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| Our Programs UMN is comprised of interrelated programs designed to foster the development of organizers of color to work for instiutional change. Critical to our success is the integration of our programs. People attending our trainings are brought into our organizing campaigns. Organizations that have received technical assistance from us join our coalitions. Our national links help to inform us and deepen our knowledge about activist work nationally. Our work is continues to be holistic, with one program feeding another: leaders are developed, networks are built and power is won. Programs within each area are focused upon a particular organizing issues crucial to communities of color and are integrated to insure involvement beyond the particular issue. UMN is a multi-issue and hybrid organization. Our programs are focused on organizing for social and institutional change and developing skilled organizers and new leaders. Our bottom line on any issue is civic engagement of those in our community who have traditionally been excluded. Organizing, Coalition and Movement Building UMN founded and coordinates the following coalitions: Massachusetts Alliance to Reform CORI (MARC) addresses the need for criminal justice reform in the Commonwealth. Our coalition efforts specifically address criminal justice reform, emphasizing participatory democracy. This has resulted in the involvement of those most affected by the CORI laws taking leadership roles in the push for reform. MARC is a statewide coalition of organizations and individuals committed to reforming the critically flawed Criminal Offender Record Information [CORI] laws and policies in Massachusetts. The Massachusetts Alliance to Reform CORI (MARC) is committed to making legislative and policy changes as it relates to CORI laws and specifically how organizations and agencies apply the CORI reports. Recognizing that the CORI system affects people from every walk of life and from every part of the commonwealth, MARC is developing a statewide campaign with people affected by the CORI system driving the effort. Our founding partners of MARC include the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute (MLRI): the authors of the CORI Reader and founders of the CORI Project. MARC has laid the groundwork for a successful statewide campaign with local groups organizing in cities and towns around the Commonwealth. Join us! [email protected] call 617-541-5411 or 617-522-3349. Blacks and Latinos United (BLU) is a campaign focused on fostering collaboration between black and brown leaders and their communities. BLU is building bridges between these communities, who face similar obstacles, but have yet to make a unified strategy to confront them. Through BLU, we have coordinated a Latino/Black Leadership Symposium in which a group of community leaders will meet regularly to work together on campaigns aimed at gaining power for all communities of color in Boston. Non-Profit Crisis Task Force works to support the work of community-based nonprofits by developing strategies to support them financially and structurally. This spring, we are focusing our efforts on helping black- and brown-run nonprofits deal with cutbacks. Our house bill in the state legislature to set up a capacity building foundation paid for by a $.02 tax on sugar drinks has sponsors and is moving forward. New Urban Adgenda addresses urgent community concerns while engaging our constituents in movement-building activities. This fall and winter, we focused our efforts on the three F’s: food, fuel, and foreclosure. In early October 2008, we held a foreclosure response meeting in Grove Hall which resulted in the establishment of a team of lawyers and law students who are helping families in need of assistance with foreclosure proceedings. Hunger has also been an urgent crisis in black and brown communities throughout this year, and we are working to schedule regular community dinners where families will be fed and given some food assistance. RISE is UMN’s campaign to to build community support for improvement of Boston Public Schools. As charter schools and suburban school districts attract more students, our public schools are increasingly under-funded. RISE is raising awareness of the need for community involvement in advocacy for the schools. Our work will result in the creation of permanent, community-based entities that will hold the public schools accountable for their performance, and demand proper levels of funding to achieve this goal. Economic Justice Alliance of Boston (an offshoot of JAM) was formed to ensure the fair and equitable distribution of resources from the Stimulus Package into communities of color, and to ensure our communities are not forgotten despite the Governor’s efforts to ignore black people and immigrants. EJAB is working with the Massachusetts Community Action Network in demanding 15% of those proceeds be set aside for the poor, as well as orchestrating public education efforts, editorials, local media coverage, direct action strategies, and currently working with the Mass Law Reform Institute on an injunction to stop funding of more than $600 million of “shovel ready” projects in Boston, until an equity plan has been created. Skills Training Since 2002 over 1,100 individuals have attended our trainings; 98% were people of color. Our Institute for Neighborhood Leadership is conducts workshops on organizing issues, specifically as they are affected by recent financial turmoil: coping with cutbacks, developing collaborations, lobbying, motivating volunteers, leadership development, media and advocacy strategies, citizen empowerment, and fundraising. Our Activist Study Circle holds smaller group meetings with experts on a variety of subjects around the stimulus package and its affect on education and workforce development. In addition to workshops and panels, we host periodic “study circles” with nationally prominent experts to help leaders expand their knowledge and thinking on pertinent issues. The Institute for Neighborhood Leadership provides training, support and assistance to current and emerging community activists of color. We provide training in community organizing, advocacy, outreach, fundraising, planning, research, program design, evaluation, collaboration, media skills, political advocacy, public speaking and critical thinking. The Institute for Neighborhood Leadership is designed for people of color. Our workshops allow people the safety to talk freely about issues, concerns, and experiences. Click here for schedule Technical assistance UMN works locally and nationally with grassroots activists on organizing campaigns. We work with organizers one-on-one to map out campaigns, develop media strategies and develop relationships with power brokers. Upon request, the UMN will also convene a group of the city’s best, seasoned organizers to provide advice and brainstorm with an organizer of color on their issue. Want to join? Need more information? INQUIRE HERE [email protected] |
