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About This Episode
Hillary Blout spent years as a prosecutor fighting for victims and safer neighborhoods. Then she sat across from a man serving a life sentence and realized the system had no way to look back. So she wrote a law to change that.
Today, Hillary is the founder of For The People, which pioneered prosecutor-initiated resentencing, the first law of its kind in the country. Guest co-host Carolina García Jayaram, founding CEO of the Elevate Prize Foundation, joins Jon to talk about audacity, proximity, and building alliances no one thought possible. 🩵
In this episode, you'll hear:
How Hillary turned a single "what if" into a first-of-its-kind law, and what that teaches any leader whose idea has been called unworkable
Why proximity is really empathy, and how bringing unlikely allies into the same room moves people who once stood on opposite sides
How Hillary went from rolling her eyes at self-care to making joy an official organizational value
You'll walk away with a renewed sense of your why and a model for building the bridges your mission can't succeed without.
Episode Highlights:
(1:23) Meet Hillary Blout, founder of For The People
(2:44) Big dreams and a meandering path
(5:53) What is prosecutor-initiated resentencing?
(10:57) The audacity to write a new law
(12:50) Proximity, empathy, and unlikely allies
(18:19) Leading from a whole place: burnout, rest, and joy
(22:24) A moment of generosity: Hillary's first funder
(24:09) One good thing: go back to your purpose
Meet Hillary: The Former Prosecutor Rewriting What Justice Can Look Like
Hillary Blout is a lawyer, former prosecutor, and the founder of For The People, a nonprofit that pioneered prosecutor-initiated resentencing. Hillary Blout is a Fast Company World Changing Ideas Award winner, a Draper Richards Kaplan social entrepreneur, and a member of the latest Elevate Prize cohort. Growing up in an unsafe neighborhood where education took a back seat to survival, she told her high school friends she'd become a lawyer and help the kids around her. Today, For The People works to make the justice system more humane, one second chance at a time.
Guest co-host Carolina García Jayaram is the CEO of the Elevate Prize Foundation, which is on a mission to Make Good Famous by amplifying changemakers and supporting them as whole leaders, and host of the YouTube-first podcast The Whole Point. A lifelong advocate for the arts and social justice, she is also a certified yoga and meditation teacher.
Powerful Quotes
"Go back to your purpose. You have to be grounded in why you do this work." - Hillary
"I have been very clear why me, why this work, why now." - Hillary
"The system itself is truly designed around this concept of finality." - Hillary
"Now we agree as a country that we can look back if they're innocent. Can we be a country that looks back if it just doesn't serve interests anymore for them to be in prison?" - Hillary
"Prosecutors were the ones that asked for this sentence, so prosecutors should be able to go back and ask for a new sentence in the interest of justice." - Hillary
"It doesn't mean that they are irredeemable and they don't have anything else to offer." - Hillary
"The only way that they can make amends is by interrupting future cycles of violence." - Hillary
"When you're proximate, that's where you see one another's humanity, and that's where the empathy is born out of." - Hillary
"We all need to be sitting down with people to better understand why they make the choices that they make, and not be afraid of whether we agree with everything." - Hillary
"I may not see it in my lifetime, but my grandkids might see the result of this vision." - Hillary
"10 years ago, those concepts were very foreign. I looked at them as a weakness." - Hillary
"I believe in you. I believe in your fire." - Quinn Delaney, as shared by Hillary
Resources Mentioned
For The People: nonprofit that pioneered prosecutor-initiated resentencing
Home for Good stories: For The People's video series featuring people who have come home and are making an impact in their communities
Prosecutor-initiated resentencing: the law Hillary wrote that allows prosecutors to revisit past sentences in the interest of justice, first passed in California
Elevate Prize Foundation: guest co-host Carolina García Jayaram's organization, dedicated to making good famous; Hillary is a member of its latest cohort
Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation: venture philanthropy fund supporting early-stage social entrepreneurs
Fast Company World Changing Ideas Awards: recognized Hillary's work with For The People
Impact Up: Pause: We Are For Good's upcoming quarterly community gathering focused on reconnecting with self, mission, and purpose
Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this episode, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com
