Social impact is how you express the values of your brand.

Jonathan L. Wharton, Ph.D. is the School of Graduate and Professional Studies associate dean and teaches political science at Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven. His teaching, writing and research centers on state and local government, public policy, economic development as well as identity and coalition building politics. Wharton currently serves on the New England Political Science Association, Connecticut Mirror and Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation boards as well as volunteers for tristate chapters of his Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity. Wharton served as a New Haven City Plan commissioner (2016-2020), deacon and moderator at New Haven’s First Congregational Center Church on the Green (2017-2021), New Haven Republicans chairman (2016-2018) and elected to the Republican State Central Committee (2018-2020).

Jamil Ragland is a writer from the Hartford area. Raised in Greater Hartford, he attended Capital Community College and graduated from Trinity College in 2013. Jamil began writing opinion pieces in 2008, inspired by the columnists he read while working at a local gas station. His work deals with politics, race, and culture. Jamil believes that writing is a way to share ideas that can have positive changes for people in need. Speaking out is a way to hold the powerful to account and to rally people to causes that cannot be achieved alone. Jamil has been published in CT News Junkie, The Connecticut Mirror, WNPR, New England Public Media, The Hartford Courant and several other venues. Additionally, he has appeared on The Colin McEnroe Show and Where We Live. He was the co-host of Connecticut Public’s The Radius Project, a podcast which explored the city of Hartford. He’s won the United Way of Central and Northern Connecticut’s Community Rock Star award, and PRNDI’s Commentary Award, 2nd place. Jamil works as a staff writer at Planned Parenthood of Southern New England. He lives in Hartford with his son.

Haddiyyah Ali graduated from the University of Connecticut in 2017 with a degree in political science and Africana studies. She has seven years of experience as an organizer and in 2017, she was recognized by the Connecticut Women’s Education and Legal Fund with the “Future Is Now” award for her work advancing the rights of women and girls of color in Connecticut. That same year, she received the Connecticut NAACP “Student Lifetime Achievement Award” for her organizing on UConn’s campus. Haddiyyah is a writer, poet, mentor and co-founder of Abolition Ummah, a Muslim led organization that supports incarcerated Muslims and seeks abolition of all systems in the prison industrial complex. Her work focuses on the intersections of race, religion, and gender and radical organizing against the white supremacist state.