About Us

Red Tail Legacy Partners, LLC was formed in 2024 as the next step in the life trajectory of its founder, Jonathan Beard. Beard, the son of a Tuskegee Airman and a mother whose ancestors were original founders of the Lakeview Community -- a Freeman's Settlement in southern Illinois dating from the 1820s, is a community and economic development professional, who has worked at the intersection of real estate development, workforce development, and career-technical education over more than 25 years.

After studying political science at the University of Pennsylvania, Beard has watched with concern as the nation's structures that were designed to support small states and White, male, property owners are being used to enshrine a backwards-looking "minority rule" in an increasingly diverse America.  Penn was founded by Benjamin Franklin, who Beard initially knew for the kite and the key. Studying political science there, though, he quickly learned that Franklin is a founding father and the political science curriculum focused heavily on the Constitutional design and structure of the nation, and Beard has viewed the nation through that unique perspective since then.

After earning his Masters in Public Administration at The Ohio State University, and running a nonprofit that secured and administered Columbus, Ohio's Round II Urban Empowerment Zone designation, Beard became one of a handful of practicioneers to run a "comprehensive community development initiative" in this generation. In this capacity, he was selected by his peers across the country to testify before the Select Revenues Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee.

Dissatisfied with the response of local government to the needs of disadvantaged communities and recognizing it as stemming from a flaw in the electoral system ("at large" council elections, which are disfavored and presumed unlawful by the Voting Rights Act of 1965), in 2015 he led the only citizen-initiated charter amendment ballot initiative in the city of Columbus, Ohio's history to ever get on the ballot. He followed up working with a team to gather more signatures in pursuit of ballot initiatives to reform the city council and enact campaign finance reforms, and initiated a rent control initiative that sparked the state of Ohio to pre-emptively forbid rent control  in Ohio. The issues people are talking about, he is working through the democratic process to create -- stymied by big money, but crafting solutions with people power.

He is watching the Republican Party and a Supreme Court shaped by a president who couldn't win a majority of the popular vote and Justices who were confirmed by Senators that don't represent a majority of Americans create the foundation for an apartheid-style, minority White rule. He understands how the fear of demographic change from those traditionally in-power is leading to the destruction of social and political norms and creating an America that is increasingly turning its back on the values and perspectives of the younger and more diverse Americans who are its future. 

Beard believes his generation needs to facilitate the future, rather than cling to the past. After having been one of a handful of this generation to run a "comprehensive community development initiative" by organizing and leading the community strategic planning and grant-writing processes that resulted in Columbus receiving a $100M HUD Urban Empowerment Zone grant, which he then led as president of a nonprofit organization. He has rehabilitated residential properties for affordable rents, he has financed commercial real estate, he has developed retail in the most distressed areas of the city from "mom and pop" sole proprietorships to national name brands including a full-service grocery store. He has organized nonprofit organizations to provide job training, and connected job-poor areas of the city to job-rich areas of the city by funding transportation options to help people break through economically. Beard knows we can build affordable housing and create communities with all the career and life advantages of a college campus -- and without the crippling college debt. 

Through later work as an Assistant Director in the Ohio Department of Education's Office of Career Technical Education, he knows that technology has transformed the learning community and workforce, and that there is new opportunity to access well-paying jobs with short-term, inexpensive skills development and industry-recognized credentials.

Beard has recently worked as an Independent Consultant in support of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Community Change Grant Program (an environmental justice initiative now being unlawfully undermined by DOGE and the Trump administration), helping community-based organizations, cities, colleges, and federally-recognized tribes organize, apply for grant funding, and administer awarded funds up to $20 million in size.

Beard knows that we can resettle America by building new communities even in more remote places near natural attractions, or on the edges of big cities. He knows you don't need to live in a big city to have a community full of support, resources and fun.  He is focused on creating communities designed for progressive young adults, where they can learn together, socialize, support each other, and advance in careers that matter and match their values. Red Tail Legacy Partners has a mission to do that.

"I have watched this generation of young adults grow up -- and I love them. They are smart, and funny, and caring. I wish those others who are trapped in their bubbles of fear could see you through my eyes - could see you as I do ... then they wouldn't be scared, they would be proud, and happy, and encouraged.

This younger generation is who my generation tried to be and should have been -- instead of growing up during a period of separation and fear-based 'White flight' to the suburbs, this generation grew up with friends who don't have to look like them. I have watched you stick up for each other -- whether as teammates winning and losing in sports together -or in leading the largest social justice movement in America's history through Black Lives Matter. 

You are protesting the genocide in Gaza and calling for an end to our country and its institutions' complicity in that ethnic cleansing. You are rightfully concerned about the health of the planet and the impact of guns in our society. You aren't afraid if someone expresses their gender or sexuality differently, you fully support a woman's right to choose her reproductive healthcare and her future -- you certainly aren't obsessed with turning young women into baby-makers as some of the older generations appear to be. 

You don't have too much worry about which God people may choose to pray to. You believe everyone should have the right to vote, and want to vote with confidence in people who share your values and perspectives. 

You see strength and beauty in our nation's ethnic diversity and are open to an America for all. You learn fast and work hard -- but need a fair opportunity with a chance to live affordably and without crushing college debt.

I believe it is the duty and responsibility of my generation to organize to do all that with you; the know-how and resources of older generations should support the aspirations of younger generations. Through this movement, we can and will leverage the Constitutional design to restructure the country politically to support you in getting rid of much of the stupidity, hatred and bitterness in national politics, and helping you build the community and the country that you can be proud to call yours."