Immigrant Executive Director Network
In 2016, in response to a growing need among Immigrant Directors for solidarity, training and peer support, CSIO launched an Immigrant Executive Director Network. The cohort currently consists of a group of 8 Latina, African and Asian immigrant Directors from a diverse array of 8 grassroots and social justice organizations. The E.D. cohort meets regularly to get support and training, share best practices around building sustainable, grassroots-led organizations, and support each other amidst the challenging and intense work they do – and the challenges that 2017 presents.
The job of E.D. in a grassroots social justice organization is demanding and often isolating, with precious few shared spaces for mutual support and learning. This network provides a place to go to share frustrations, test out ideas, hear from other’s success stories, and strategize around building grassroots leadership in their groups and campaigns. We provide the E.D.s with regular workshops and networking activities that are not just educational, but nourishing. Activities lift the Directors’ spirits and confidence. They help them sustain the work, grow their skills, and develop new relationships across communities and issues. We know these relationships lead to solidarity among organizations and communities, building the broader social justice movement.
Directors represent Brockton Interfaith Committee, Women Encouraging Empowerment, Agencia ALPHA, Lynn Worker Center, Vietnamese-American Civic Association, The City School, Beantown Society and United for a Fair Economy.
In 2016, we launched the project and held 4 activities with the cohort. We started with a planning session with the E.D.’s to identify their priority support needs. We facilitated a June 2016 workshop on strategies to develop grassroots leadership in organizations at the staff, board and member levels, and then held a fall daylong retreat for the E.D.’s that addressed how organizational work relates to social justice movement and campaign cycles, and self-care strategies & practices in groups and in the organizing work. E.D.s also shared each other’s donor appeal letters for peer feedback on this key fundraising strategy. In December, CSIO convened a post-election reflection and dialogue.
In 2017 we facilitated a workshop led by Nwando Obele, Evaluator for TSNE, on methodologies and strategies to assess and evaluate grassroots leadership development. We then with ED’s to help CSIO plan and facilitate a cross-immigrant community dialogue in June 2017 on building a more united immigrant movement. Directors feel that in moving forward under a Trump Presidency this space is particularly critical to their growth and sustainability in the movement.
Testimony
I joined the network to share my concerns and to get assistance from other EDs to learn from their experiences.More than anything, the group encourages me when I hit the hard times at work and feel down. It really helps to know that other EDs bear the same difficulties and responsibilities that I do.
Thuan Tran from Vietnamese-American Civic Association (VACA)
CSIO gave me the confidence that it would convene a group of people who already share similar values in regards to social and racial justice, and that was very important to me. We get caught up a lot in working on the immediate issues and we miss the opportunities to learn from each other. This was a great take away for me during the retreat. Also very important was receiving honest feedback about our work, and comparing notes on how to prepare more effective appeal letters.
MyriamI look forward to spending more time with the cohort and learning more together!
Myriam Ortiz, The City School