SXSW Community Service Awards Recognition: DAWA

The SXSW Community Service Awards celebrate leaders and non-profit organizations from Austin and around the world who work tirelessly to improve the standing of the specific groups and causes that they serve. Jonathan 'Chaka' Mahone is a visionary storyteller who believes in the power of art, and the importance of the artist as a community catalyst for social and cultural change, economic development, healing, planning, and collective conversation. As a performing artist and musician, he has traveled the world as one-half of the award-winning hip hop duo, Riders Against the Storm (RAS). As a civic leader, Mahone became the first African-American Chair of Austin's Music Commission in 2021. After more than a decade pushing through barriers constructed by the historic race and genre biases of Austin's music industry, he founded DAWA (a Swahili, Hindi, and Arabic word for medicine), in 2019 to provide a safety net for People of Color that are experiencing short term life crisis. More specifically, people of color who are givers: musicians, artists, social workers, teachers, healing practitioners, and service industry workers. Through its mission of giving to the givers, and its vision of centering community and culture to drive social impact, DAWA (Diversity Awareness and Wellness in Action) has directly invested over a half million dollars in this group over the last 6 years.