Pushback Network

Pushback Network (PBN) proudly welcomes accomplished social justice leader Peter Hardie as its new Executive Director.

Emphasizing community organizing and voter engagement strategies to empower underrepresented constituencies, PBN continues to grow as an organization assisting people in defining their mutual interests and working together to improve their lives.

“Peter is ideally poised to help lead the Pushback Network as a facilitator and as a leader in the national and local struggles for justice and democracy,” said PBN Chair Robby Rodriguez. “Currently, PBN is developing and implementing voter engagement and other civic participation strategies in eight states: New York, Massachusetts, Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, and California. We foster collaborative efforts to increase the effectiveness of groups doing community organizing and non-partisan electoral work on the ground. Peter Hardie is an ideal fit for PBN because his career has combined organizing, advocacy and activism with significant experience and practice in organizational assessment and development. He has worked side by side with coalitions across the country and internationally to build grassroots political power from the bottom up. Peter has coached and advised a diverse range of organizations and knows how to encourage the best outcomes from them.”

Hardie comes to PBN most recently from his role as consultant to accomplished and emerging social justice organizations such as Right to the City, an alliance of base building organizations from cities across the country fighting gentrification, and Leadership Conference for Civil Rights, another national coalition of social justice advocates. He has demonstrated effectiveness in hands-on alliance-building and melding the practices of organizational development with the dynamic needs of grassroots organizing and coalition building. Hardie previously served as Executive Director for the Roxbury Youth Works, where he demonstrated a deep knowledge of, and commitment to, the principles of community organizing as focused particularly on building the power of young people and communities of color. With this impressive skill set, Hardie will work as Executive Director to facilitate the Board’s strategic planning and decision-making, manage a national staff, and take on and help guide the staff’s planning, program support, fundraising, financial management, and other key Network responsibilities.

“When all is said and done, the invitation from the Pushback Network was impossible to resist,” said Hardie. “My work life has centered on building community and building bridges between communities. This opportunity at the Pushback Network is about growth and renewal for the country and an opportunity for me to join an alliance of people with tremendous potential for change and impact on many levels”

“Peter has a great understanding of base building organizations,” continued Rodriguez. “His vision aligns perfectly with our own of a democracy where ordinary people, who have been historically pushed to the political margins, move and guide our political process by organizing from the bottom up.”

“The recent bailout on Wall Street reinforces the powerful necessity for political organizing among bedrock communities. The nation has elected a President who has asked Americans to roll up their sleeves and re-make this nation.” Hardie said, “The Pushback Network, with its diverse mix of communities and organizations, is the model for exactly the kind of civic engagement and genuine democracy that the new president and these times demand of us.”