Jesse Simmons is a photographer, event manager, and more, in downtown Wilmington. Read his story as this week’s #PeopleOfWilmDE!
“I grew up in a North Wilmington suburb off Veale Road and went to school at Tatnall before politely being asked to leave in my junior year. I took a year’s sabbatical working first at Bert’s CDs on Rt 202 and then the Eckerds, that was on the same stretch. I ended up going back to school at Brandywine High School (BHS) but washed out. I was aimless and lacked direction. I had all the opportunities one could ever want but I squandered them all and fell fast. I spent my 18th birthday in jail and wouldn’t see the streets again for 18 more years. My incarceration profoundly changed me in so many ways, it exposed me to the inequalities that exist and the real-life struggles that so many in our community grapple with daily. I emerged from my own prison experience feeling more connected to humanity and convinced that we, on a societal level, can do better.
I currently work as an event manager for downtown Wilmington’s indie booksellers, Huxley & Hiro. Claire and Ryan brought me into their orbit after I approached them for my first Photography exhibit as part of Wilmington’s art loop. Outside of that, I am also the Operations Manager for Transit Trucking Company, a box-truck logistics company that employs returning citizens. We are based out of North Carolina but recently incorporated in Delaware. I am a founding partner of Delaware’s Affordable Housing Developers and our non-profit wing, The New Leaf Initiative FUND. We have zero properties under our belt and only a few pennies in the bank but my end goal is to lean on my past experiences in social work and case management to provide wrap-around support and transitional housing for men and women returning home from long prison sentences. My work as an artist, shooting and developing film photography, under the name Analog Bird is in support of these initiatives. I take online bookings for film photography shoots and have an upcoming exhibit at Huxley & Hiro scheduled for November 1st called Project Return. It is a portrait and mixed media series telling the stories of returned citizens in our community.
Wilmington has embraced me since my first day home and that first meal my friend Corie Priest took me to at Bob Evans on Rt 40. No longer directionless, no longer aimless, I have seized the opportunities like the wonderful Jumpstart Wilmington real-estate development program to amplify my voice and my ability to positively impact my community.
My proudest moments of being a Wilmingtonian occurred when I was working with Brandywine Counseling and Community Services as a Targeted Care Manager. Through my work with that organization we helped find stable housing for dozens of men and women in New Castle County. Many had been homeless for months or years. I see alot of my guys in town, healthy and putting on weight and always stop to see how they are doing.
I currently work with the participants of Project Return assisting them in their re-entry by leaning on my network and my resources in NCC. I remain involved with the re-entry community and prison reform community. I am a member of the Incarcerated Children’s Advocacy Network and I regularly attend and organize parole hearings for Juvenile Lifers.
Three interesting facts about me are:
- I continue to mountain bike throughout Brandywine Creek State Park with my childhood friends despite 3 knee surgeries and counting.
- I have two cats named after literary figures: Dorian Grey & Pietro Crespi.
- I got married to a beautiful social worker on September 1st!
My wife and I love this city and criss-cross it on foot and on our bikes almost daily. Wilmington brims with opportunity and promise. Wilmington to me represents a place where change is possible and can be realistically achieved on the individual level. Bigger cities can swallow you up and make you, as the individual, feel incapable of making a positive impact.
My wife never tires of our inability to go anywhere in this city without me stopping and talking to at least 3 people I know. She acts like she’s annoyed but I know she secretly loves the way Wilmington is a town masquerading as a small city.”
Wilmington Favorites
“I’m a big fan of Wilmington’s Art Loop! Every month local talent is showcased throughout downtown. Catch the free shuttle at Delaware Contemporary and hit all the galleries downtown on a Friday night.
I’m a cheapskate so I frequent all the free venues throughout town, especially during the summer months, like the new UAE Amphitheater on Walnut and staples like Bellevue and Rockford summer series, and of course The Queen!
On foot or on my bike through the city and across the Markell trail, on my way back into town I’ll stop at Constitution Yards or Farmer And The Cow.”
Future Vision
“Shop local! Resist the urge to buy everything online, whatever you need I’m telling you there is a small business in Wilmington that can provide it. If you forget to buy cat food sure go ahead and rush that Amazon order just don’t make a habit of it.
I’m excited by the small developers shaping our city from the small retail businesses popping up on Market St, like Huxley & Hiro and 10kvintageclothing. I’m particularly excited by the affordable and workforce housing initiatives passed in the recent legislative session that are incentivizing small developers to shape their neighborhoods to increase the housing stock and making housing more affordable in the city of Wilmington.
In the next 5-10 years I would like to see the city make a concerted effort to end homelessness in Delaware. An attainable goal a small city can achieve through a partnership with existing organizations like Springboard Collaborative, who have done wonders down in Georgetown, and by supporting housing initiatives and wrap-around support for men and women returning home from incarceration. It is easy to discount returned citizens, like they are somehow undeserving of support because of past transgressions but the fact remains that these are individuals that have been stymied in prisons for years and decades and usually lack the resources to successfully reintegrate into society. Without assistance they inevitably succumb to untreated health and mental health disorders, they sleep on our streets and eek an existence on the streets downtown.”
Follow Jesse Simmons, Analog Bird, on Instagram.
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