We are CAN | Jimmy Greene
Most people who know Jimmy Greene today know him by his work and his voice in this community. Far fewer know where his story began.
Jimmy grew up in Flint, the oldest of six kids. His family lived in the projects for much of his childhood, largely without his father in the picture, and money was always tight. There was poverty, welfare, and a great deal of dysfunction at home. He was also abused as a child.
“Those experiences are difficult to talk about,” he says, “but they are an important part of understanding why protecting children means so much to me today.”
One chapter of his childhood has stayed with him more than any other. His mother gave up legal custody of him and his brothers but kept custody of his sister. At 18, his sister was murdered.
Decades later, Jimmy still thinks about what might have been different for her. “When I look back, I think about the absence of agencies and resources that might have protected her, intervened, or given her another path,” he says. “That has stayed with me my entire life.”
That absence shaped everything that came after. He knows what it feels like when the adults and systems meant to protect a child aren’t there, and he has spent his adult life working to make sure other kids aren’t left to endure what he did. “If my voice, my relationships, or my position in this community can help another child experience something different,” he says, “then I have a responsibility to use them.”
Today, Jimmy is Vice President of Marketing and Community Relations for the Saginaw Spirit, the 2024 Memorial Cup champions. Before joining the Spirit, he spent more than 15 years leading Associated Builders and Contractors in Michigan, first as CEO of the Greater Michigan Chapter and later as president of ABC of Michigan. Along the way, he has served on boards across the Great Lakes Bay Region, including the Saginaw Community Foundation and the Great Lakes Bay Region Early Childhood Development Initiative.
His relationship with CAN Council goes back decades. He has supported the organization for years and once served on its fundraising committee, so when he was asked to emcee this year’s Dine and Unwind, saying yes was easy because, in his words, “the mission is deeply personal.”
Jimmy sees the role as a responsibility, not a spotlight. “I recognize that I’ve been blessed with a voice in this community, and I believe a voice is only valuable if you’re willing to use it for something that matters.” Child abuse remains a reality for far too many kids, he points out, and if standing at the front of the room helps more people understand that, he’s honored to do it.
As he sees it, the purpose of the night comes down to two things. Awareness helps people understand the problem. Funding gives CAN Council the resources to do something about it. “It’s really that simple,” he says.
What he hopes guests take home with them is more personal. He wants them to remember that everyone has a story, including the people who look like they’ve always had it together. “Sometimes the people standing in front of us today survived things we know nothing about,” he says. “More importantly, there are children living those stories right now.”
That’s the part Jimmy wants people to sit with. It would be easy to look at his life now and see proof that kids can push through abuse and dysfunction on their own. He doesn’t see it that way.
“The more important question isn’t, ‘How did Jimmy make it?’” he says. “The question that has always stayed with me is: How many didn’t?”
How many children never had someone step in. How many never found their way out, carried that trauma for the rest of their lives, or never got the chance to build one at all.
“Children shouldn’t have to be extraordinarily lucky, resilient, or somehow ‘special’ to survive their childhood,” Jimmy says. “They should be protected.”