Blog
Talking about Classism. Who Are You and Where Do You Come From?
I didn’t know about class when I first started working as an organizer. I had never thought about it as a category, though I had been taught to be ashamed of being poor. I figured that somehow, it was our fault the way we had to live. A Pivotal Conversation I remember going to a […]
Becoming an Organizer Part 3 – Learning Moments
Tags: Collective Vision, Collective Visioning, community organizing, empowerment, leadership, linda stout
I started the Piedmont Peace Project (PPP) with the help of so many from my work in North Carolina, South Carolina and other places. The first foundation to support me was Chuck Shuford from the Youth Project who also became a close mentor. Chuck came from a working-class community and the same area where I […]
Becoming and Organizer Part 2 – Going Back Home
I had always said I wanted to go back to North Carolina to fight the KKK, but I finally understood from my mentor in South Carolina, Septima Clark, that I couldn’t fight them. “That’s what they want and they will win!” she told me. What I needed to do, she said, was go back home […]
Becoming an Organizer Part 1 – Septima Clark
I am often asked, “How did I become an organizer?” And how did I get to where I am today? As you shall see, many people were part of this journey. So I begin with the beginning, about 40 years ago. Leaving Home Ku Klux Klan harassment of me grew to a threatening, intolerable level […]
Why Rosa Parks Really Sat Down On the Bus
the role of women in the civil rights movement
Reparations
Tags: Collective Vision, Collective Visioning, community organizing, cultural shift, empowerment, linda stout
Thinking about Generosity One day last spring I looked out my window and saw a woman walking toward my house with two dogs. I assumed she thought our long driveway was a road and went outside to talk to her. I found out that her name is Aileen and that she is a Baptist minister. […]
Our Piece of the Puzzle
Tags: civic engagement, Collective Vision, Collective Visioning, community organizing, empowerment, leadership, linda stout, spirit in action
Like most of you, I have found the last two years challenging, first dealing with ruinous and divisive party politics, then the contested presidential election and terrible insurrection of January 6th, and meanwhile the pandemic looming over everything. So I am grateful to have found inspiration in my work at Spirit in Action, and the […]
Rednecks – Many Different Meanings
Tags: Collective Vision, Collective Visioning, community organizing, empowerment, leadership, linda stout
When I first went to Massachusetts in the early 90s, some people asked me, “How can you live in the South with so many rednecks?” I was both shocked and horrified, not understanding what they meant by the term. More Than One Meaning Before moving north, I had thought of the term “rednecks” in two […]
What it Takes to Win
Tags: civic engagement, Collective Vision, Collective Visioning, community organizing, empowerment, leadership, linda stout, spirit in action
Imagine if I could tell you there is an organizing model for Voter Registration and Get-Out-the-Vote (GOTV) that is 100 times more effective than social media, phone calls or mailings. I’m talking about Spirit in Action’s organizing model, “TAKE 10.” A Little History First It’s a model first developed by folks at Piedmont Peace Project […]
Keep Your Money in the Community
When dollars are spent locally, they can be re-spent locally Did you know that locally-owned businesses circulate three times more money back into the local economy than chain stores do? A Shopping List I was recently thinking about an event we held while at Piedmont Peace Project, where we organized low-income folks in rural North […]
