We've trained more than 1,000 people

As you know and may have experienced, Gamaliel has provided world-class leadership development, for more than thirty years, through a variety of in-person national training events.  Our efforts in 2020 to redesign our National Leadership Training (NLT) curriculum for delivery through a digital platform made it possible for us to host four NLTs in 2021, in spite of the ongoing pandemic.  Between NLT, Ntosake (our women’s leadership development training), issue campaign trainings, Integrated Voter Engagement (IVE) trainings, Organizer Development Days, The $10 Million Academy, and more, we have trained more than 1000 people in 2021, with at least 100 of those folks being trained in Spanish.

Civil Rights of Immigrants hosts congressional briefing

The Civil Rights of Immigrants (CRI) Campaign, the oldest of the two, is focused on securing civil and human rights for immigrants through an aggressive policy agenda that focuses largely on securing Complete Inclusive Immigration Reform (CIIR).  CRI has spent this year educating community and key decision-makers about the importance of immigration reform through weekly phone banks and in-district meetings with legislators.  On May 12 in collaboration with Dr. Raul Hinojosa-Ojeda, Founder and Director of the NAID Center at UCLA, Gamaliel hosted a congressional briefing for immigration reform which included speakers, Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the National Farmworkers Association, and Rep. Lou Correa (CA-46).  This fall Gamaliel released a new theological statement on immigration, possibly the most inclusive of any of our theological statements.

Transformational Justice preps for voting rights restoration campaign

The Transformational Justice Campaign (TJ) is focused on transforming the criminal legal system and putting an end to mass incarceration, particularly of people of color. During the first half of 2021, TJ hosted several trainings to prepare leaders to run robust strategic campaigns both locally and at the national level.  Leaders developed skills around messaging, power analysis, cutting issues, and more in order to prepare for the launch of two critical issue campaigns—Restoration of Voting Rights for People with Felony Convictions and the passage of a Justice Reinvestment Act which would repair some of the damage done in past legislation, especially the federal 1994 Crime Bill.

Gamaliel will launch the Race and Power Institute 

We will be launching the Gamaliel Race and Power Institute in 2022. As those of you who have traveled on this journey with us know, creating structural racial equity has been the lens through which we have increasingly shaped our internal decision-making structures, our organizing and issue campaign work, and our relationships both inside and outside our Network.  The launch of the Gamaliel Race and Power Institute in 2022 will formalize more than two decades of racial equity training and organizing and establish  Gamaliel’s enduring place in the public arena as a leader in racial equity work, while fulfilling our commitment to live into our transformational narrative and our long-term agenda of being an anti-racist organization that fights for racial equity on every level and across every racial and ethnic identity.  Therefore:

The Mission of the Race and Power Institute is to create a bridge between race analysis and organizing work, providing ongoing professional development and resources for organizers and leaders—both within and outside the Gamaliel Network—at the intersection of policy, praxis, and philosophy.

The Vision of the Race and Power Institute is to create a future in which people of color are full participants in this nation, sitting at tables of power and actively engaged in democratic practice in order to direct and shape the decisions that impact their lives; enjoying the shared abundance of an economy that works for everyone; and experiencing the freedom, justice, and dignity of a truly inclusive community.