[Oe List ...] Gamaliel Foundation

[RICHARD HOWIE]

This Foundation is alive and well, helping to organize groups here in  
the Albany, NY Capitol District.  Our group here is ARISE (A Regional  
Initiative Supporting Empowerment);  I served 7 years on the BOD as  
the board member from our congregation here in Altamont, NY.
I can attest to the superb success of the organizing here;  this  
organizing goes across NY State at this time.
Ellen
On Sep 4, 2008, at 10:57 AM, Janice Ulangca wrote:

> This just in from an ICA colleague.  Note the link to a 1990 Obama  
> paper about community organizing - so mocked last night. I thought  
> Sarah Palin's speech last night was very, very well done - though I  
> strongly disagree with her's and McCain's policies.  The male  
> analysts need to check with women colleagues to pick up on all the  
> subtleties or they'll be left behind.  This will be a horse race -  
> and need work from all concerned folks.
> Janice
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: John Montgomery
> To: OE at wedgeblade.net ; Dialogue at wedgeblade.net
> Sent: Thursday, September 04, 2008 6:10 AM
> Subject: [Oe List ...] Last Night
>
> Dear Friends,
>
>
>
> A colleague of mine posted a blog the other day pointing out that  
> there were no minorities to be found in any significant numbers at  
> the current Republican convention. Actually, one explanation is  
> that all those Blacks, Latinos, Asians and youth are all there, it  
> is just that perverse liberal media that keeps the cameras from  
> revealing their presence. I did see two black men and one black  
> woman. There was one Asian man but I really did not see anybody  
> obviously Hispanic. I am sure they were there.
>
>
>
> Not much else needs to be said. I will be glad when our two  
> candidates actually debate each other. Maybe we can move beyond the  
> cute side shows.
>
>
>
> The most telling event of the evening was both Giuliani’s and  
> Palin’s apparent ignorance about the time honored strategy of  
> change and empowerment represented by community organizing.   
> Needless to say, community organizing is about all those people who  
> were not present at the Republican convention tonight. So I hope  
> everybody had a great laugh. It’s one reason; I can’t and won’t  
> vote Republican. It is the reason that tonight I made another  
> donation online for Obama’s campaign.
>
>
>
> Perhaps, a little background will help here. In the late 80s,  
> following my graduation from seminary, I was hired as the Executive  
> Director of the Institute on the Church in Urban-Industrial Society  
> (ICUIS) in Hyde Park. Perhaps I will come back to this work soon  
> and talk about some of my research, but I thought I would share a  
> paper written by young Obama on the subject. Maybe if Giuliani had  
> read the paper, he wouldn’t have looked so elitist tonight.
>
>
>
> http://www.edwoj.com/Alinsky/AlinskyObamaChapter1990.htm
>
>
>
> During the four years I was director of ICUIS, we focused on  
> documenting a new trend in the traditional community organizing  
> strategies of persons like Saul Alinsky and the work of the  
> Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF). During that time, I was able to  
> do research on the more than 100 “congregation-based community  
> organizing efforts” across the country and publish several studies.  
> In Chicago, one of the key groups facilitating such organizing was  
> the Gamaliel Foundation that helped organize The Developing  
> Communities Project and GREAT on Chicago’s Southside.
>
>
>
> Obama was right in the middle of these efforts. And it is his  
> instinct as an organizer that makes me so interested in his  
> candidacy. I have paraphrased his comments more than once where he  
> says, “What people don’t get is that it is not about me, but it is  
> about we.”
>
>
>
> That is a community organizer talking!
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> John C. Montgomery
>
> monkeyltd at comcast.net
>
> john.montgomery at acfb.org
>
> 678-468-4913 (personal)
>
>
>
> Visit My Blog - Notes From the Balcony
>
> www.monkeyltd.blogspot.com
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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