“The only reason I used to vote was because people said that it would give me a voice. I didn’t know it could have such an impact on my community as a whole.” – Valerie Pearson, Community Voices Heard Leader, Yonkers, New York
No base building model can be truly successful without a dedicated and sustained emphasis on leadership development from every sector of the community. PBN’s program encourages partners to do this work across communities, gender and generational lines.
By engaging new leaders, sharing best practices and seating a diverse table to develop new program models, we can keep our organizing tools relevant to the community while sustaining all of our leadership over the long haul.
Stories from the Ground
PBN partners agree that it is critical to engage both the constituent bases of anchor and partner organizations, as well as allied constituencies that may not have been previously targeted, including youth, seniors, the disabled, the homeless, and persons with felony convictions.
PBN partners are working specifically to achieve:
- Development and implementation of advanced, state-wide political education and leadership development programs that move people into action around civic participation; and
Identification and development of indigenous leaders toward the establishment of a regular, continuously fed and sustainable pool of credible, progressive messengers who both energize and motivate our base and build bridges between communities. - Identification and development of indigenous leaders toward the establishment of a regular, continuously stocked and sustainable pool of credible, progressive messengers who both energize and motivate our base and build bridges between communities.
Highlights from the states
Southern Echo and the Mississippi Delta Catalyst Roundtable have developed an extensive leadership development program:
- Intergenerational model: We bring the energy and openness of youth together with the experience and resilience of adults in trainings, technical assistance and the implementation of community work to build mutual trust and respect across generational and gender lines as a foundation for sustaining the work notwithstanding the inevitable turnover of participation that occurs through time.
- Training and technical assistance: Southern Echo and the MS Delta Catalyst Roundtable throughout the year conduct dozens of workshops and residential training schools, innumerable community meetings for community and public officials, and enable community to engage public officials in face-to-face meetings and public hearings to develop and sharpen the tools and skills involved in the negotiation of public policy.
- Program of work to empower community: In every phase of the program of work to empower community Southern Echo and the MS Delta Catalyst Roundtable engage their own leadership, staff, volunteers and newcomers to build the foundation for the emergence of newer participants, some of whom will eventually grow into meaningful leadership of the work.
