Gamaliel of Illinois and Iowa team at Advanced Leader Training |
Dear John:
Gamaliel recently hosted its first Advanced Leader Training (ALT) since 2017. One hundred and fourteen leaders and organizers, from every state in the Network, gathered in Nashville from February 28 to March 2—under the umbrella of Renewing Our Vision. Reviving Our Craft. [e]Radicating Authoritarianism—for training and planning.
Power, which is key to effective organizing, became the framework around which the agenda was organized. Participants were challenged to expand and deepen their understanding of Power from our National Leadership Training definition of “the ability to
act” to “the ability to act in concert with others to influence.” In addition, participants wrestled with the three “faces” of power: building a sustainable base, demonstrating our power through immediate political gains, and shifting the narrative of what is possible.
Breakouts were organized around the three faces of power and Gamaliel’s three national strategic priority areas—Civil Rights of Immigrants, Transformational Justice, and Environmental Justice. Using Integrated Voter Engagement (IVE) as a strategy for building
out our base and campaigns was also a focus of ALT; and participants also canvassed in North Nashville in advance of a critical school board election, a priority for our Nashville affiliate NOAH.
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Preparing for the canvass in North Nashville |
We were pleased to have one of our partners and the lead in the National Organizing Networks Revival—Sulma Arias, Executive Director of People’s Action—join us for a plenary focused on the need to strengthen our organizing in order to fight back against authoritarianism. [If you haven’t read “The Antidote to Authoritarianism,” you can find it here.]
Participants left ALT not only having made solid commitments for the work ahead, but also with a heightened sense of urgency and increased energy to “stay the course.”
We are grateful to the many leaders and organizers who trained, chaired plenaries, and prepared teams to participate in ALT!
In solidarity,
Gamaliel Training Department
Angela James
Cynthia Jarrold
Mary Lim
Juan Soto
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