Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld This past weekend, I had the honor to attend the Movement for Black Lives convening in Cleveland. It was a historic gathering of more than a thousand black organizers, activists and families from around the country. Given the justified outrage over people being pepper sprayed by cops after the conference ended and the media’s bias in reporting on the […]
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld Around the country funders are coming together to support community organizing in black communities. Earlier this month, I moderated a panel discussion at the North Star Fund’s “Let Us Breathe” forum, which served “as a call to community members, donors, grantmakers, activists, organizers, and all New Yorkers to support the movement against […]
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld Earlier this month, a new poll revealed that there was a “deep divide” between blacks and whites on race and the criminal justice system. I’m not sure that this news was all that surprising since, as Alvin noted in his blog about the unique brand of millennial racism , there are lots of polls revealing that race […]
Written by Frances Kunreuther It is striking to me that in all the tension and cacophony we are experiencing here in New York City and around the country – from the Grand Jury’s decision not to indict the police involved in the deaths of Eric Garner, Michael Brown, and so many other young men of […]
Most of the time, we talk here about the leadership of organizations related to age, race, gender, style, outcomes, and social change. We think about leadership pipelines and transitions, and what structures help people lead with the most impact. But in the midst of the funeral for Michael Brown in Ferguson and the Staten Island […]
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld I first saw the documentary United in Anger: A History of ACT UP a year ago. As I watched the film, I was engrossed in the story of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power. I was inspired by the successes of this movement that made it possible for an HIV diagnosis to not be […]
Here at BMP, we’re excited to be in New York at the epicenter of the Occupy Wall Street movement. We’ve been watching for two weeks now as protestors continue to camp in Zuccotti Park to demonstrate their frustration with the current American economic system. While some are critical about the lack of a specific set […]
On Wednesday, March 16th, the Building Movement Project hosted the first of what will be an ongoing series of “cohort calls” that concentrate on the different roles/activities of service providers involved in social change work. The purpose of the calls is to build connections and share information among staffers across the country working in service […]
Over 15,000 organizers, activists, and social service nonprofits gathered in Detroit, MI at the second United States Social Forum to build unity around common goals of social justice, strengthen ties between organizations, and help build a broader social justice movement. It was not a conference, but rather an open space for people and groups to blend their […]
Building Movement Project Director, Frances Kunreuther and Project Team member Robby Rodriguezwere among the 50 participants at the The Color of Change: Inter-ethnic Organizing and Leadership for the 21st Century, hosted by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The meeting was organized by Professor Manuel Pastor to discuss his paper on youth organizing among communities of color as a […]