SCC Staff Out on the Town — Teaching. Learning. Collaborating.

SCC staff members have had a rich spring working with people from across the region on a variety of topics near and dear to our own values and priorities, both as participants and as trainers. In addition to our annual Leadership Development Institute, we have offered the following workshops and training courses:

Community Organizing

Danny LeBlanc, CEO, joined other veteran organizers to teach a spring course at Tufts University to present the history and context of community organizing practice in the United States, as well present concrete skills and practices utilized by community organizers in their work.

The Nuts and Bolts of Shaping and Executing a Campaign

Meridith Levy, Deputy Director, led a 4-session training series on shaping an organizing campaign for JOIN for Justice fellows, which she has been doing with JOIN fellows annually.  Topics included: cutting the issue, power analysis, strategy and tactics, and messaging. Technical Strategies to Ensure Full Participation in Multi-Lingual Meetings  Karen Narefsky, Community Organizer, facilitated a  half day workshop  with  our interpreters, Juliana Tedesco and Claudio Ruiz , through the Mel King Institute  that covered ways to move  people out of the corner and into the inner circle of a meeting.

The Leadership Development Institute: Cultivating Community Leaders:  Meridith Levy and Rene Mardones, Lead Organizer, led a half day workshop through the Mel King Institute, presenting the approach and preparation for effectively running a participatory, multi-lingual training series on leadership, relationship building and power at the community level.

Public Narrative 

Meridith Levy journeyed to the Vineyard to facilitate a full day workshop hosted by the Martha’s Vineyard Housing Trust aimed at helping people tell their own personal narratives in the most effective way to help galvanize others to take action.

Photo Credit: New Leaders Council – Boston

In addition to all of this great community work, Rene Mardones and Meridith Levy have been participating in the Gentrification Learning Community, a 15 month program that brings together regional practitioners to sharpen the understanding of gentrification and tools to address it. Stay tuned for more details about this challenging topic that so many communities commonly face.