Poverty Scholars Program Leadership School, Wilkes-Barre, Summer 2011

The Poverty Initiative’s Poverty Scholars Program held its second Leadership School July 8th – 10th, 2011, hosted by the NEPA Organizing Center in Wilkes-Barre, PA.  NEPA  has been a leading organization in the Poverty Scholars network since the [...]]]>

(from Poverty Initiative Announcement)

Poverty Scholars Program Leadership School, Wilkes-Barre, Summer 2011

The Poverty Initiative’s Poverty Scholars Program held its second Leadership School July 8th – 10th, 2011, hosted by the NEPA Organizing Center in Wilkes-Barre, PA.  NEPA  has been a leading organization in the Poverty Scholars network since the program began in 2007.  The Poverty Scholars Program is a leadership development, technical assistance, and skills training program for low-income organizers from grassroots organizations nationwide working around issues of economic justice.

Today, poverty in the United States is often thought of as a problem that affects the inner cities and urban areas. With the growing national foreclosure rate, the lack of jobs that pay living wages, and an economic crisis that affects all areas – urban, suburban, small towns and rural – throughout the US – the Poverty Scholars Program has found that its grassroots community organizing leaders need to understand a much bigger picture of the reality of poverty in this country and globally.  It is vital that we connect with grassroots organizing taking place in small cities and towns and rural areas throughout this country – especially organizing that includes folks who are working-class, poor, and white.  A united leadership of the poor across color-lines is a fundamental part of building this movement.

The theme of the Leadership School was “Reigniting the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Poor People’s Campaign Today: Uniting the Leaders”.  This School brought together more than 80 leaders from grassroots organizations across the US with proven local and national success working on issues of unemployment, community revitalization, housing/homelessness, immigration, water privatization, ecological devastation, eviction and foreclosure, health care, low-wage workers rights, organizing poor youth, public education reform, grassroots media production, and living wages. Leadership School participants studied together, shared lessons and taught one another providing intensive leadership development, human rights education, joint study and strategic dialogue, technical training and assistance, ongoing organizing and advocacy support for campaigns, and networking opportunities.

The Poverty Initiative at Union Theological Seminary’s mission is to developing leaders in religious and low-income communities towards winning economic justice and human rights for all and building a movement to end poverty. (www.povertyinitiative.org).

We offer our deepest thanks to Dr. Valerie Kepner and the students from [...]]]> The NEPA Organizing Center is proud to announce the successful completion of two Service Learning projects. The projects were focused on foreclosure education, prevention and support, and are part of an ongoing collaboration between King College’s Economics Department and the Organizing Center.

We offer our deepest thanks to Dr. Valerie Kepner and the students from her Public Economics class for their hard work and dedication.

Foreclosure Stats: Asley Scarpetta, Eric Bieski, Corey Pellington, Matthew Bennett

Foreclosure Support: Clyde Miller, Matthew Kotch, Clyde Miller, Ana Mendez

Download projects in pdf

Mobilizing Project of NEPA: Training Event with Witness in NYC, Sun., March 20 through Tues., March 22

The NEPA Organizing Center has secured two openings for a media production training with Witness (http://www.witness.org/) in NYC.

The training will run Sun. 3/20 through [...]]]> NEPA Organizing Center Training Announcement Community Journalism: Resident Reporters/Telling the Untold Stories Media

Mobilizing Project of NEPA: Training Event with Witness in NYC, Sun., March 20 through Tues., March 22

The NEPA Organizing Center has secured two openings for a media production training with Witness (http://www.witness.org/) in NYC.

The training will run Sun. 3/20 through Tues. 3/22. Committed people with flexible schedules are needed to form a production team for our Foreclosure/Eviction documentation project, and to provide local training for our upcoming “Resident Reporter” project. No experience necessary. Transportation and housing will be covered by the NEPA Organizing Center.

Any interested NEPA residents are encouraged to respond to Frank Sindaco via email at frank@nepaorganizingcenter.org, or call us at (570) 371-7484 to RSVP or for more information.