For more information, contact Beth Ardapple (bardapple@arpanel.org) Development Director

 

Preparing the organization -- strengthening their ability to address issues of justice and equity.   Organizations must act with clarity, focus and vigor, both internally and in their interactions with others. “Gould people know what they want for their community, they just don’t know how to reach their goals,” said Devone. “We offered them a methodical process.” Devone helped a handful of people go door to door with a survey to begin their strategic planning process.    In forming their group, they created committees, elected officers and developed a meeting process to keep people accountable and on track to reach their goals. 

 

Discussing social justice and racial equity safely- - how we create constructive conversations that lead to greater momentum in addressing issues of justice and equity.  The coalition Arkansas Citizens First Congress offers diverse groups a venue for holding relatively safe conversations. The coalition’s membership is racially diverse and ranges from socially conservative rural members to socially liberal urban members with varied levels of education, wealth and political experience.   Spread across the state, they know they need each other and they need a common agenda so they will have constituents all over the state talking to legislators and getting bills passed at the legislature.   To move each other on controversial issues – for example, civil rights issues that encompass both race and sexual orientation – they hold careful conversations. They strive to find common ground and build on that. 

 

Crafting and advancing promising gap-closing ideas and solutions along the road from inception to successful implementation. Many rural, low-income communities like Gould lack the basic infrastructure that a healthy community needs. Gould had a water system put in place with a federal loan, but the city was not meeting the loan’s requirements or properly maintaining the system. For one thing, the city council did not want to raise the water rates because they thought people would object.

To help GCAC grapple with the issue, the Panel spent $2000 (donated by individuals) to contract a law student, Eddy Moore, to prepare a study of the issue with options for fixing the problem. When finished, he traveled to a GCAC meeting to present his findings.

GCAC members normally meet for a hour, no more, because people have worked all day and maybe haven’t had supper yet. But studying the issue with Eddy, debating their options, they met with him for two hours, then met among themselves for another hour after he left.

In the end, the group decided to go to their city council and recommend raising the water rate to fix the water infrastructure. They knew that the elected officials had already voted to not raise the rates, so they compiled information and planned their presentation carefully. At the very next city council meeting, officials agreed to raise the water rate and fix the pipes.  Later, the city council reversed its decision once again, and GCAC members began a public education campaign to build support among the residents. Finally, they replaced most of the city council members by running their own slate of candidates. Now the new city council has raised the rates and is working out the water infrastructure plan. 

 

Strengthening relationships, networks and leadership – The relationships, networks and leadership in minority communities are often only partially visible or understood in the dominant culture, but are as important.

The Panel introduced GCAC to a coalition, the Arkansas Citizens First Congress, which GCAC joined. By working in coalition with other groups and organizations, GCAC was able to get the support of forty other organizations for the policy changes that GCAC wanted introduced at the legislature. Also, GCAC could help support the policy initiatives of other groups.  Forty per cent of the coalition’s members represent low-income communities of color, while other members are institutional or well established advocacy organizations like the Sierra Club or NAACP or labor unions.  To help them find common ground and work together, the Panel hosts regular events – social and work events – where the members get to know each other. Building these personal relationships is the key to all the other work.

In the coalition, the members are constantly refining the rules and processes to ensure fairness for all members in developing their common agenda.

 

Increasing philanthropic resources time, talent and treasure – GCAC began with five people meeting a couple of hours per month to talk things over. As they came to realize that they could influence what happened in their community, and even get new laws passed by the state legislature, those 6 people became 10, then 20, then 30 people who were attending school board meetings, city council meetings and quorum court (county governance) meetings as well as coming to the state Capitol, pulling their neighbors into town clean-up days and putting up holiday decorations.   Today, about 30 Gould residents give 180 hours per month, every month, to this work. And they love it. “I had no idea that this [local and state level policymaking] was going on,” says Mangrum, “that I could do this.”

GCAC members have built a strong working relationship with their legislator, Rep. Rainey, and with policy organizations like Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families.    When AACF, the Panel, and the Clinton School for Public Service collaborated on a report that named policy changes Arkansas could make to close the education achievement gap, it was Rep. Rainey who stepped up to sponsor the legislation to make those changes. He told GCAC members “I am pressing the issues because of you, because I have your support.”

 

Reducing barriers and changing conditions -- how we decrease a gap or disparity by artfully combining several of these pathways -- preparation, discussion, solutions, leadership, and resources.  GCAC and other members of the coalition Arkansas Citizens First Congress gather in caucus meetings to discuss issues over a several month period before they finally meet to elect their public agenda.   Along with moving their own agenda, the coalition monitors the legislature and takes action on bills related to its agenda.

Just after the most recent legislative session, Citizens First Congress members honored Rep. Kathy Webb, who sponsored some of their policy initiatives. She responded by saying “You all did so much of the heaving lifting on the bills I was able to carry. Without your support, without your encouragement, without your pushing the messages, Arkansas would not be moving forward the way it is.