“Good organizing is showing your leaders the power they have within themselves,” said Juan Nuñez from the Northwest Bronx Community & Clergy Coalition (NWBCCC). ”Guiding them towards honing in on that power, and translating that into movement building.”
Nuñez was one of the more than 40 organizers from People’s Action member organizations who gathered in New York City at the East Harlem offices of Community Voices Heard (CVH), in June for a three-day Training for Trainers that focused on sharpening the fundamental skills of community organizing – such as effective one-on-ones, propositions and agitation – to strengthen participants’ ability to pass these skills on to others.
“An organizer trains, and an organizer educates, so folks can expand their understanding of the system we live in,” said Nuñez. “The more you dedicate yourself to the movement for liberation as people, you know that you’re doing a good job for your members.”
Among the People’s Action member groups represented at the East Coast training were NWBCCC, the New Jersey Organizing Project (NJOP), Pennsylvania Stands Up (PASU), Progressive Maryland (PMD), VOCAL-NY and the New Hampshire Youth Movement, along with guests from the Grassroots Power Project and Reclaim Philly.
The East Coast Training for Trainers was one of three organized by People’s Action this summer, with a second hosted in Jeffersonville, Indiana by Hoosier Action, which included participants from Communities United for Change (CUFA) in Ohio, Michigan United, ONE Northside and The People’s Lobby in Chicago, VOCAL-KY, and the West Virginia Citizen Action Group. A third event for West Coast affiliates will be hosted in Colorado in August.
For Seri Lee from ONE Northside (ONS) in Chicago, who came to the Indiana training with fellow ONS members Dordie Hester and Max Yenkin, the training offered an opportunity to lay the groundwork for expanding the organization’s base and creating a robust in-house training program back home. ONS currently offer day-long Fundamentals of Organizing and Essentials of Leadership trainings in both English and Spanish.
“At One Northside, we’re in a multiracial space and a multilingual space, so we need our leaders who have really unique lived experience to be the ones that are training,” said Lee. “The throughline is that we need to continue to develop more leaders. And the only way that we can develop more leaders is if we take the time to train them and to mentor them, and to proposition them into greater roles of leadership.“
