Dear John:

I am pleased to announce that we have hired long-time Gamaliel organizer, Rev. David Gerth, to serve as Integrated Voter Engagement (IVE) Lead Organizer for the Network.  David brings over two decades of organizing experience—serving most recently as the Executive Director of Metropolitan Congregations United (MCU), Gamaliel’s St. Louis metro affiliate, where he successfully built out MCU’s IVE infrastructure and capacity.

Rev. Gerth is clear that Gamaliel has played a significant role in his organizing, as well as his faith, journey, and that has resulted in a deep commitment to the Gamaliel Network and our organizers and leaders.  He is passionate about our National Leadership Training and invested in building the bench of qualified trainers.  When the Network began to embrace IVE as a critical strategy for our organizing work, David stepped up and began to build a team of organizers and leaders who could, in turn, build out infrastructure and capacity in our local and state organizations.

As Integrated Voter Engagement Lead Organizer, Rev. Gerth will focus on “professionalizing” our IVE work while expanding a powerful team of organizers and leaders who use IVE to build power at the state, local, and national levels.  The more we can embed the IVE infrastructure in our local affiliates, the more successful they—and we—will be in transforming our communities through the intersection of strong, relational voter work and powerful issue campaigns.

Please join me in welcoming Rev. David Gerth as Gamaliel’s first Integrated Voter Engagement Lead Organizer!

In solidarity,

Ana Garcia-Ashley, Executive Director