We'll be carpooling from the hotel to the meeting site.
Please meet in the hotel lobby by 2:45pm (08/15).
Dear Participants,
I’m looking forward to our meeting in August 15-17 meeting in Denver, where we will begin to address the monumental task of shifting political consciousness in the US, and building a collective base for sustained engagement to achieve equity and social justice.
I invite you to use this blog as an opportunity to engage in a virtual dialog before we come face-to-face – a dialogue that will inform our construction of the meeting agenda. Feel free to add your comments at the bottom of this page.
I can be reached at 617-905-4556.
Linda Mizell
POLITICAL EDUCATION PROJECT
under the auspices of the
Participation and Representation in U.S. Politics and U.S. Civil Society Program
Governance and Civil Society Unit of the Peace and Social Justice Program
The Ford Foundation
Project Summary
The Political Education Project brings together a number of academics, practitioners, and activists whose work addresses the large task of shifting political consciousness in the United States, The goal of the project is to share information, explore the potential for effective collaboration, and ultimately to build a base for sustained political engagement to achieve equity and social justice.
Project Background
This project was initiated by Thomasina Williams, Program Officer for the Ford Foundation’s Participation and Representation in U.S. Politics and U.S. Civil Society Program. Ms. Williams is a nationally recognized expert in group voting rights litigation. She co-chaired the National Bar Association’s Election/Voting Rights Task Force, and was part of the legal team that represented the NAACP and the class of black voters who were disenfranchised as a result of the presidential election in 2000.
Over a year ago, inspired by what she saw as common threads in her conversations with a number of Ford Foundation applicants and grantees, Ms. Williams began ruminating on two troubling issues that frequently emerged in her work: first, that all too frequently, social justice activists approach their work with little more than a superficial understanding of history, and the political and economic forces that have defined their circumstances; and second, in many cases activists have not been intentional in preserving, recording and sharing their own history and contributions.
Ms. Williams envisioned the development of a set of popular education materials, grounded in the histories of various social justice movements, that would provide this important context for contemporary challenges and that could be made available in a series of different media forms as a valuable resource for those seeking social, political and economic justice. In addition, she was keenly interested in the potential of this project for expanding the notion of political participation beyond the sphere of voting and voting-related activities. In collaboration with fellow Program Officer Alta Starr, she engaged the services of educational consultant Linda Mizell to convene a meeting of individuals whose work indicated a possible interest in pursuing or contributing to such a project.
An initial informal survey revealed that there is, in fact, a multitude of individuals and organizations who are already engaged, at varying levels, in the development and implementation of popular education initiatives that use Civil Rights, Labor, and other movement histories as their framework. However, too many organizations seem unaware of each others’ work in this area. Although movement history has been central to the philosophy and organization of a number of gatherings (e.g., “Free Minds, Free People,” Chicago, 2007; Ella’s Daughters, Chicago, 2007; the annual conferences of Teachers 4 Social Justice conference, San Francisco; and the Algebra Project, Jackson, MS), to our knowledge none has yet had as its explicit goal the kind of project development that Ms. Williams envisioned.
Aside from that preliminary list that inspired the project, Ms. Williams’s and Ms. Starr’s later conversations with colleagues and activists quickly generated a list of about thirty individuals and organizational leaders who clearly represent only a fraction of the number of those who might be involved in the conversation. This became the group that will assemble in Denver, August 15-17, with the goal of defining and refining the Political Education Project’s vision and desired outcomes
Preliminary Planning Meeting Agenda
Participants are invited to share input on developing the agenda for our August 15-17 meeting. Here are the areas of focus that we’ve identified so far:
Redefining Political Participation: How do we shift the notion of political participation beyond the sphere of voting and voting-related activities. What happens when critical political consciousness develops at the grassroots level?
Movement analysis: what can and should we learn – and what have we learned – from historical movements? What issues, questions and challenges emerge from a critical examination of the successes and failures of both “old school” and “new school” initiatives?
Socioeconomic, political and historical context: What tools have we developed to help people understand the real basis of our country’s founding, and how can/do we use them effectively?
Building Multiracial Movements: How do we build and sustain strategic relationships and alliances across communities of color?
Building Global Movements: How have U.S.-based movements informed global liberation struggles? What lessons can we learn from movements in other countries?
Planning Group Participants
The preliminary planning group comprises a number of individuals who cross the perceived boundaries between academia, public education, and activism, and who collectively bring an extraordinary level of knowledge, skills, and experiences to the table:
under the auspices of the
Participation and Representation in U.S. Politics and U.S. Civil Society Program
Governance and Civil Society Unit of the Peace and Social Justice Program
The Ford Foundation
Project Summary
The Political Education Project brings together a number of academics, practitioners, and activists whose work addresses the large task of shifting political consciousness in the United States, The goal of the project is to share information, explore the potential for effective collaboration, and ultimately to build a base for sustained political engagement to achieve equity and social justice.
Project Background
This project was initiated by Thomasina Williams, Program Officer for the Ford Foundation’s Participation and Representation in U.S. Politics and U.S. Civil Society Program. Ms. Williams is a nationally recognized expert in group voting rights litigation. She co-chaired the National Bar Association’s Election/Voting Rights Task Force, and was part of the legal team that represented the NAACP and the class of black voters who were disenfranchised as a result of the presidential election in 2000.
Over a year ago, inspired by what she saw as common threads in her conversations with a number of Ford Foundation applicants and grantees, Ms. Williams began ruminating on two troubling issues that frequently emerged in her work: first, that all too frequently, social justice activists approach their work with little more than a superficial understanding of history, and the political and economic forces that have defined their circumstances; and second, in many cases activists have not been intentional in preserving, recording and sharing their own history and contributions.
Ms. Williams envisioned the development of a set of popular education materials, grounded in the histories of various social justice movements, that would provide this important context for contemporary challenges and that could be made available in a series of different media forms as a valuable resource for those seeking social, political and economic justice. In addition, she was keenly interested in the potential of this project for expanding the notion of political participation beyond the sphere of voting and voting-related activities. In collaboration with fellow Program Officer Alta Starr, she engaged the services of educational consultant Linda Mizell to convene a meeting of individuals whose work indicated a possible interest in pursuing or contributing to such a project.
An initial informal survey revealed that there is, in fact, a multitude of individuals and organizations who are already engaged, at varying levels, in the development and implementation of popular education initiatives that use Civil Rights, Labor, and other movement histories as their framework. However, too many organizations seem unaware of each others’ work in this area. Although movement history has been central to the philosophy and organization of a number of gatherings (e.g., “Free Minds, Free People,” Chicago, 2007; Ella’s Daughters, Chicago, 2007; the annual conferences of Teachers 4 Social Justice conference, San Francisco; and the Algebra Project, Jackson, MS), to our knowledge none has yet had as its explicit goal the kind of project development that Ms. Williams envisioned.
Aside from that preliminary list that inspired the project, Ms. Williams’s and Ms. Starr’s later conversations with colleagues and activists quickly generated a list of about thirty individuals and organizational leaders who clearly represent only a fraction of the number of those who might be involved in the conversation. This became the group that will assemble in Denver, August 15-17, with the goal of defining and refining the Political Education Project’s vision and desired outcomes
Preliminary Planning Meeting Agenda
Participants are invited to share input on developing the agenda for our August 15-17 meeting. Here are the areas of focus that we’ve identified so far:
Redefining Political Participation: How do we shift the notion of political participation beyond the sphere of voting and voting-related activities. What happens when critical political consciousness develops at the grassroots level?
Movement analysis: what can and should we learn – and what have we learned – from historical movements? What issues, questions and challenges emerge from a critical examination of the successes and failures of both “old school” and “new school” initiatives?
Socioeconomic, political and historical context: What tools have we developed to help people understand the real basis of our country’s founding, and how can/do we use them effectively?
Building Multiracial Movements: How do we build and sustain strategic relationships and alliances across communities of color?
Building Global Movements: How have U.S.-based movements informed global liberation struggles? What lessons can we learn from movements in other countries?
Planning Group Participants
The preliminary planning group comprises a number of individuals who cross the perceived boundaries between academia, public education, and activism, and who collectively bring an extraordinary level of knowledge, skills, and experiences to the table:
Pancho Arguelles
Colectivo Flatlander for Popular Education
pancho@colectivoflatlander.org
Colectivo Flatlander for Popular Education
pancho@colectivoflatlander.org
Francisco (Pancho) Arguelles Paz y Puente is a co-founder of Colectivo Flatlander for Popular Education, based in Houston Texas. He has been instrumental in the establishment of the BRIDGE Project at the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (NNIRR), the Institute for Development of Leadership (INDELI) at the Highlander Research and Education Center, and the Immigrant Rights working group at the National Organizers Alliance. Before moving to the United States Pancho worked as a popular educator in Chiapas, Nicaragua, and other places. He is principal of Paz y Puente, LLC and father to Maria and Antonio.
Rahul Choudaha
University of Denver
rchoudah@du.edu
Rahul Choudaha is a Ph.D. Candidate in Higher Education program at the Morgridge College of Education, University of Denver. His research interest focuses on strategic management of higher education, human capital management, and international and interdisciplinary education. Rahul holds an MBA from NITIE, Mumbai and B.Engg.(Hons) in Electronics & Telecom. Prior to joining DU, Rahul worked as Manager-Admissions at the Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad (Partner Schools: Kellogg, Wharton & London Business School.)
Roger Clendening
Consultant
6653 31st Way South
St. Petersburg, FL 33712
727-512-3140
roger.clendening@gmail.com
Roger Clendening is an Editorial Consultant, journalist and long-time media and political activist who has worked at the Miami Times, the St. Petersburg Times, and the New York Times, where he was a co-founder of the African-American Employees Association. He is completing the editing of a volume of poetry entitled A Royal Blue Boy by Romerio D. Perkins, slated for publication in the fall of 2008. He has served on the board of numerous organizations, including the National Association of Black Journalists (he co-founded the Tampa Bay Area chapter with the late distinguished journalist Peggy M. Peterman), and the executive committee of the American Friends Service Committee Southeast Region. He considers himself a Revolutionist and his passion is the never-ending quest for peace, justice and self-determining power for all oppressed people.
Charles Cobb Jr.
Journalist and Activist
214 West 11th St.
Jacksonville, Fl 32206
(904) 598-1502 home
(202) 285-7728
cellccobbjr@bellsouth.net
Charles Cobb Jr. is Visiting Professor of Africana Studies at Brown University and a founder, senior writer and diplomatic correspondent for AllAfrica.com, the leading online provider of news from and about Africa. From 1962-1967, he served as a SNCC field secretary in Mississippi. He is a distinguished journalist and the author, with Bob Moses, of Radical Equations, Civil Rights from Mississippi to the Algebra Project (2001), and of On the Freedom Road: A Guided Tour of Civil Rights Trails (2008). He is a 2008 inductee into The National Association of Black Journalists Hall of Fame.
Dorothy Cotton
Activist
301 Salem Drive
Ithaca, NY 14850
607 257 6785
607 257 0961 fax
dfcweb@twcny.rr.com
Dorothy Cotton is a singer, speaker, peacemaker and visionary. She served on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s executive staff, and for twelve years was Education Director for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference under Dr. King’s supervision. Dr. Cotton served as the Vice President for Field Operations for the Dr. M.L.K. Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta. Currently she is involved in the expansion of the National Citizenship School in conjunction with Civic Organizing, Inc. of Minnesota
Jay Gillen
Baltimore Algebra Project
Adult Facilitator
Baltimore Algebra Project
2526 North Charles Street
Baltimore, MD 21218
410-338-0679 (office)
443-248-9032
jgillen@stadiumschool.com
Jay Gillen is the adult facilitator for the Baltimore Algebra Project, whose youth activists have been aptly described as “the grandchildren of Ella Baker” for their radical, direct-action challenges to the adults in charge of public education in their city. Dr. Gillen’s work explores the role of Math Literacy Organizer, an extension of Robert Moses' ideas for math education in the 21st century. He is a co-founder of the Stadium School, a community-based, parent-teacher controlled public middle school that serves as an organizing base for the Algebra Project work.
Vincent G. Harding
The Veterans of Hope Project
2201 South University Boulevard
Denver, Colorado 80210
303 765 3194 (tel)
303 744 2903 (fax)
vharding@iliff.edu
Vincent G. Harding is a renowned theologian, historian, and nonviolent activist who is perhaps best known for his work with and writings about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. Harding was the first director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Center and of the Institute of the Black World, both located at Atlanta, and served as senior academic consultant for the PBS television series Eyes on the Prize. He is Chairperson (and founder, with his late wife Rosemarie Freeney Harding) of the Veterans of Hope Project, a Denver-based initiative on religion, culture and participatory democracy that emphasizes nonviolent and grass root approaches to social change. His numerous writings include Hope and History: Why We Must Share the Story of the Movement (1990).
Darrell Jackson
Esquire, Rapporteur
darrell.jackson@colorado.edu
Rahul Choudaha
University of Denver
rchoudah@du.edu
Rahul Choudaha is a Ph.D. Candidate in Higher Education program at the Morgridge College of Education, University of Denver. His research interest focuses on strategic management of higher education, human capital management, and international and interdisciplinary education. Rahul holds an MBA from NITIE, Mumbai and B.Engg.(Hons) in Electronics & Telecom. Prior to joining DU, Rahul worked as Manager-Admissions at the Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad (Partner Schools: Kellogg, Wharton & London Business School.)
Roger Clendening
Consultant
6653 31st Way South
St. Petersburg, FL 33712
727-512-3140
roger.clendening@gmail.com
Roger Clendening is an Editorial Consultant, journalist and long-time media and political activist who has worked at the Miami Times, the St. Petersburg Times, and the New York Times, where he was a co-founder of the African-American Employees Association. He is completing the editing of a volume of poetry entitled A Royal Blue Boy by Romerio D. Perkins, slated for publication in the fall of 2008. He has served on the board of numerous organizations, including the National Association of Black Journalists (he co-founded the Tampa Bay Area chapter with the late distinguished journalist Peggy M. Peterman), and the executive committee of the American Friends Service Committee Southeast Region. He considers himself a Revolutionist and his passion is the never-ending quest for peace, justice and self-determining power for all oppressed people.
Charles Cobb Jr.
Journalist and Activist
214 West 11th St.
Jacksonville, Fl 32206
(904) 598-1502 home
(202) 285-7728
cellccobbjr@bellsouth.net
Charles Cobb Jr. is Visiting Professor of Africana Studies at Brown University and a founder, senior writer and diplomatic correspondent for AllAfrica.com, the leading online provider of news from and about Africa. From 1962-1967, he served as a SNCC field secretary in Mississippi. He is a distinguished journalist and the author, with Bob Moses, of Radical Equations, Civil Rights from Mississippi to the Algebra Project (2001), and of On the Freedom Road: A Guided Tour of Civil Rights Trails (2008). He is a 2008 inductee into The National Association of Black Journalists Hall of Fame.
Dorothy Cotton
Activist
301 Salem Drive
Ithaca, NY 14850
607 257 6785
607 257 0961 fax
dfcweb@twcny.rr.com
Dorothy Cotton is a singer, speaker, peacemaker and visionary. She served on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s executive staff, and for twelve years was Education Director for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference under Dr. King’s supervision. Dr. Cotton served as the Vice President for Field Operations for the Dr. M.L.K. Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta. Currently she is involved in the expansion of the National Citizenship School in conjunction with Civic Organizing, Inc. of Minnesota
Jay Gillen
Baltimore Algebra Project
Adult Facilitator
Baltimore Algebra Project
2526 North Charles Street
Baltimore, MD 21218
410-338-0679 (office)
443-248-9032
jgillen@stadiumschool.com
Jay Gillen is the adult facilitator for the Baltimore Algebra Project, whose youth activists have been aptly described as “the grandchildren of Ella Baker” for their radical, direct-action challenges to the adults in charge of public education in their city. Dr. Gillen’s work explores the role of Math Literacy Organizer, an extension of Robert Moses' ideas for math education in the 21st century. He is a co-founder of the Stadium School, a community-based, parent-teacher controlled public middle school that serves as an organizing base for the Algebra Project work.
Vincent G. Harding
The Veterans of Hope Project
2201 South University Boulevard
Denver, Colorado 80210
303 765 3194 (tel)
303 744 2903 (fax)
vharding@iliff.edu
Vincent G. Harding is a renowned theologian, historian, and nonviolent activist who is perhaps best known for his work with and writings about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. Harding was the first director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Center and of the Institute of the Black World, both located at Atlanta, and served as senior academic consultant for the PBS television series Eyes on the Prize. He is Chairperson (and founder, with his late wife Rosemarie Freeney Harding) of the Veterans of Hope Project, a Denver-based initiative on religion, culture and participatory democracy that emphasizes nonviolent and grass root approaches to social change. His numerous writings include Hope and History: Why We Must Share the Story of the Movement (1990).
Darrell Jackson
Esquire, Rapporteur
darrell.jackson@colorado.edu
Darrell D. Jackson, Esquire, is a doctoral candidate in Educational Foundations, Policy & Practice in the University of Colorado’s School of Education. He earned a JD from the George Mason School of Law, where he served as an Assistant Dean from 2004 to 2007. As a student, he was editor-in-chief and co-founder of the George Mason University Civil Rights Law Journal and president of the Black Law Student Association. Mr. Jackson has taught middle school, high school, and Adult Education.
Leroy Johnson
Southern Echo
Executive Director
P.O. Box 9306
Jackson, MS 39286
601/982-6400, ext. 26
mailto:Leroy@southernecho.org/
http://www.southernecho.org/
Leroy Johnson is a co-founder of Southern Echo. He oversees the implementation of Southern Echo’s program work, serves as its chief financial officer, and has primary responsibility for resource development. He is also directly involved in providing training and technical assistance to grassroots communities, educators and public officials. Mr. Johnson is a founder of the Southeast Regional Economic Justice Network and the Southern Partners Fund, of which he is a past President and a current member of the Board of Directors. Mr. Johnson also served on the New World Foundation Board of Directors and on the boards of directors of a number of community-based non-profit organizations.
Khary Lazarre-White
The Brotherhood/Sister Sol
Co-Founder & Co-Executive Director
The Brotherhood-Sister Sol
512 West 143rd Street
New York, NY 10031
212/283-7044
klw@brotherhood-sistersol.org
http://www.brotherhood-sistersol.org/
Born and raised in New York City, Khary received his B.A. from Brown University with honors inAfricana Studies, and his J.D. from the Yale Law School.
Leroy Johnson
Southern Echo
Executive Director
P.O. Box 9306
Jackson, MS 39286
601/982-6400, ext. 26
mailto:Leroy@southernecho.org/
http://www.southernecho.org/
Leroy Johnson is a co-founder of Southern Echo. He oversees the implementation of Southern Echo’s program work, serves as its chief financial officer, and has primary responsibility for resource development. He is also directly involved in providing training and technical assistance to grassroots communities, educators and public officials. Mr. Johnson is a founder of the Southeast Regional Economic Justice Network and the Southern Partners Fund, of which he is a past President and a current member of the Board of Directors. Mr. Johnson also served on the New World Foundation Board of Directors and on the boards of directors of a number of community-based non-profit organizations.
Khary Lazarre-White
The Brotherhood/Sister Sol
Co-Founder & Co-Executive Director
The Brotherhood-Sister Sol
512 West 143rd Street
New York, NY 10031
212/283-7044
klw@brotherhood-sistersol.org
http://www.brotherhood-sistersol.org/
Born and raised in New York City, Khary received his B.A. from Brown University with honors inAfricana Studies, and his J.D. from the Yale Law School.
In 1995, when only 21 years old, Khary co-founded, along with his childhood friend, TheBrotherhood/Sister Sol, a now nationally renowned non-profit youth organization based in Harlem, NewYork. Today, Khary is the Co-Executive Director of The Brotherhood/Sister Sol which services nearly 200youth each week in its own renovated brownstone building. The organization employs a full time staff ofsixteen that provides support and guidance to its members who range in age from six years old throughtwenty-one. The organization provides intensive services that range from rites of passage programs to afterschoolcare; from wilderness retreats and summer camps to month long international study programs toAfrica and Latin America; from job training and work opportunities to emergency legal representation; fromhome and school counseling to activist training; from college tours and guidance to writing workshops. Theyhave trained educators on their model from Chicago, Milwaukee, North Carolina, Atlanta, Bermuda andthroughout New York City.
The Brotherhood/Sister Sol is one of the most unique youth development organizations in thecountry. Over the last 13 years Khary has been recognized for his leadership in providing some of the mostinnovative and highly successful practices in the nation. He was featured on the Oprah Winfre y Show andawarded the Oprah Winfrey’s Angel Network Use Your Life Award. He has also been awarded: the nationalFord Foundation’s Leadership for a Changing World Award for “outstanding leadership”; the RushPhilanthropic Arts Foundation Art for Life Award; the Fund for the City of New York’s Union SquareAward; the Abyssinian Development Corporation Harlem Renaissance Award; the Brown Universityinaugural Alumni Association Young Public Service Award; the Union Square Award for Special Achievement; the Oracle Innovation in Education Award; and the Community Works Long Walk to Freedom Youth Activism Award.Khary has garnered an array of media coverage for his work, including appearing on The Oprah WinfreyShow, The Ta vis Smiley Show, Goo d Day New Yo rk and St reet Stories on FOX, Tiempo on ABC, washighlighted as a New Yorke r of the Week on NY 1, and appeared on over 50 radio broadcasts throughoutthe nation. He and The Brotherhood/Sister Sol have also been featured in The New Yo rk Times, TheAms terdam News, Esse nce Ma gazine, The Daily News, The New York Post, Uptown Magazine, EbonyMa gazine, and Emerge Ma gazine.
An array of people have offered their words of support for The Brotherhood/Sister Sol, wordsthat cross-fields and speak to the organization’s reach. Oprah Winfrey states that Khary and his co-founderare "using their passion to uplift and inspire a next generation though their extraordinary work that createsleaders and a sanctuary for children where they can develop a higher vision for themselves." Danny Gloverstates, “What brought me to The Brotherhood/Sister Sol is that this organization is attempting to findrelevant solutions to the desperate situations facing our young people in this community. The services theyprovide are invaluable. They are a significant island in a vast sea.” Congressman Charles B. Rangelobserves that the organization “plays a critically important role working with the youth who are most at risk,"while New York Governor David A. Paterson calls BHSS’s work “positive and life changing and it turnsaround many young people’s lives who suffer in our City.”
Khary has edited the following publications of The Brotherhood/Sister Sol: The Brotherhood Speaks(1997), Voices of The Brotherhood/Sister Sol (2003), and Off the Subject: The Words of Lyrical Circle of TheBrotherhood/Sister Sol (2006) which has an afterword from Nikki Giovanni and an introduction from SekouSundiata. He has also had several essays published including in Letters from Young Activists (Nation Books,2005), One in a Million (Essence Magazine, 1995), and Preparing Youth for Social Change (Afterschool Matters,2004). He has extensive experience as a public speaker and been a featured panelist at conferences hosted bysuch institutions as Harvard University, Brown University, assorted campuses of the City University of NewYork, the Open Society Institute, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the UrbanLeague. the Knowledge Works Foundation, the Agency for Black Foundation Executives, and the 21stCentury Foundation, among others.
Tara Mack
Education for Liberation Network, Director
Brooklyn, NY
917-754-2782
tara@edliberation.org
Tara Mack
Education for Liberation Network, Director
Brooklyn, NY
917-754-2782
tara@edliberation.org
Before joining the EdLiberation Network, Tara worked as the Arts Organizer for The Brotherhood/Sister Sol, where she developed an innovative program called the Community Museum. She was Program Coordinator for Brooklyn’s Groundswell Community Mural Project. In London, she organized youth education and outreach programs for Talawa, a black theater company. From 1998 to 2003, Tara worked as a print and radio journalist, appearing in The Washington Post, the BBC World Service, The Chicago Tribune, Newsweek, The Guardian, and Ladies Home Journal. She currently sits on the Board of Directors of the North Star Fund.
Ng'ethe Maina
Social Justice Leadership
Executive Director
Social Justice Leadership
1916 Park Avenue, Suite 209
New York, NY 10037
212/939-9770
ngethe@sojustlead.org
http://www.sojustlead.org/
Ng’ethe Maina is the Executive Director of Social Justice Leadership. From 1993 to 2003, he helped to develop AGENDA, a grassroots community-based organization in Los Angeles, into a leading voice for poor people in struggles for social and economic justice. In 2000, he became the Organizing Director for AGENDA’s work in South Los Angeles, and the work of AGENDA’s county-wide formation, the Los Angeles Metropolitan Alliance. In 2003, he moved to New York City, where he became the Training Director for New York Jobs with Justice, and launched the Social Justice Leadership Collaborative with Simon Greer.
Malaika McKee-Culpepper
University of Denver
Malaika.McKee-Culpepper@du.edu
Lecturer and Diversity Faculty Fellow
Higher Education Program
Morgridge College of Education
University of Denver
Wesley Hall, Room 111
2135 E. Wesley Ave.
Denver, CO 80208
303-871-2720
720-883-2119 (mobile)
Malaika McKee-Culpepper is a policy analyst, environmental justice advocate, and Lecturer and Diversity Faculty Fellow in the Higher Education Program at the University of Denver’s Morgridge College of Education. Her research interests include civic engagement theory and assessment for higher education accountability, the role of media in higher education, the impact of geography on colleges and universities, and social marketing higher education to under-represented populations.
Deborah Menkart
Teaching for Change
Executive Director
PO Box 73038
Washington, DC 20056
800-763-9131
202-588-7204
202-238-0109 FAX
dmenkart@teachingforchange.org
Ng’ethe Maina is the Executive Director of Social Justice Leadership. From 1993 to 2003, he helped to develop AGENDA, a grassroots community-based organization in Los Angeles, into a leading voice for poor people in struggles for social and economic justice. In 2000, he became the Organizing Director for AGENDA’s work in South Los Angeles, and the work of AGENDA’s county-wide formation, the Los Angeles Metropolitan Alliance. In 2003, he moved to New York City, where he became the Training Director for New York Jobs with Justice, and launched the Social Justice Leadership Collaborative with Simon Greer.
Malaika McKee-Culpepper
University of Denver
Malaika.McKee-Culpepper@du.edu
Lecturer and Diversity Faculty Fellow
Higher Education Program
Morgridge College of Education
University of Denver
Wesley Hall, Room 111
2135 E. Wesley Ave.
Denver, CO 80208
303-871-2720
720-883-2119 (mobile)
Malaika McKee-Culpepper is a policy analyst, environmental justice advocate, and Lecturer and Diversity Faculty Fellow in the Higher Education Program at the University of Denver’s Morgridge College of Education. Her research interests include civic engagement theory and assessment for higher education accountability, the role of media in higher education, the impact of geography on colleges and universities, and social marketing higher education to under-represented populations.
Deborah Menkart
Teaching for Change
Executive Director
PO Box 73038
Washington, DC 20056
800-763-9131
202-588-7204
202-238-0109 FAX
dmenkart@teachingforchange.org
Deborah Menkart is the Executive Director of Teaching for Change, which works on parent organizing (Tellin’ Stories Project), publications (national catalog of progressive teaching resources and the Busboys and Poets Bookstores in the DC metro area), and professional development (Early Childhood Equity Initiative and courses on TfC publications). She is co-editor (with Dr. Jenice View, below, and Alana Murray) of Putting the Movement Back into Civil Rights Teaching (published by PRRAC and TfC). She is also co-editor of Beyond Heroes and Holidays: A Practical Guide to K-12 Anti-Racist, Multicultural Education and Staff Development (with Enid Lee and Margo Okazawa-Rey). She and Dr. View are working with the school district of McComb, Mississippi on a Civil Rights Movement and labor history curriculum. Most recently Teaching for Change has partnered with Rethinking Schools on the Zinn Education Project to encourage and support the teaching of a people’s history of the United States in middle and high schools.
Cheryl Mizell is Public Affairs Director for WEDR – 99 JAMZ, Miami’s number 1 rated radio station. She hosts “Community Voices,” the station’s weekly public affairs talk show.
Tanya Mote
El Centro Su Teatro
Director of Development
4725 High St.
Denver, CO 80216
303-296-0219
303-296-4614
Tanya Mote
El Centro Su Teatro
Director of Development
4725 High St.
Denver, CO 80216
303-296-0219
303-296-4614
faxtanya@suteatro.org
Tanya Mote is Development Director for Denver’s El Centro Su Teatro, where she works to develop a long-term sustainable base for the organization by integrating fundraising with community building principles. As a doctoral candidate in international studies at the University of Denver, her dissertation focuses on the role of the cultural commons in promoting civic engagement. It examines traditions of resistance to domination within marginalized Mexican-American communities, the role of art and culture within these communities, and their greater application in expanding the role of democracy in the U.S. Mote serves as treasurer of the National Performance Network board of directors; as a board member for the Grassroots Institute for Fundraising Training (GIFT) and on the advisory board of The Veterans of Hope Project
Gihan Perera
Miami Workers Center
Executive Director
6127 NW 7th Avenue
Miami, FL 33127
305/759-8717
gihan@theworkerscenter.org
http://www.miamiworkerscenter.org/
Gihan Perera is co-founder and Executive Director of the Miami Workers Center. He is also one of the co-founders of the Right to the City – a national alliance of over 30 grassroots organizations, legal service providers, academics and policy groups seeking alternatives to gentrification and urban displacement of poor and working class communities of color. He worked in the labor movement as a lead organizer throughout the South with ACTWO and as the recruitment director for the AFL-CIO’s Organizing Institute. He sits on the Advisory Committee of the Philanthropic Initiative for Racial Equity
Denise Perry
Power U Center for Social Change
Executive Director
1633 NW 3rd Avenue
Miami, FL 33136
305/576-7449
dperry@poweru.org
http://www.poweru.org/
Denise Perry is Executive Director of Power U Center for Social Change, a Miami-based organization that offers several programs to build knowledge and understanding of the political environment and to develop leadership and organizing skills. Members then serve as a think-tank for the issues of the community and contribute as leaders in organizing actions for systemic change.
Tanya Mote is Development Director for Denver’s El Centro Su Teatro, where she works to develop a long-term sustainable base for the organization by integrating fundraising with community building principles. As a doctoral candidate in international studies at the University of Denver, her dissertation focuses on the role of the cultural commons in promoting civic engagement. It examines traditions of resistance to domination within marginalized Mexican-American communities, the role of art and culture within these communities, and their greater application in expanding the role of democracy in the U.S. Mote serves as treasurer of the National Performance Network board of directors; as a board member for the Grassroots Institute for Fundraising Training (GIFT) and on the advisory board of The Veterans of Hope Project
Gihan Perera
Miami Workers Center
Executive Director
6127 NW 7th Avenue
Miami, FL 33127
305/759-8717
gihan@theworkerscenter.org
http://www.miamiworkerscenter.org/
Gihan Perera is co-founder and Executive Director of the Miami Workers Center. He is also one of the co-founders of the Right to the City – a national alliance of over 30 grassroots organizations, legal service providers, academics and policy groups seeking alternatives to gentrification and urban displacement of poor and working class communities of color. He worked in the labor movement as a lead organizer throughout the South with ACTWO and as the recruitment director for the AFL-CIO’s Organizing Institute. He sits on the Advisory Committee of the Philanthropic Initiative for Racial Equity
Denise Perry
Power U Center for Social Change
Executive Director
1633 NW 3rd Avenue
Miami, FL 33136
305/576-7449
dperry@poweru.org
http://www.poweru.org/
Denise Perry is Executive Director of Power U Center for Social Change, a Miami-based organization that offers several programs to build knowledge and understanding of the political environment and to develop leadership and organizing skills. Members then serve as a think-tank for the issues of the community and contribute as leaders in organizing actions for systemic change.
Ruby Sales
Spirit House
846 Rigdon Road
Columbus, GA 31906
spirithousedc@aol.com
202-31-0764 (c)
706-323-0246 (o)
Ruby Sales is an activist, theologian, educator and Founder ofSpirit House Project, which uses research, action, the arts, education, spiritual reflection, and analysis to bring diverse peoples together to build a just and non-violent movement that propels us toward a beloved community
Reverend Alexia Salvatierra
Clergy and Laity United for Economic
Executive Director
464 Lucas Avenue, Suite 202
Los Angeles, CA 90017
(213) 481-3740
FAX: (213) 481-3741
Reverend Alexia Salvatierra
Clergy and Laity United for Economic
Executive Director
464 Lucas Avenue, Suite 202
Los Angeles, CA 90017
(213) 481-3740
FAX: (213) 481-3741
asalvatierra@laane.org
Rev. Alexia Salvatierra is the Executive Director of CLUE-CA (Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice of California), a statewide alliance of interfaith organization of religious leaders who come together to respond to the crisis of working poverty by joining low-wage workers in their struggle for a living wage, health insurance, fair working conditions and a voice in the decisions that affect them. CLUE-CA’s mission is to build a faith-rooted movement for economic justice throughout California. CLUE-CA has a commitment to the development of young religious leaders of all faith traditions. CLUE-CA understands that economic justice requires respect for human rights, and is one of the coordinating agencies of the national New Sanctuary Movement, in which congregations accompany and support immigrant workers and their families facing deportation.
Rev. Salvatierra is an ordained Pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, with over 30 years of experience in interfaith and community ministry, community organizing and legislative advocacy. She has been awarded the Changemaker award from the Liberty Hill Foundation, the Stanton Fellowship from the Durfee Foundation and the Prime Mover award from the Hunt Alternatives Fund.
Rev. Alexia Salvatierra is the Executive Director of CLUE-CA (Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice of California), a statewide alliance of interfaith organization of religious leaders who come together to respond to the crisis of working poverty by joining low-wage workers in their struggle for a living wage, health insurance, fair working conditions and a voice in the decisions that affect them. CLUE-CA’s mission is to build a faith-rooted movement for economic justice throughout California. CLUE-CA has a commitment to the development of young religious leaders of all faith traditions. CLUE-CA understands that economic justice requires respect for human rights, and is one of the coordinating agencies of the national New Sanctuary Movement, in which congregations accompany and support immigrant workers and their families facing deportation.
Rev. Salvatierra is an ordained Pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, with over 30 years of experience in interfaith and community ministry, community organizing and legislative advocacy. She has been awarded the Changemaker award from the Liberty Hill Foundation, the Stanton Fellowship from the Durfee Foundation and the Prime Mover award from the Hunt Alternatives Fund.
Zoharah Simmons
University of Florida
857 SW 50th Way
Gainesville, FL 32607
352-367-0529 (h)
352-262-5529 (c)
Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons, an African-American feminist Islamic scholar, is Assistant Professor of Religion at the University of Florida-Gainesville. She spent seven years working full time on Voter Registration and desegregation activities in Mississippi, Georgia, and Alabama. As part of the Freedom Summer of 1964, As director of SNCC’ Laurel Project of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee from 1964 to 1966, Dr. Simmons helped build freedom schools and libraries in black communities in Mississippi. For 23 years, she was on the staff of the American Friends Service Committee.
Jenice L. View
George Mason University
jenice@aol.com
Jenice L.View is an Assistant Professor of Educational Transformation at George Mason University. As a former middle school humanities teacher, education and training director of a national environmental justice and labor organization, and teacher trainer, Dr. View has presented on the subjects of popular education, labor education, environmental justice, youth development, and civil rights education. She is co-editor (with Deborah Menkart, above, and Alana Murray) of the award-winning publication, Putting the Movement Back into Civil Rights Teaching. She an Deborah lead the McComb Initiative, a curriculum and professional development project that centers on the civil rights and labor history of McComb, Mississippi.
Susan Williams
1959 Highlander Way
New Market, TN 37820
swilliams@highlandercenter.org
865-933-3443 ext. 229
865-933-3424 fax
Susan Williams has worked for 28 years as a community organizer and a popular educator in East Tennessee. She has worked at Highlander Center since 1989. She worked as a community organizer with Save Our Cumberland Mountains from 1979 to 1989 and with the Tennessee Industrial Renewal Network (TIRN), a labor/community coalition in the 1990’s. At TIRN she organized with factory workers to keep factories open and to fight against the North American Free Trade Agreement. Susan has been part of many community research and organizing efforts, including the 1979 Appalachian Land Ownership Study and a recent project around immigration, Across Races and Nations. She currently serves as co-coordinator of Highlander’s education team, she works with Highlander’s youth program, Seeds of Fire, which is focusing on education and youth criminalization, and she coordinates the Highlander resource center and is working on a Highlander historical timeline project.
Jenice L. View
George Mason University
jenice@aol.com
Jenice L.View is an Assistant Professor of Educational Transformation at George Mason University. As a former middle school humanities teacher, education and training director of a national environmental justice and labor organization, and teacher trainer, Dr. View has presented on the subjects of popular education, labor education, environmental justice, youth development, and civil rights education. She is co-editor (with Deborah Menkart, above, and Alana Murray) of the award-winning publication, Putting the Movement Back into Civil Rights Teaching. She an Deborah lead the McComb Initiative, a curriculum and professional development project that centers on the civil rights and labor history of McComb, Mississippi.
Susan Williams
1959 Highlander Way
New Market, TN 37820
swilliams@highlandercenter.org
865-933-3443 ext. 229
865-933-3424 fax
Susan Williams has worked for 28 years as a community organizer and a popular educator in East Tennessee. She has worked at Highlander Center since 1989. She worked as a community organizer with Save Our Cumberland Mountains from 1979 to 1989 and with the Tennessee Industrial Renewal Network (TIRN), a labor/community coalition in the 1990’s. At TIRN she organized with factory workers to keep factories open and to fight against the North American Free Trade Agreement. Susan has been part of many community research and organizing efforts, including the 1979 Appalachian Land Ownership Study and a recent project around immigration, Across Races and Nations. She currently serves as co-coordinator of Highlander’s education team, she works with Highlander’s youth program, Seeds of Fire, which is focusing on education and youth criminalization, and she coordinates the Highlander resource center and is working on a Highlander historical timeline project.
Alta Starr
Ford Foundation
Program Officer, U.S. Civil Society
Governance and Civil Society Unit
Peace and Social Justice Program
320 East 43rd Street, 5th Fl.
New York, NY 10017
212-573-4931
A.Starr@FordFound.org
Alta Starr is a Program Officer at the Ford Foundation with responsibility for managing the US Civil Society portfolio in the Governance and Civil Society Unit. This portfolio focuses on strengthening civil society as a force for advancing social justice and deepening democracy, and has two primary strategies: increasing civic participation in underserved communities through strengthening community organizing, and building sustainable civic leadership and networks for social justice. Prior to coming to the Ford Foundation, Ms. Starr was a Senior Program Officer at the New World Foundation in New York, which she joined in 1988. Much of her grantmaking responsibility there focused on the Deep South and Appalachia, and she also worked on developing programs to strengthen capacity and leadership among non-profit groups, build up the role of state-based civil society coalitions, and link community organizing to the achievement of concrete social justice goals. Prior to joining the New World Foundation, Ms. Starr worked as an Associate Producer for Public Interest Radio in New York, and as Executive Director of the Weston-METCO Public School Program in Massachusetts. Her background also includes parent organizing in Boston and Atlanta. Currently, Alta is a Board member of the Seasons Fund for Social Transformation, and past Board memberships have included the Progressive Technology Project and the Needmor Fund. Alta is a published poet and dedicated fan of science fiction.
Thomasina Williams
Ford Foundation
Program Officer, Participation and Representation in U.S. Politics
Governance and Civil Society Unit
Peace and Social Justice Program
T.Williams@FordFound.org
Thomasina H. Williams joined the Ford Foundation in March 2005 as the Program Officer with responsibility for the Foundation’s portfolio on Participation and Representation in U.S. Politics. In an effort to effect truly transformative change, the portfolio employs a two-pronged strategy through two initiatives. The Cultivating a Culture of Political Participation Initiative supports efforts to work within the confines of the existing political system to expand and empower the electorate, while the Redefining the Rules of Political Participation Initiative supports efforts to transform the system into one that is more equitable and accessible to a broader spectrum of the U.S. public. Since marginalized populations, such as people of color, youth and the low-income and working class of all races and ethnicities, are those who are most ill-served by the current system, the portfolio devotes particular attention to these demographic groups and others underrepresented in the electorate.
The systems approach that underlies both Initiatives is explored more intensely through the Deepening Democracy in the U.S. South Exploration, a place-based joint grantmaking strategy undertaken in collaboration with the portfolios on U.S. Civil Society and Government Performance and Accountability. All three portfolios share a theory of change which argues that the transformation our work aims to support requires new structures for participation, accountability, and community engagement, and that the impetus and leadership for this transformation will come from marginalized communities. Thus our joint grantmaking in the U.S. South focuses on increasing civic and political engagement by these communities.
* * *
Thomasina is an attorney who was trained as a commercial litigator, but also has an extensive background in civil rights and voting rights litigation. Prior to joining the Ford Foundation, she was in private practice in Miami. She is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College, and the University of Michigan Law School. After graduating from law school, she clerked with the Honorable Joseph W. Hatchett of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, and in the Office of the United States Attorney for the District of the Virgin Islands. She then joined one of the largest law firms in Miami, where she became a partner after only three years. Thomasina remained with that firm for an additional four years before starting her own law firm.
In 2003, Thomasina was recognized by the South Florida Legal Guide as one of the “Top 250 Lawyers in South Florida.” She wrote one of the key legal briefs in the Florida Supreme Court case that defeated the Ward Connolly-led effort to place on the ballot four different initiatives that would have rendered affirmative action in Florida unconstitutional. Among the several voting rights cases in which Thomasina has been actively involved is the case of NAACP v. Harris, a class action lawsuit filed against a number of state actors, including Florida’s Secretary of State and seven of Florida’s largest urban counties in the aftermath of the 2000 Presidential election. Thomasina was the only Florida counsel on the team of national civil rights law firms and advocacy groups that represented the NAACP and individual Black voters in the case. Having worked on redistricting, felon disenfranchisement and a host of related community and political issues in Florida, in addition to civil rights and voting rights litigation, Thomasina served as a community and media resource on election-related issues, and was acknowledged in the credits of Fahrenheit 911. She hosted a live call-in radio talk show on WMBM, AM-1490, and was an active member of the board of several non-profit organizations, including Florida Memorial College, South Florida’s only historically Black college, (now Florida Memorial University), and the Urban League of Broward County (Fort Lauderdale area), one of the country’s largest and most highly acclaimed Urban League affiliates.
The systems approach that underlies both Initiatives is explored more intensely through the Deepening Democracy in the U.S. South Exploration, a place-based joint grantmaking strategy undertaken in collaboration with the portfolios on U.S. Civil Society and Government Performance and Accountability. All three portfolios share a theory of change which argues that the transformation our work aims to support requires new structures for participation, accountability, and community engagement, and that the impetus and leadership for this transformation will come from marginalized communities. Thus our joint grantmaking in the U.S. South focuses on increasing civic and political engagement by these communities.
* * *
Thomasina is an attorney who was trained as a commercial litigator, but also has an extensive background in civil rights and voting rights litigation. Prior to joining the Ford Foundation, she was in private practice in Miami. She is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College, and the University of Michigan Law School. After graduating from law school, she clerked with the Honorable Joseph W. Hatchett of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, and in the Office of the United States Attorney for the District of the Virgin Islands. She then joined one of the largest law firms in Miami, where she became a partner after only three years. Thomasina remained with that firm for an additional four years before starting her own law firm.
In 2003, Thomasina was recognized by the South Florida Legal Guide as one of the “Top 250 Lawyers in South Florida.” She wrote one of the key legal briefs in the Florida Supreme Court case that defeated the Ward Connolly-led effort to place on the ballot four different initiatives that would have rendered affirmative action in Florida unconstitutional. Among the several voting rights cases in which Thomasina has been actively involved is the case of NAACP v. Harris, a class action lawsuit filed against a number of state actors, including Florida’s Secretary of State and seven of Florida’s largest urban counties in the aftermath of the 2000 Presidential election. Thomasina was the only Florida counsel on the team of national civil rights law firms and advocacy groups that represented the NAACP and individual Black voters in the case. Having worked on redistricting, felon disenfranchisement and a host of related community and political issues in Florida, in addition to civil rights and voting rights litigation, Thomasina served as a community and media resource on election-related issues, and was acknowledged in the credits of Fahrenheit 911. She hosted a live call-in radio talk show on WMBM, AM-1490, and was an active member of the board of several non-profit organizations, including Florida Memorial College, South Florida’s only historically Black college, (now Florida Memorial University), and the Urban League of Broward County (Fort Lauderdale area), one of the country’s largest and most highly acclaimed Urban League affiliates.
Linda Mizell
University of Colorado at Boulder
Project Consultant
1717 Williams St
Apt 1
Denver, CO 80218
720-519-1534
lindamiz@aol.com
University of Colorado at Boulder
Project Consultant
1717 Williams St
Apt 1
Denver, CO 80218
720-519-1534
lindamiz@aol.com
