Sabbaticals for Long-Time Activists of Color
The Alston / Bannerman Fellowship Program is committed to advancing progressive social change by helping to sustain long-time activists of color. The program honors those who have devoted their lives to helping their communities organize for racial, social, economic and environmental justice. The program provides resources for organizers to take sabbaticals for reflection and renewal.
A brief hiatus
At the 20-year mark of providing much needed support for organizers of color to reenergize, the Alston/Bannerman Program is taking a brief break itself. The hiatus will provide space to begin planning for an expansion of Alston/Bannerman in the near future. The decision to expand comes as the Alston Bannerman Program moves to the Center for Social Inclusion (CSI), a national policy advocacy organization founded in 2002 to develop strategies for dismantling structural racism.
Because of the hiatus, the sabbatical program will not select Fellows for 2008, but will announce the next application deadline by the end of the year.
CSI's core mission is to build the capacity of grassroots organizers and activists to impact policy debates,
says CSI Director Maya Wiley. Building on the Alston/Bannerman Program's invaluable role, we are committed to expanding the program to include opportunities for collective thinking, through a senior fellowship program, and for collective activism, as we create a robust network of Alston Bannerman Fellows.
To receive notice of the next sabbatical program application deadline, send an email to info@Alston/Bannerman.org
To learn more about how the Alston Bannerman Program will be expanded click here.
2007 ALSTON / BANNERMAN FELLOWS
WILLIE BAPTIST
New York, NYThe 1965 uprising in Watts where he grew up pushed Willie Baptist in the direction of organizing, beginning with the Black Student Movement. Willie has played key roles in the National Union of the Homeless, the National Welfare Rights Union, Kensington Welfare Rights Union and the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, always focusing on political education and developing leader from the ranks of the poor. He is currently Scholar in Residence with the Poverty Initiative at Union Theological Seminar, which is dedicated to raising up generations of religious and community leaders committed to building a movement, led by the poor, to end poverty.
CAROLYN FORD
Gretna, FLBeginning as a teacher in the 1960s, Carolyn Ford has dedicated her life to changing the impoverished rural Florida county where she was born. She founded the North Florida Educational Development Corporation (NFEDC), in 1986 to empower individuals and families in Gadsden County to become more self-determined, self-sufficient, and self-sustaining. In addition to directing NFEDC's work in affordable housing, education, job training, youth leadership, and economic development, Carolyn was elected mayor of Quincy and during her tenure overturned racially discriminatory city laws and policies. Carolyn is Chair of the Florida Black Chambers of Commerce and a founding member of Southern Partners Fund.
SOPHIA BRACY HARRIS
Montgomery, ALSophia Bracy Harris was among the first Black students to integrate her Alabama high school, resulting in the firebombing of her family's home and her lifelong commitment to social justice activism. Since 1972, Sophia has led the Federation of Child Care Centers of Alabama (FOCAL), whose combination of training, organizing and advocacy is designed both to improve the quality of child care and to build the leadership of child care providers and parents in low-income communities. Along with influencing state policy on child care delivery, under Sophia's leadership, FOCAL has forged statewide collaborations to address tax reform, transportation and constitutional reform.
GRACIELA SANCHEZ
San Antonio, TXBorn and raised in San Antonio's poor Westside, Graciela Sanchez returned after college to organize around voting rights, Central American solidarity, women's issues and gay and lesbian rights. She is the founding director of the Esperanza Peace & Justice Center, which since 1986 has grown into a vital cultural arts and activist organization based on the belief that to participate fully in civic life, individuals must be culturally grounded and confident of their own voices. Esperanza organizes around issues ranging from immigration to AIDS, US military aggression and sexual violence. Graciela has also served on national boards including the Astrea Foundation and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.