Tag Archives: center for neighborhood leadership

ANHD Celebrates Our Next Cohort of Community Leaders from the CNL Organizing Academy

Last week, we celebrated the completion of the 2017-2018 year for the Advanced Course of the Center for Neighborhood Leadership (CNL)’s NYC Organizing Academy. CNL trains and supports community leaders and increases the capacity of grassroots organizations to win concrete changes for communities. A part of that program, the NYC Organizing Academy is designed for individuals currently doing community organizing, who are interested in expanding their skill sets, experiences, and networks.

Community organizing is difficult, and at times alienating work. The Advanced Course is an opportunity for experienced organizers to not just further develop their skills, but also build community. The Advanced Course creates a space for these organizers to read, reflect, and engage in deep discussion about their work, the context and significance of their work, and their own organizing practice. These eight organizers – who this year all identify as women – dug deep into theory and developed new practices for how to deepen their analysis and practice of political education, build a powerful base, develop leaders, win campaigns and create institutions that support organizing.

Congratulations to Emily Goldstein, Samantha Kattan, Lorena Lopez, Aura Mejia, Marcela Mitaynes, Frangelin Pozo, Aga Trogniak, and Melanie Wang! 

We want to especially thank our training instructor Susanna Blankley who is also the Coalition Coordinator for the Right to Counsel NYC Coalition, which is made up of more than 45 tenant advocate groups, tenant organizing groups, faith based groups, academics, and legal services providers throughout the New York City. Susanna is also an alumnus of the CNL program herself.

We also want to thank New York Foundation for generously offering their space for our celebration and to Jennifer Ching, Executive Director of the North Star Fund for coming and speaking to our graduates about how to have faith in themselves and the work they are doing and the kind of impact they can have as women and women of color in the community organizing movement.

Here is what our recent graduates had to say about the CNL Advanced Course:

“YAS, YAS, three times YAS! A super informative, challenging, learning space to help further yourself in your own personal goals as well as organizing and organizational goals,” said Frangelin Pozo, Faith in NY

“It’s a great opportunity to meet and learn from other organizers. It creates space to reflect on how we are organizing, motivating, leading, and following,” said Aga Trojniak, Flatbush Tenants Coalition

“If you’re really looking to improve your skills, better support your communities and remember why you chose this line of work, you’ve got to do it!” said Lorena Lopez, Catholic Migration Services

“It was a great way to push myself to think deliberately about my organizing practices, improve my work, and capture ideas for future use,” said Emily Goldstein, The Association for Neighborhood & Housing Development (ANHD)

“I highly recommend it for new/experienced organizers,” said Marcela Mitaynes, Neighbors Helping Neighbors

“Get ready for a fun and great learning experience!” said Aura Mejia, Neighbors Helping Neighbors

“This class provided me with mental space and community support to really think through the values, skills, and knowledge I want to exercise as an organizer. I am incredibly grateful to Susanna, Ericka, and all my classmates for what we built together!” said Melanie Wang, CAAAV

To learn more about the class or the Organizing Academy, please contact Ericka Stallings.

Six Lessons for Cultivating Leadership of Color in the Community Organizing Movement

1. It Takes Time: Oppressive systems teach people to be small, attempting to strip us of our voice and power while simultaneously obscuring the contributions of marginalized people. As a result, people – and more specifically those in the community development movement – too rarely look at a directly impacted person from a marginalized community and think, “Now, there’s a leader!” More importantly, despite having tremendous talent, people from marginalized communities may not look at themselves and recognize a leader.The CNL program invests a considerable amount of time to help Apprentices explore, identify, reclaim, and cultivate their leadership while developing the skills to help others in their community do the same. Having a 10-month long program allows us to dig in deep, creating time for exploration and personal growth. Sometimes, people recognize and assert their leadership early in the program, and sometimes it takes the whole ten months for people to feel comfortable stepping forward. But for most people, the length of the program allows it to be intense, challenging, and ultimately, transformative.
2. The Training Has to be Solid: Comprehensive and applicable course content is essential for a successful organizing training program. As experienced organizers, CNL staff know what it takes to win campaigns, build power, and strengthen institutions, as well as how to hire and supervise organizers. All of CNL’s trainers have real on-the-ground organizing experience as well as deep knowledge of diverse approaches to community organizing within marginalized communities. CNL also recognizes that everyone learns differently, so trainers utilize a broad array of training modalities to accommodate different learning styles. And, we constantly review and refine the curriculum to meet evolving Apprentice needs.
3. Practice in the Real World: Communities of color are under near constant attack, so we recognize that we don’t all have the luxury of thinking exclusively about theory. However, we also know that a coherent organizing model is essential for effective organizing work. At CNL, we marry organizing theories with the messy work of real life organizing, rather than teaching one neat and static theory. The CNL Apprenticeship Program teaches organizing concepts in a way that is grounded in actual organizing work. For four days a week, Apprentices are out doing organizing work at a host organization alongside an experienced organizer. They spend one day per week in training so they can test the approaches they’re learning in practice, and then have the space to step back and think through the day-to-day challenges of organizing work. CNL intentionally avoids having a dogmatic approach; instead we help participants learn to innovate and tailor their work to meet the needs of their communities. Because our participants live the struggle every day, they constantly push training staff to think more broadly and examine our own assumptions and orthodoxies.
4. Adapt an Intentional Selection Process: Leadership is often thought of as a special trait possessed by a small and exclusive set of people. At CNL, we see leadership more broadly and take chances with non-traditional leaders who may not present as expected. We look at the whole person, not just their resume and what degrees they attained or didn’t attain. We also don’t just check demographic boxes or look for the loudest person in the room. The ideal CNL Apprentice is of course passionate and committed, but they are also interested in learning collective models of social change and have a concept of justice that extends beyond their own immediate self-interest. 
5. Find Role Models: When we look at New York City organizations, including social justice organizations, people of color and other marginalized groups are under-represented in senior positions. Consequently, new people of color, queer, immigrant, and women organizers are challenged by an inadequate supply of mentors and role models who share their experiences and identities. At CNL, the staff, training materials, and guest speakers all reflect diverse backgrounds, creating an environment where the program participants can see their identities reflected in positions of leadership and expertise.
6. Build Community: Organizers from marginalized communities are too often responsible for high levels of emotional labor and carry a double burden of living with oppression while simultaneously fighting it. Organizing work is usually under-appreciated and under-paid. Organizing work can also be surprisingly isolating; by utilizing a cohort model, the CNL Apprenticeship is able to build a tight-knit, supportive community that helps Apprentices navigate the common challenges for new organizers. During the ten months of the program, Apprentices build authentic relationships with each other and with CNL staff. Apprentices are cared for as individuals, in a community bound together by ties of affection, respect, and trust. In the CNL space, Apprentices always have people who will challenge, frustrate, and support them.

Each program year, we see that the CNL model works. In the last graduating class, 35% of graduates from CNL’s Organizing Apprenticeship Program were hired by their host sites and 71% remain in the field of community organizing. CNL Apprentices have contributed to multiple important local and city-wide campaigns. Just last year, Apprentices helped over 2,600 community members form tenant associations, hosted neighborhood events, fought for fair immigration policies, and so much more.

The Apprentices are, individually and collectively, an inspiration to us; the intelligence, compassion, and drive they bring to the work has made the social justice world in New York City stronger, more vibrant, and more durable. Cultivating leaders of color in the community organizing movement matters, and it’s worth getting it right.

In addition to the Apprenticeship, CNL also supports and trains currently employed community organizers at varied career stages through the CNL Organizing Academy and provides strategic technical assistance to organizations to help them build or reinforce their organizing through the Community Impact Project. To learn more about our programs and our impact, visit www.cnlnyc.org.

Become a Community Organizing Apprentice!

We are currently recruiting for our next cohort of the CNL Apprenticeship Program. Apprentices receive a stipend to work nearly full-time in a neighborhood-based host organization and receive high-quality, weekly training and support services. Apprentices are paid a total of $17,000 for their ten months of service and receive health care, child care, interest-free student loan deferments, and up to $5,750 in an education award to pay back student loans or pay for future education.

Applications Due: March 30, 2018

1. If you are interested in applying to be an Organizing Apprentice, you must complete the application by March 30, 2018.
2. After reviewing applications, strong applicants will be invited to attend an interview.
3. Following the interview, selected candidates will be matched with a Host organization via the CNL Matching Fair.
4. Apprentice finalists invited to the CNL Matching Fair will meet the Host Site finalists. Hosts and Apprentice candidates will have time following the fair for more in-depth interviews, reference checks and will then communicate preferences to CNL staff. Participation in the CNL program is contingent upon making a successful match with a CNL host site.

Click here for the Apprenticeship Application Link.

Congratulations to the 2016-2017 Graduates of the Center for Neighborhood Leadership Apprenticeship Program!

Recently, we celebrated the graduation of a phenomenal class of organizing apprentices with the Center for Neighborhood Leadership (CNL). We are very proud of the graduates and all they have accomplished in the past 10 months!

The graduation ceremony was held at the Urban Justice Center’s office in Lower Manhattan, and many friends, family members and supporters of the graduates and of CNL were in attendance. The program started off with remarks by CNL trainers Ericka Stallings and Angelica Otero, who congratulated the graduating class and described the incredible growth they witnessed in the apprentices over the last 10 months. “You are an embodiment of why we exist,” said Otero, who – after being with the CNL program for four years – is leaving to focus on her organization BronxPower and her soon-to-be bundle of joy.

Keynote speeches were then made by two honored guests, Mo George, Executive Director of Picture the Homeless, and Fahd Ahmed, Executive Director of Desis Rising Up and Moving (DRUM). George, who has decades of experience as an organizer, told the graduating class that if they think of organizing as a job, they probably won’t be doing it for more than a few years. Instead, “it has to be a calling,” George urged. Ahmed echoed a similar sentiment. “If you love it,” he said. “There is nothing better than doing this work.”

The speeches continued with remarks by two members of the graduating class, who were elected by their peers to speak at the program. Shanice Brim and Amanda Marino commented on their experiences in the program – the ups as well as the downs – and offered their hopes and advice for the future. Shanice spoke about imagining a world that does not yet exist is difficult, drawing attention to the challenge of not only reacting to an unjust world, but also to being proactive about creating a better one.

The graduates were then called up one by one to receive their certificates. A reception followed the program with music, wine, and delicious food from A-Pou’s Taste, a street vendor with the Street Vendor Project. Graduates and their friends and families mingled with each other, all with big smiles beaming with pride.  Click here to see photos from the event.

The past 10 months of the CNL Organizing Apprenticeship program have been challenging and filled with joy and accomplishment. Here are some of the highlights:

• CNL apprentices organized around a diverse range of issues, from financial education to transit equity to gender justice
• CNLers helped organize cultural events such as Bed-Stuy Pride
• They assisted hundreds of tenants in forming tenant associations and helped people in danger of losing their homes get the resources and information they needed
• They conducted community awareness events and “Know Your Rights” trainings that reached hundreds of individuals
• They worked with various immigrant communities in New York City representing over 15 different countries of origin
• They organized rallies, town halls, and community meetings reaching hundreds of people
• And so much more!

Big congratulations to the graduating class, and best of luck on your future endeavors! We look forward to seeing all that these graduates accomplish in their work fighting for justice, building power, and creating a safer, more equitable world.