Josh Glenn, advocate who worked tirelessly for youths, dead at 35

Josh Glenn, 35, a beloved community organizer and youth justice advocate, died unexpectedly Aug. 12. The cause of death was not disclosed.

“As a person, he’s completely irreplaceable,” said Kendra Van de Water, the executive director and co-founder of YEAH Philly, a nonprofit working with youth who have been impacted by violence, which Mr. Glenn joined this summer.

“It’s a loss for the whole community.”

“I watched him show up and interact and actually stand for people who were for the most part voiceless.”

When Mr. Glenn was 16, he was arrested on assault charges and spent 18 months in jail awaiting trial because he couldn’t afford bail. Mr. Glenn always denied that he committed the crime, and the charges were eventually dropped. Though Mr. Glenn was freed, the ordeal showed him the indignities and injustices of the criminal justice system, especially when it came to youth defendants. He was determined to make sure that other young people avoided the same experience.

“He always said that ‘I’m tired of having meetings. Why can’t we just do? Why can’t we just help people? There are people right now who need help,’” Van de Water said.

Mr. Glenn met Sarah Morris while he was still incarcerated, at a weekly poetry workshop inside of the jail. They and other formerly incarcerated juveniles founded the Youth Art & Self-empowerment Project (YASP) in 2006, a nonprofit organization working to end youth incarceration. YASP’s programming is led by youth, and includes restorative justice work, policy campaigning, and working with other youth inside and outside of Philly jails on art projects to encourage self-expression.

Mr. Glenn bonded with and cared for the youth he met, and believed that every kid deserved to be listened to and supported.

“He wanted to dedicate his life to changing the city, to fighting for justice, to creating a world where all young people have the things they need and don’t have to experience the kind of injustice that he [did],” Morris said.

Mr. Glenn’s zealous advocacy for young people and against mass incarceration was not limited to YASP’s direct work with impacted youth. He spoke to high school and college classes as well as City Council about his story, and helped push for the end of cash bail in Philadelphia and the creation of the Philadelphia Community Bail Fund.

He used writing and poetry to share his visions for a more just world and to inspire others to imagine the same.

“He was an amazing leader, but he led in a way that didn’t take over the mic and take up space, but instead helped other community members around him see how they themselves can be leaders, too,” said Mark Standquist, who worked with Mr. Glenn in the Reentry Think Tank, which connects people returning from prison with artists and advocates to change public perceptions about and better support reentering individuals.

As the Youth Campaign Director with YEAH Philly, Mr. Glenn was working on training for young people so they could become organizers in and around the justice system. During the training, they would be paid over three months, and would learn about the inner workings of city government and how to take care of themselves as organizers.

“He was so excited about it,” Van de Water said. “He cared so much about this work.”

Even though Devren Washington, the organizing director with the People’s Tech Project, was about the same age as Mr. Glenn, Washington couldn’t help but admire him as they worked together on the community bail fund and most recently on the YEAH Philly training.

“Part of me always looked up to him as someone who was a grounded organizer in Philly, from Philly, who had real connections to not just the work, but the communities that are most impacted by the issues that are going on,” he said.

“I watched him show up and interact and actually stand for people who were for the most part voiceless,” said Damone B. Jones Sr., senior pastor at Bible Way Baptist Church, who met Mr. Glenn years ago as a fellow advocate for incarcerated youth.

“I’ve watched him engage at a level where the people that he was supporting sometimes [didn’t] know the questions that they need to ask. And Josh would stand in that gap.”

Jones founded his own mentoring organization, The BrothaHood Foundation, and has decades of experience working with kids who have fallen into trouble. Even still, he leaned on Mr. Glenn when it came to his own child.

When Jones’ son got into trouble, Mr. Glenn supported them both. Now, Jones will deliver Mr. Glenn’s eulogy on Thursday.

“It’s different when it’s your child and Josh was there not only to help me through it, but he also mentored my son. So I will always be indebted to [him and] the sacrifices he made to do that,” he said.

“We need more people like Josh.”

“I always experienced him as a a very loving family man.”

As much as Mr. Glenn was known as a committed advocate and organizer, those who knew him said that he loved his wife, Danita, and children just as fiercely, and was not shy about sharing it.

“I always experienced him as a very loving family man. Who loved all of his children and was really proud of [them] and of his family and his wife,” Washington said.

“Oh my gosh, that’s all he talked about. He loved his wife and kids,” Van de Water said. “They were so important to him.”

Survivors include his wife and their six children.

Funeral services are scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 24, at Monumental Baptist Church on 4948 Locust St. A viewing will begin at 9 a.m., with a service to follow at 10 a.m. People may also donate to the GoFundMe campaign that Mr. Glenn’s friends have started (which has been verified by GoFundMe) which will benefit Mr. Glenn’s wife, Danita, and their six children.