The Gathering's 2008 Goals and Objectives
Infrastructure:
Objective
-Set a process and structure for the Executive Committee.
-Increase revenue to $1.5 million; target foundations to diversify our funding base.
-Develop an on going communications plan that begins to explore creative ways to keep the grassroots in contact.
-Develop a long-term strategic plan that includes base line capacity for our states and plan for expanding states and involvement.
Nonviolence training:
Objective
-Organize 11 two day nonviolent direct action core training with our local organizing committee and 30 people from their community. This will ground the local participants for the year of organizing through a nonviolent method.
-Facilitate a 10 month training in the application of nonviolence which will lead to a local agenda being created and supported in 11 cities.
-Create mentorship programs with the elders of our civil rights movements in five of our cities.
Policy:
Objective
-Create a policy advisory board, led by James Bell to support the outcomes of the trainings and agenda creation with viable local policy strategy of three of the local organizing agendas.
-Facilitate two national strategic planning meetings, Memphis on April 3-6 (which has already been completed) and a convention in the winter.
To achieve these objectives The Gathering will continue to focus on three central program activities:
The Gathering Program for 2008:
1.On-going regional nonviolence trainings of The Gathering participants:
Goal: Interracial and intergenerational model exchange that strengthen relationships between community based organizations and nonviolence.
Nationally, The Gathering will continue to organize locally by providing a year long training on the tenets of nonviolence and its practical applications.
Training Approach
The Gathering is prepared to assist in the initiation of best practices necessary to affect present conditions where Nonviolence is not practiced. We propose to expand our training capabilities and capacity to bring the concept of Nonviolence to communities across the country. Nonviolence training and education offered to a substantial number of people (from school children of all ages to teachers, administrators, parents and the community as a whole) provides better alternatives for resolving conflicts. The goal of nonviolent reconciliation is justice, which is a win/win solution rather than a win/lose situation. The nonviolent approach reduces both financial and human costs in managing conflicts and promotes reconciliation. It may be the only approach where a party to a conflict is rewarded for teaching the opponent how to master his or her weapon. Nonviolent solutions not only preserve the dignity of conflicting parties but also elevate the relationship between the opponents to one of cooperation and understanding in which they jointly implement change and celebrate victory.
Introductory Seminar
This seminar has evolved from the experiences by Dr. Lafayette and Dr. King’s nonviolent tactician concerning methods of nonviolence education. The purpose of the seminar is to examine the philosophy used by Martin Luther King, Jr. and the movements he led from 1954 to 1968 and to explore their application to the current conditions of violence and conflict.
The two-day workshop will introduce skills to:
•De-escalate conflicts in interpersonal disputes;
•Distinguish between constructive confrontation and destructive conflict that can lead to forms of violence;
•Incorporate the Kingian philosophy of nonviolence as an additional tool in their interaction at school, home and within their communities;
•Apply Dr. King's methodology and strategy to mobilize the six basic community leadership groups to effectively address conflict in the school and community; and
•Frame the issue in conflicts, so that the energy is directed toward --causes--not symptoms.
Practicum and Continuation Seminar:
Based upon completion of the introductory seminar, participants will be invited to attend a series of sequential seminars to share their experiences and applications of the Nonviolence strategies and to study the writings of Martin Luther King, Jr. These seminars are designed to strengthen individual and group capacity to use the philosophy and to learn from the experiences of their peers. At the end of this period candidates are invited to complete a written assessment of their knowledge about Kingian Nonviolence and how they have applied it to a specific type of institutional or community-wide condition, in our case, the incarceration of our children.
The Gathering will continue to support larger regional gatherings our communities may ask for. We do not plan on expanding outside of the participants currently involved. We believe it is critical to build the capacity of our participants already on the ground. The three static pieces of any regional gathering are local policy exchange, elevation of using tactical nonviolent direct action and cultural exchanges.
2.Innovative internet and online coordination:
Goal: Coordinated nonviolent direct action support for locally initiated efforts and the coordination of a plan to elevate local solutions to the national level.
Our online presence will be a technical expression of The Gathering program and will reflect the needs of the community. We will use cutting edge technology to create a user friendly network. The content will be created by our participating organizations as well as local organizing committees.
Impressive work has been going on throughout the country for several years around the issues of justice and child incarceration. We must collectively decide to halt the business of any targeted city to raise the crisis level of our organizing that will allow us to negotiate local policy with elevated force. The Gathering coordinated efforts will create a database of people throughout the country interested in supporting nonviolent direct action and trained in nonviolent direct action. The Gathering website will highlight actions being done with our partners and decide on national collective action.
In the first six month of 2008, we will hire an Organizing Director to ensure a proper organizing and communication strategy is implemented. This will allow us to fully integrate technology into organizing in the field.
3.Support local and national policy pertaining to the justice system and youth incarceration:
Goal: Shift the policies that incarcerate members of our communities.
Many of our partners have a litany of policy solutions to end the suffering of the working class and poor. These people who are socio-economically profiled are those most affected by the justice system. The Gathering will collect and track these policy models. We will collectively decide on national policy to lobby for in Congress. A lobbying force maybe created in Washington DC to institutionalize these efforts and ensure local communities are represented on the Hill.
We will study our target cities as potential national campaigns for nonviolent direct action application.
Objective
-Set a process and structure for the Executive Committee.
-Increase revenue to $1.5 million; target foundations to diversify our funding base.
-Develop an on going communications plan that begins to explore creative ways to keep the grassroots in contact.
-Develop a long-term strategic plan that includes base line capacity for our states and plan for expanding states and involvement.
Nonviolence training:
Objective
-Organize 11 two day nonviolent direct action core training with our local organizing committee and 30 people from their community. This will ground the local participants for the year of organizing through a nonviolent method.
-Facilitate a 10 month training in the application of nonviolence which will lead to a local agenda being created and supported in 11 cities.
-Create mentorship programs with the elders of our civil rights movements in five of our cities.
Policy:
Objective
-Create a policy advisory board, led by James Bell to support the outcomes of the trainings and agenda creation with viable local policy strategy of three of the local organizing agendas.
-Facilitate two national strategic planning meetings, Memphis on April 3-6 (which has already been completed) and a convention in the winter.
To achieve these objectives The Gathering will continue to focus on three central program activities:
The Gathering Program for 2008:
1.On-going regional nonviolence trainings of The Gathering participants:
Goal: Interracial and intergenerational model exchange that strengthen relationships between community based organizations and nonviolence.
Nationally, The Gathering will continue to organize locally by providing a year long training on the tenets of nonviolence and its practical applications.
Training Approach
The Gathering is prepared to assist in the initiation of best practices necessary to affect present conditions where Nonviolence is not practiced. We propose to expand our training capabilities and capacity to bring the concept of Nonviolence to communities across the country. Nonviolence training and education offered to a substantial number of people (from school children of all ages to teachers, administrators, parents and the community as a whole) provides better alternatives for resolving conflicts. The goal of nonviolent reconciliation is justice, which is a win/win solution rather than a win/lose situation. The nonviolent approach reduces both financial and human costs in managing conflicts and promotes reconciliation. It may be the only approach where a party to a conflict is rewarded for teaching the opponent how to master his or her weapon. Nonviolent solutions not only preserve the dignity of conflicting parties but also elevate the relationship between the opponents to one of cooperation and understanding in which they jointly implement change and celebrate victory.
Introductory Seminar
This seminar has evolved from the experiences by Dr. Lafayette and Dr. King’s nonviolent tactician concerning methods of nonviolence education. The purpose of the seminar is to examine the philosophy used by Martin Luther King, Jr. and the movements he led from 1954 to 1968 and to explore their application to the current conditions of violence and conflict.
The two-day workshop will introduce skills to:
•De-escalate conflicts in interpersonal disputes;
•Distinguish between constructive confrontation and destructive conflict that can lead to forms of violence;
•Incorporate the Kingian philosophy of nonviolence as an additional tool in their interaction at school, home and within their communities;
•Apply Dr. King's methodology and strategy to mobilize the six basic community leadership groups to effectively address conflict in the school and community; and
•Frame the issue in conflicts, so that the energy is directed toward --causes--not symptoms.
Practicum and Continuation Seminar:
Based upon completion of the introductory seminar, participants will be invited to attend a series of sequential seminars to share their experiences and applications of the Nonviolence strategies and to study the writings of Martin Luther King, Jr. These seminars are designed to strengthen individual and group capacity to use the philosophy and to learn from the experiences of their peers. At the end of this period candidates are invited to complete a written assessment of their knowledge about Kingian Nonviolence and how they have applied it to a specific type of institutional or community-wide condition, in our case, the incarceration of our children.
The Gathering will continue to support larger regional gatherings our communities may ask for. We do not plan on expanding outside of the participants currently involved. We believe it is critical to build the capacity of our participants already on the ground. The three static pieces of any regional gathering are local policy exchange, elevation of using tactical nonviolent direct action and cultural exchanges.
2.Innovative internet and online coordination:
Goal: Coordinated nonviolent direct action support for locally initiated efforts and the coordination of a plan to elevate local solutions to the national level.
Our online presence will be a technical expression of The Gathering program and will reflect the needs of the community. We will use cutting edge technology to create a user friendly network. The content will be created by our participating organizations as well as local organizing committees.
Impressive work has been going on throughout the country for several years around the issues of justice and child incarceration. We must collectively decide to halt the business of any targeted city to raise the crisis level of our organizing that will allow us to negotiate local policy with elevated force. The Gathering coordinated efforts will create a database of people throughout the country interested in supporting nonviolent direct action and trained in nonviolent direct action. The Gathering website will highlight actions being done with our partners and decide on national collective action.
In the first six month of 2008, we will hire an Organizing Director to ensure a proper organizing and communication strategy is implemented. This will allow us to fully integrate technology into organizing in the field.
3.Support local and national policy pertaining to the justice system and youth incarceration:
Goal: Shift the policies that incarcerate members of our communities.
Many of our partners have a litany of policy solutions to end the suffering of the working class and poor. These people who are socio-economically profiled are those most affected by the justice system. The Gathering will collect and track these policy models. We will collectively decide on national policy to lobby for in Congress. A lobbying force maybe created in Washington DC to institutionalize these efforts and ensure local communities are represented on the Hill.
We will study our target cities as potential national campaigns for nonviolent direct action application.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Paul Leslie on -
WHERE DREAMS BECOME REAL, a poem by Kodac Harrison
Once there was a dreamer
Who dreamed for all mankind
For all the forgotten people
All those left behind
He carried his dreams
From the small towns and the cities
To the steps of the Lincoln Memorial
He told us of a day
When all mankind
Would be free at last
But there are those
Who out of ignorance and hate
Would destroy the dream
He was shot down in Memphis
Around supper time
But the dream did not die
For you can kill the dreamer
But you can’t kill the dream
It lives on
In that place where dreams become real
In that place the soul is revealed
And dreams become real
Twenty years later
I was watching my TV
When I saw the dream personified
I saw some kids interviewed
Down on Auburn Avenue
I knew the dream was still alive
You could see it in their faces
You could see it shining from their eyes
You could see in the way they held themselves
In the way they held their heads up high
The Dream’s alive
In that place where dreams become real
In that place the soul is revealed
And dreams become real
He said I want to take you
Where dreams become real
Where dreams are real
©1988, 92, 99
Wo Träume wahr werden
Es war einst ein Träumer
Der für die ganze Menschheit träumte
Für alle Vergessenen
Alle Zurückgelassenen
Er trug seine Träume
Aus der Provinz und den Städten
Bis an die Stufen zum Lincoln-Denkmal
Er sprach uns von einem Tag
Da die ganze Menschheit
Endlich frei wär
Aber es gab auch noch die
Die den Traum zerstören wollten
Aus Hass und Unwissenheit
Er wurde in Memphis erschossen
Um die Mittagszeit
Aber der Traum starb nicht
Denn man kann den Träumer umbringen
Aber nicht den Traum
Er lebt weiter
An dem Ort, wo Träume wahr werden
An dem Ort, wo die Seele ans Licht kommt
Und Träume Wirklichkeit werden
Zwanzig Jahre danach
Beim Fernsehen
Hab ich den Traum verkörpert gesehen
In ein paar Jugendlichen
Die sie interviewt haben
Drunten auf der Auburn Avenue
Da wusste ich: der Traum ist noch am Leben
Man sah ihn in ihren Gesichtern
Man sah ihn leuchten aus ihren Augen
Man erkannte ihn an ihrer Haltung
Und daran, wie sie den Kopf hoch trugen
Der Traum lebt
An dem Ort, wo Träume wahr werden
An dem Ort, wo die Seele ans Licht kommt
Und Träume Wirklichkeit werden
Er sagte, ich möchte euch mitnehmen
Dahin, wo die Träume wahr werden
Wo Träume Wirklichkeit sind
deutsch von Ulf Abraham
Donde los sueños se vuelven realidad
Había una vez un soñador
Quien soñaba por toda la humanidad
Por todos los olvidados
Todos los abandonados
Llevó sus sueños
De los pueblos y las ciudades
A las escaleras del Memorial de Lincoln
Nos habló de un día
Cuando toda la humanidad
Sería, por fin, libre
Pero hay quienes
Que por ignorancia y odio
Destruirían el sueño
Fue asesinado en Memfis
Por la hora de la cena
Pero el sueño no murió
Porque se puede matar el sueño
Sigue vivo
En aquel lugar donde los sueños se vuelven realidad
En aquel lugar donde el alma se desnuda
Y los sueños se vuelven realidad
Veinte años después
Estaba viendo la tele
Cuando vi el sueño personificado
Vi una entrevista de unos niños
En la avenida Auburn
Sabía que el sueño seguía vivo
Se veía en sus caras
Se veía brillando en sus ojos
Se veía en su manera de pararse
En su manera de erguir la cabeza
El sueño vive
En aquel lugar donde los sueños se vuelven realidad
En aquel lugar donde el alma se desnuda
Y los sueõs se vuelven realida
El dijo que quería llevarte
Donde los sueños se vuelven realidad
Donde los sueños son realidad
Traducción al español por Tanya N. Weimer
About
The Gathering’s Mission
The mission of The Gathering is to build an Intergenerational, movement, rooted in history, cultures and non-violent direct action to heal communities, build collective strength and generate an environment of hope and opportunity.
Civil rights and social justice organizations have come to understand that collective action on a national basis is required to stop child incarceration and challenge the immoral process which perpetuates an unjust justice system. These groups are working under extremely difficult circumstances and many of them with little or no resources. The Gathering is a national movement that creates a coordinated space to 1) fortify relationships between regional groups, 2) support local endeavors and 3) enhance the ongoing organizing of non-violent direct action training. Central to its mission is strengthening our moral environment.
- “a project of tides center” -
"The Gathering" is a project of Tides Center 501c3
Civil rights and social justice organizations have come to understand that collective action on a national basis is required to stop child incarceration and challenge the immoral process which perpetuates an unjust justice system. These groups are working under extremely difficult circumstances and many of them with little or no resources. The Gathering is a national movement that creates a coordinated space to 1) fortify relationships between regional groups, 2) support local endeavors and 3) enhance the ongoing organizing of non-violent direct action training. Central to its mission is strengthening our moral environment.
- “a project of tides center” -
"The Gathering" is a project of Tides Center 501c3
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