Collective Power Podcast
Collective Voices Transform Systemic Abuse
92.9 FM in Philadelphia or
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March: 12 - Seeing the System doesn't mean giving up: What's the road to economic freedom? : Franklin D. Deese.
Rita Sinorita Fierro, Ph.D.
Host
Rita has spent 20 years learning from families who lost their children to foster care. HfG was born as the strategy arm of my book Give Me Back My Child: How the USA System Kidnaps Children. With a Masters in Sociology, a Ph.D. in African American Studies, and a certification as a Reiki Master Teacher, Dr. Rita is deeply committed to a world of unconditional love and freedom, where everyone belongs to everyone. Dr Rita has also founded and lead Fierro Consulting, LLC, a organizational development, firm that brings community engagement to evaluation. You can learn more about Dr. Rita's speaking and writing at Ritafierro.comGuest
Guest
Franklin D. Deese
Franklin D. Deese is presently serving his fifth year as city manager, after serving fourteen years as Mayor to
the town of Marshville, NC. He is the first and only African American elected to serve any Union County
Municipality in that capacity Mayor or Manager in the County’s 150+ years history. He was first elected to the
office of Mayor in 2005.
Mayor Deese serves on several different boards, as well as in many civic and community organizations on a
local and state level.
Mayor Deese is a two-time recipient of the prestigious Governor’s Award. He received the Union County
Minority Entrepreneur of the Year and was nomination for the WSOC Nine Who Care Award. He was chosen
as the 2012 citizen of the year in Union County and is the recipient of the History Maker Award. Mayor Deese
speaks all over the nation, sharing his message of achievement and helping people overcome their own personal
prisons.
Born in the late 50’s and reared during the turbulent unrest of the 60’s, Mayor Deese came of age during a time
of sexual revelation, drugs and street life. He fell victim to a system that punished those who overindulged. In
the 80’s, he spent his early adulthood in the dismal crypts of a cruel and oppressive prison system. Convicted
for robbery, he was ironically sentenced to a system designed to rob a person of all future potential. In 1989 he
was paroled into society with the clothes on his back and $30.00 in his pockets.
By applying the powerful lessons of faith, focus and perseverance that he outlines in his best-selling book
“From Inmate To Mayor,” Franklin Deese has proven that there is no mountain too high to overcome. Today he
is the only African American in the Nation to serve over 10 years in the prison system and then be elected
mayor in the same city.
Mayor Deese owns a personal income tax preparation business that he started over thirty years ago. He is
currently working with a nonprofit to combat recidivism and has completed the first in a trilogy of novels, while
also working on a new work of nonfiction. He has five children, Shaunda (deceased), Kimberly, Tiffany,
Franklin II, and Kamilah; and 5 grandchildren, Jayla, Jamylan, Jacyn, Alise and Jasir.
Past shows available now on Apple Podcasts and Spotify!
