Blog Entries

Building Strong People Not Strong Leaders: Lessons on Leadership from Ella Baker By Barbara Ransby

toyamonique@hotmail.com — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 05:00:00 +0100

As a group of Ella’s Daughters prepare to head to my hometown of Detroit for the US Social Forum, I have been thinking long and hard on the question of leadership. ‘Strong people don’t need strong leaders,’ Ella Baker insisted. This provocative quote from the veteran organizer, radical intellectual, teacher and mentor, is for many people, counter-intuitive. That is, it goes against our gut feeling about what leadership is or should be. But Baker’s message, based on her decades of ac [...]

Schools and Sexual Assault

Colleen.Heflin@gmail.com — Tue, 19 May 2009 05:00:00 +0100

Why is there not a proper support system for survivors of sexual assault in the school system? If a child has a death in the family then the school generally holds a special staffing and ensures that the child is well looked after and has the supports in place in order to keep their grades up but if a child is a survivor of sexual assault the school isn't willing to help them through the process of healing in my experience. Why does our society not accept rape as a serious offense?&n [...]

“Poverty Is the Real Scandal”

cjcarney@gmail.com — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 00:00:00 +0100

“Poverty Is the Real Scandal”

By Amy Goodman

DENVER—Former Sen. John Edwards was supposed to speak in Denver at the Democratic National Convention. His wife, Elizabeth Edwards, was to speak also. Poverty was their focus. But they are not here because John Edwards had an affair. Will the Democrats now forget about poverty?

Chris Chafe is a former senior adviser to the Edwards campaign. He is now the executive director of the Change to Win coalition, t [...]