The Community Aid and Development Corporation (CAD) is a left-of-center organization that focuses on sponsoring programs that provide education and other assistance to African-American communities. ¹

As of 2023, Watani Tyehimba was listed as the executive director of the Community Aid and Development Corporation. Tyehimba has his own private investigative and protection service, Tyehimba Services, Inc. ^{2  3 4} Tyehimba helped establish various radical-left activist groups during the 1970s and 1980s, including the House of Umoja (RAM Black Panther Party), the Center for Black Survival, and is co-founder of the Afrikan Institute of Martial Arts. He is a founding member of the New Afrikan People’s Organization and the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement. ⁵

Tyehimba was imprisoned for fourteen months at Terminal Island Federal Prison in 1986 after he refused to provide his handwriting, a photograph of himself, and his fingerprints to a federal grand jury. Prosecutors accused  Tyehimba of having assisted in harboring alleged participants in a 1981 robbery of a Brinks armored car in New York that left two police officers and a security guard dead. ⁶

Background

The Community Aid and Development Corporation (CAD) is a left-of-center organization that focuses on sponsoring programs that provide education and other assistance to African-American communities. The organization was originally organized under the laws of the State of California, but is now based in Georgia, with its national headquarters located in Decatur, Georgia, and additional offices in Detroit, Michigan. ¹ CAD-sponsored programs in Atlanta, Georgia, include the New Afrikan Scout Organization, a youth organization, and the Malcolm X Festival and Malcolm X Banquet, both co-sponsored by the Atlanta chapter of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, a radical-left activist group that supports the establishment of what it calls “New Afrika,” as an “independent Black Nation” in the southern United States. ^{7  8  9 10}

CAD also sponsors other programs in Detroit, Michigan, and Jackson, Mississippi. ⁷

People

Watani Tyehimba was listed as the executive director of the Community Aid and Development Corporation as of 2023. Tyehimba has his own private investigative and protection service, Tyehimba Services, Inc. ^{2  3 4}

As of 2025, Tyehimba’s website states he “has been in the protective services field since 1972” and that his company was established in Georgia in 1997. It also notes that he “provided film and music management services for ‘High Profile’ artist Tupac Shakur,” is an advisory-board member for the Criminal Defense Investigation Training Council and faculty member of the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council, the Georgia Capital Defenders, the National Legal Aid and Defender Association, the Arizona Public Defender Association, and the National Association for Public Defense. ¹¹

Tyehimba helped establish various institutions during the 1970s and 1980s, including the House of Umoja (RAM Black Panther Party), the Center for Black Survival, and the Afrikan Institute of Martial Arts. He was the western regional coordinator for the National Black Human Rights Coalition and is a founding member of the New Afrikan People’s Organization and the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement. He also assisted in establishing the Malcolm X Center for Self-Determination. ⁵

Tyehimba was imprisoned for fourteen months at Terminal Island Federal Prison in 1986 after he refused to provide his handwriting, a photograph of himself, and his fingerprints to a federal grand jury. Prosecutors alleged that Tyehimba assisted in harboring alleged participants in a 1981 robbery of a Brinks armored car in New York, which left two police officers and a security guard dead. ⁶

Prosecutors alleged that Tyehimba harbored Mutulu Shakur, who was said to be the mastermind of the robbery and, according to the FBI, the leader of the Black Liberation Army. He was arrested in February 1986, charged with federal conspiracy, racketeering, murder, and armed robbery in connection with the Brinks robbery, and was imprisoned until December 2022. ^{6  5  12 13}

Tyehimba travelled to Zimbabwe on behalf of Shakur as a member of the legal team that aimed to determine if the government of Zimbabwe would take Shakur into custody. ⁵

Financials

The Community Aid and Development Corporation receives most of its revenue in the form of contributions and grants. ²

The organization’s total revenue amounted to just more than $1.2 million in 2022, just less than $1.1 million of which came from contributions and grants. CAD’s expenses amounted to $757,846 that same year. The organization’s revenue was just over $1.5 million in 2023, $1.4 million of which came from contributions and grants. CAD’s expenses amounted to $853,726 in 2023. The organization had just under $2 million in net assets in that year. ²

The Alliance for Global Justice, an organizing group that serves as a fiscal sponsor to numerous left-wing initiatives, reported providing CAD $167,257 from April 2020 through March 2021. ¹⁴

The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, the primary organizational outgrowth of the more-decentralized Black Lives Matter movement, granted a total of $75,000 to CAD in from July 2020 through June 2021. ¹⁵

The Marguerite Casey Foundation, the smaller of the two major left-of-center private foundations created from the legacy of United Parcel Service founder James E. Casey, granted CAD a total of $15,000 in 2023. ¹⁶

1. “About Us.” Community Aid and Development Corporation. Accessed July 7, 2025. https://www.cadnational.org/about_us.
2. “Community Aid & Development Corporation.” ProPublica. Accessed July 7, 2025. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/953402456.
3. “Contact.” Tyehimba Services, Inc. Accessed July 7, 2025. https://www.tyehimba.com/contact.html.
4. “Camp Pumziko PDF – 2019.” Accessed July 7, 2025. https://0n.b5z.net/i/u/10004149/f/Camp_Pumziko_Volunteer_Staff2_2019.pdf.
5. “Keynote Speakers.” Accessed July 7, 2025. https://sites.gsu.edu/gsuhiphopgoldenanniversaryconference/keynote-speakers/.
6. Murphy, Kim. “Activist’s Bid for Freedom Blocked : Refuses to Cooperate With Probe of N.Y. Brink’s Holdup.” LA Times. August 12, 1987. Accessed July 7, 2025. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-08-12-mn-465-story.html.
7. “Programs.” Community Aid and Development. Accessed July 7, 2025. https://www.cadnational.org/programs.
8. “Home.” Malcolm X Banquet. Accessed July 7, 2025. https://www.malcolmxbanquet.com/.
9. “Home.” Malcolm X Festival. Accessed July 7, 2025. https://malcolmxfestival.com/.
10. “Why We Say “Free the Land!” – Malcolm X Grassroots Movement.” Accessed July 7, 2025. https://freethelandmxgm.org/why-we-say-free-the-land/.
11. “President and CEO.” Tyehimba Services, Inc. Accessed July 7, 2025. https://www.tyehimba.com/president-ceo.html.
12. “Mutulu Shakur.” FBI. Accessed July 7, 2025. https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/topten/topten-history/hires_images/FBI-380-MutuluShakur.jpg/view.
13. Fitz-Gibbon, Jorge. “Tupac Shakur’s stepdad Mutulu freed after 40 years in prison for 1981 Brinks heist that left 2 cops dead.” December 19, 2022. Accessed July 7, 2025. https://nypost.com/2022/12/18/tupac-shakurs-stepdad-mutulu-freed-after-40-years-in-prison-for-1981-brinks-heist/.
14. “Alliance For Global Justice, Full Filing – 2020” ProPublica. Accessed July 7, 2025. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/522094677/202123159349306682/full.
15. “Black Lives Matter Foundation Inc. – 2020” Accessed July 7, 2025. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/824862489/202300209349300140/full.
16. “Marguerite Casey Foundation – 2023” Nonprofit Explorer. Accessed July 7, 2025. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/912062197/202423209349100302/full.