, is good work. It's good work. And that's the thing that's been weighing me is, and I've never had that... I feel bad about not finishing school cause I look at some of the work that I'm doing in the Poverty Reduction Work Group the Urban Institute, the Health Initiative, being a parent advisor for Ascend. All of these things are good work, but it takes time.
Opong: Giving up is not an option for Drayton Jackson. He's got a dream, and a vision, and he says he has faith that he's on the right track.
Jackson: There is going to come a time that all of this is going to mellow out, and the work has been pushed. And then I'll be able to go back and now focus on how to become better, get my BA, get my doctorates, and feel comfortable without that imposter syndrome because I don't have the letters behind my name, or the degree to go with what I'm saying and how I'm presenting myself. So that's... It's just been the mission of advocacy that has stopped that. And I don't think that that's a bad thing, because what I'm learning and the spaces I'm learning it in, and the people I'm around, education don't teach that. It's like, what I'm learning from the people I'm around is, oh my god, it's priceless. But what I look at is when I go back now with this plethora of experience and knowledge, it helps make my educational journey a little bit more easier. Besides math.
Opong: When asked what's keeping him going? Drayton says he's been inspired by other student-parents, but he also says being resilient is part of who he is at his core. Behind his bright smile, charisma, and big laugh is a man who lost his father, mother, and grandfather, all between the ages of 11 and 13.
Jackson: So my father died first, and I was 11 years old. Then my mother died six months later. So my part of me finishing school goes back to dealing with that in elementary. So my grandmother takes us in. This is a older western Indian woman, that all her children were grown and older, and here she was, she gets these two kids.
Opong: He's referring to himself and one of his sisters that went to live with his grandmother.
Jackson: And for me, finishing school was just so hard. So when I was in high school, and junior high, I didn't dress good. You know what they call now bullying. I went through all of that. And then when I went to high school, we were the second wave of Black kids to go to this white area school. It's a journey that I've been in, that I would've never imagined at all.
Opong: Drayton's path is long winding and at times full of obstacles. But he says it's the journey that is turning him into the leader and advocate he is now. There is a need, he says, for what he is creating.
Drayton understands the importance of wellness. After he moved from New York to Washington, he was homeless for a period of time with his wife, Nijhia and their two sons. Through the support of social services, he was able to find housing and enroll at Olympic College. Eventually he realized that he wanted to provide resources to those who may be experiencing the same thing he was.
Jackson: I had my first real mental breakdown right before COVID. And the reason why is, because I was taking four or five classes, and I was also working. I was also a husband, father, and just doing what a lot. I never felt that way ever. So I didn't know what it was, and it just took me. And I just really just checked out. Resilience is a definite word that I would use because that breakdown really showed me a lot about myself. I mean, you're looking at a person that lost my mother, my father, my grandfather, all in a span of six months. But this was different. This was not something that I've ever went through where I was just like, "What the hell is going on with me?" So the emotions of crying, the emotions of I don't want to do anything. All of that played on me. And when I stopped... And the one thing I love about Washington state, New York is beautiful too, but it's so much beauty here. I just went down to the water and I just was like, "Alright, what do I need to do?"
Opong: Drayton says he thought maybe he could just coach himself out of the funk he was in with better self care and by setting clear boundaries.
Jackson: So that for me led into me going to the gym, working out. And that's where I was able to release a lot of that tension and stuff. But I think it woke me up to see that I have to check on myself. Cause I'm so used to taking care of everybody else. And that's my biggest goal. I'm a Virgo, so this comes with the territory. So I just wind up taking care of everybody else. But the question for me was, who takes care of me? And then I have to be in charge of that to make sure I take care of myself. So that was one of the eye openers. The work-life balance was, it was something hard that I was so used to going... Because in New York you can go, and you don't realize that you need to stop because New York is so fast paced. But here it's not like that. And I think the slowness was so much of what I needed just to be in the moment.
Opong: Drayton made the intentional decision to slow down. He started working out and cut his course load to two classes. He says a time coach helped him learn how to minimize the overwhelm.
Jackson: When we talk about rich people, and we talk about people that means, these people have these people in their lives. So we may look at a CEO of a Fortune 500 company today, like, they paid for consultants to come in and teach them how to balance these things out. Where a lot of people that's in poverty, a lot of people that don't have the resources to do that, we don't get that.
Opong: In addition to realizing it's more than okay to ask for help, Drayton shared a valuable lesson he learned along the way.
Jackson: One of the greatest things that my time coach taught me was, not letting everybody in the boundaries. Before what I would do is, just when somebody needed to speak with me, I would just let them speak. And now I'm taking on all this energy, not realizing what I was doing. So when she says, "Yeah, alright, that time cost you, what did it cost you?" And when I started saying the value of time to speak to me, the time that I need for myself, that's when I started putting the value on, "Okay, I don't need to be speaking to you. You're going to take up all my time for something thats not going to get solved. Something that you may not even want to solve, but you need that." And then I have to realize that I'm not everybody's counselor.
Opong: He also needed to make a few other changes when it came to boundaries. Drayton also shared that his time coach recommended that he have a calendar where he tracks his day and follows it.
Jackson: But the greatest advice I think she did was, in those days, put time for myself. So now I schedule time for myself. I'll take a walk around the community and just walk for about an hour.
Opong: Part of being overwhelmed and taking care of his mental health meant dealing with feeling like an imposter. Drayton's got a seat at the table alongside other change makers, people who are college educated, and that has impacted his perception of his self-worth.
Jackson: I got accepted as an Ascend fellow for Aspen, and I just like, wow, it's a big thing, right? And I'm looking at all the names and everybody got doctor this, and they have these titles, and it's just little old me. And sometimes that's the way I feel. I got to finish this. I'm not done. But if God put me in these spaces for this reason, or I'm being given a chance to be in these spaces, my voice still matters. And what I had to get over, especially when I became president of the school board, I was just like, "Wow, what the hell? Am I worthy of it?" That was the first question I asked myself, and I really had a hard time grappling with it.
Opong: Feeling like an imposter is normal. While working in Cleveland, Ohio, Suzanne Imes and Pauline Rose Clance coined the term imposter phenomenon in 1978. It came about after they realized they both felt like they weren't good enough when they were graduate students, and many of the female students they were teaching felt the same way.
Jackson: Education is not just based off of books and a degree. Lived experiences, something so much greater that anybody can have. It always baffled me when you get hired to a job, the first thing they asked you is what experience you have. But then again, they went the degree. It's like right, "alright, what do you want? The degree or the experience?" And I think in society, especially in Washington state, we're starting to give those lanes to people with lived experience and say, "Hey, you're the experts." I could come to the table with my experiences, a Black man in this country. I could come to the table with being experienced as a person of color in this country. So if you've been granted to be at that table, always show up, even though it's... of being afraid. But when you show up, you'll realize, man, I deserve to be here.
Opong: Drayton's story is one of hope, setbacks, and perseverance. And it's also full of good news. Drayton wants people dealing with homelessness and poverty to feel worthy in his foundation's new building. He hopes the center will not only be a place for people to come in and figure things out for the day, but also for their future. He also wants to provide a teen and childcare center where homeless parents can drop off their children without having to worry about a long wait. The center has an LGBTQIA room as well. He's really proud of the space that the foundation is using right now, and the plans he and his team have for it, are ambitious. Here's Drayton describing the work he's put into the building while school has been on hold.
Jackson: So this is the entrance of Rejuvenation Community Day Center. So, as people come in here... All this is getting redone, of course, in the interim of it. But as people come in, this is the lobby area, the prism area. We wanted this to feel like a home. That's why there's a couch. So we want them to feel like you're not at a doctor's clinic or waiting at SSI. We want you to feel like, yo, this is a home that you could just come to relax while you're getting services. So 2741 Wheaton Way in Bremerton, us sitting in here is like a dream. It's like a dream come true.
Opong: Drayton went outside to talk about the big picture plans for the building.
Jackson: It's really an $8 million rebuild... For it. Which, we've already started. We have close to about $50,000 of that eight. So, we're building it.
Opong: Drayton's vision of the full building renovation won't be realized until the foundation acquires more funds. In the meantime, he's trying to use the space to help people in need, especially in the lower level of the building.
Jackson: What we are thinking about asking the county to do, is to give us this location to house encampments so we can put the tents in here. My family and I, we lived inside of Sally's Camp, which was ran by Kitsap Community Resources, and that allowed us to not be on the streets. We were in a building inside of a tent. So that type of model is what we're thinking about putting here for the winter. If the winter gets really cold, we can put two to three tents in here and house families in here to get them off the streets. So this way they will have a safe place to go.
Opong: Johan Drayton. Yes. That is really his last name is one of a handful of clients that the Foundation for Homeless and Poverty Management has helped since it opened its doors on Wheaton Way.
Johan Jackson: They fed me when I came here. They gave me encouragement and they definitely welcomed me in with open arms. And that's for, anybody's going through a situation like that, you would really want that and expect that. So this is exactly they do. I was able to get food stamps for myself. I was able to go through KCR, and I'm saying they able to put me up in a hotel. They actually pointed me in directions. You know what I'm saying? They helped me as far as me... When I got my job, they helped me tremendously.
Opong: Johan is 43 years old. He moved to Washington from North Carolina to be closer to one of his children who he hasn't seen in over a decade. Johan says Drayton Jackson is an inspiration to him and that he's become like family. Johan calls Drayton, his brother.
Johan Jackson: My brother has inspired me to think beyond, think beyond myself, think beyond my capabilities. He's a great mentor.
Opong: Drayton Jackson isn't exactly where he wants to be yet, but he has a goal to get into his BA program at Olympic College, then earn his masters, and a PhD.
Jackson: I am not going to stop no matter how, even if it takes me 10 years and I get it then, as long as I get it, that's all I care about.
Opong: All the while he's going to continue helping those in this community who need to find food, shelter, and an encouraging word.
Croom: Drayton Jackson works to help people break out of chronic homelessness and poverty. Parent advisors like Drayton, help shape Ascend's agenda and are leading voices in the growing movement to address the needs of the one in five college students in the US raising children. Thank you for listening.
1 in 5 is produced by LWC Studios, and presented by Ascend at the Aspen Institute, which is a catalyst and convener for systems policy and social impact leaders working to create a society where every family passes a legacy of prosperity and wellbeing from one generation to the next. To learn more about student parents and resources for them, please visit Ascend.AspenInstitute.org, and follow at @AspenAscend on Twitter. Diana Opong wrote and produced this episode. Elizabeth Nakano mixed it. Catherine Nouhan fact-checked it. Monica Lopez edited it. Paulina Velasco is our managing producer. And our theme song is Ascenders by Kojin Tashiro. I'm David Croom. Subscribe to 1 in 5 on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.
CITATION:
Opon, Diana. “Catching up with Drayton Jackson” 1 in 5 Podcast, Ascend at Aspen Institute, November 15 2022. Ascend.AspenInstitute.org.