Annual membership meeting focuses on grassroots leadership

One of KFTC’s goals of organizing is to have fun, and members proved they know how to do that at KFTC’s 2014 annual membership meeting, even as they took a serious look at Kentucky issues and the role of grassroots leadership.

About 200 KFTC members came together August 22-24 at General Butler State Resort Park in Carrollton around the theme “From the Grassroots to the Mountaintop: Empowering Grassroots Leaders.” Woven with many conversations both structured and informal about Kentucky issues were discussions about grassroots leadership – what it looks like, who’s a leader, how leaders become leaders and how grassroots leadership development can change the world.

In between serious conversations, members found time to hug old friends and meet new ones, honor each other for work well done at Saturday’s awards banquet, share their talents at a cultural sharing showcase, and show off their moves at a dance party. The crowd for the annual meeting was one of the youngest and most diverse in KFTC’s history, with many first-time attendees.

The weekend kicked off with a keynote address by poet Bianca Spriggs on Friday night. In addition to sharing her poetry, Spriggs talked with KFTC members about the role of collaboration in making change.

Participants dug in to the topic of leadership development on Saturday with a report from members who attended a recent Our Power gathering in Richmond, California, that brought together frontline communities from across the country to build a movement for a just transition toward local, living economies. Members Chris Woolery and Elizabeth Sanders spoke of the important connections they made to others who are working for social justice.

Vivian Yi Huang, campaign and organizing director for the Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN), which co-hosted the Our Power gathering, was KFTC’s guest for the annual meeting and was the featured speaker on Saturday. APEN works with immigrant and refugee communities in California and has taken on such polluters as Chevron.

“We face so many similarities in our struggle, our vision and our work,” Huang said of KFTC and APEN. 

Her awareness of herself as a leader began when she took a college course in which the final project was to demonstrate how many people you could organize. “Some of the first people I organized were my parents.”

In her evolution as a leader, Huang has had to stretch and grow beyond what she thought she could do and challenge others to do the same. She described a friend who would repeat to herself: “My belief in social justice is stronger than my fear.”

“Our belief in social justice is stronger than our fears, and we can overcome our fears,” she told the KFTC crowd.

Organizing can be powerful with a few people, but it takes leadership development to go deep and broad and have more impact, Huang said.

“We are the leaders that we’ve all been waiting for.”

When asked how to keep people motivated through a long fight, Huang said: “Realize there is injustice in the world, but we are a part of helping to fight that.”

“We know we’re going to get there because we know we’re on the right side of justice.”

Then KFTC members heard from a panel of grassroots leaders about their own experiences with leadership development.

Anthony Smith works in the mayor’s office in Louisville to create better outcomes for young black men. He said many leaders do not think of themselves as leaders but they become leaders in the eyes of others because of what they empower others to do.

Tanya Torp founded an organization in Lexington called Be Bold that works to empower young women. She talked about “quiet folks who are just waiting for someone to inspire them.”

Maria Lopez of the Kentucky Dream Coalition shared her experience of being an undocumented immigrant who didn’t think she had anything to offer as a leader.

Dana Beasley Brown of the Southern Kentucky KFTC chapter shared some of her story of growing up in poverty and finding her voice through KFTC. “Every time I tell my story it’s healing for me and brings me to a place of feeling empowered.” (Beasley Brown was elected statewide chair on Sunday morning).

Robert Gipe directs the Appalachian Center at Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College in Harlan County and was a founder of the Higher Ground theater productions that have examined eastern Kentucky issues through drama. He described the importance of finding common ground on issues that can be divisive. “You gotta remember that we all are trying to do our best at some level.”

Panelists agreed that leadership development means getting outside your comfort zone and learning from others.

“Make sure that you attach yourself to someone that’s going to make you think,” said Smith.

Saturday afternoon workshops covered youth organizing, art and culture in organizing, organizing across lines of difference, voter empowerment, resolving conflict, and what leadership development means at KFTC. Sunday workshops all emphasized bringing others into KFTC’s work through stories, art and culture. The six Let’s Talk! workshops focused on sharing with others about: racial justice and white privilege; working for our new economy; a just transition in Appalachia; energy, coal and climate change; voting rights; and fairness.

At the annual business meeting on Sunday, members elected officers for the KFTC Executive Committee and Kentucky Coalition Board, approved all 13 chapters to remain a chapter for another year, and adopted the 2014-15 KFTC Platform.

The annual silent auction, filled with items donated by KFTC members, raised nearly $1,300 and stimulated lively competition among members.

See the next issue of Balancing the Scales for a full list of officers and award winners.