My Lil Nouns Story begins when I received a Lil Noun token, #6265 from a friend who is more of an NFT, Web3 guy than I am. I received the token the first week of October and dove into the community head first. I’ve always loved learning and this presented a great learning opportunity!
Https://lilnouns.wtf is a Web3 based NFT community, the tokens represent votes that can be cast to direct the use of communal treasury funds. These treasury funds are accrued through the successful auction of Lil Nouns tokens.
In order to develop a foundation of basic understanding in this ecosystem I had to observe for a while, paying attention to who would be great to have in my corner, and what proposals were receiving favorable results from voters.
Why stay in Lil Nouns? It’s an accessible community that’s a more convenient affordable entry point into this ecosystem. When considering any work that I do, I always evaluate the opportunities I find through the lens of a formerly incarcerated person.
On the macro level I wouldn’t consider the web3 and nft communities to be places where many formerly incarcerated, or reentering Americans are spending time. I feel comfortable making that assumption based out of my own lived experience.
When I released, I thought I didn’t have time to spend on something I didn’t know was going to be a sure thing, I was worried about a safe place to stay, a job, food, and not going back to jail. It’s difficult to see how that meshes with where my life has gone. It takes time to iterate on a business idea, and courage to move forward. Currently the two communities lack opportunities for formerly incarcerated people to be heard and find a place, I’m grateful for the opportunity to lean into that to carve out more space.
Stripping the complexity and required depth of understanding away from Web3 and NFTs, this protocol of decentralized democratic community funding reveals an immense social impact investing opportunity. That doesn’t require an intimate understanding of technology, just community.
When I was given #6265 I didn’t have any capital or ETH to participate in either Web3 or NFTs. So, as I began showing up I learned more about opportunities to win small amounts of ETH. I eventually won a few drawings for ETH which gave me some capital, which I then used to purchase FOODNOUNS tokens. Before doing so Chef Grant the cofounder of the FOODNOUNS project gave me a Rack of Ribs Token.
In Foodnouns we unanimously voted through a proposal to use 2 ETH in treasury funds to feed Jollof Rice to hundreds of people in Nigeria. I have found more of my people in FOODNOUNS.
It’s incredible that I get to tell people that passing this proposal will allow me to launch my business. Everyone I meet along the way will know that a portion of the funds used to launch Get-By were sourced from my friends and family with Gofundme, and a bunch of random amazing people in Lil Nouns!
That leaves me pondering some big questions, how can Lil Nouns be a vehicle for other people like me to achieve their dreams? How can I put my best foot forward to increase abundance of opportunity for the next person who is living the reentry experience.
When I got into Lil Nouns, I joined the discord and opened a discord proposal ideas thread, which I used to keep everyone up to date on the current draft of the proposal, I found great success in using discord to communicate with community members, over time I met new potential champions and mentors who would later become voters!
The prop I wanted to submit was essentially a call to this community, is Get-By “Nounish”? If not, what is Nounish? Are second chances Nounish? And if so, is this community willing to make space for people who need second chances?
Prop #85: Get-By x Lil Nouns – Second Chances are Nounish! was officially submitted onchain to the Lil Nouns DAO on December 18, 2022. The prop successfully passed on December 21 with a vote of 1048-475, 22 wallets voting in favor and 10 voting against. The proposal asked for Launch and Marketing funds from the DAO to the tune of 13.9 ETH or $17,600 at the time.