Blog
Peace, Power & Love
I sign all my letters, my emails and blogs with these three words. So, it seems fitting to begin 2023 writing about it. What do I mean when I sign: Peace, Power, Love?
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 […]
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 […]
Rethinking the Corner Store
Tags: civic engagement, Collective Vision, Collective Visioning, community organizing, empowerment, leadership, linda stout
Small corner stores are often the only source of food for underserved communities. They may be the main source of groceries, yet they mainly stock processed foods that are high in calories, fat and salt. The Washington Post recently reported that dollar store profits are booming and the stores proliferating, writing, “With rising inflation and […]
The Health Educators – Vaccine Information and Outreach to the Latino Community
There are approximately 150,000 farmworkers and their dependents in North Carolina each growing season, but this estimate is considered low. One of the groups Bethsaida and I visited this summer, AMEXCAN, is essential to the state’s Mexican and Latino population. COVID-19 Hits Hard Among the many services AMEXCAN provides, education and outreach regarding cancer, diabetes, […]
Taking Action, One House at a Time
Tags: civic engagement, Collective Vision, Collective Visioning, community organizing, empowerment, linda stout
How Kinston Teens Are Changing Their Community At age 14, Chris Suggs was already losing friends, schoolmates, and family to drug and gun violence. Coming from a community that is the most economically distressed in all of North Carolina and with the highest rate of gun violence, he decided to provide alternatives for teens. Chris […]
