Organized People + Organized Money = Power

Every two months I am faced with an enormous challenge. And that challenge is this column. As Executive Director of the National Training and Information Center, the publisher of this fine newspaper, I have the honor and burden of sitting down at a computer and unburdening my thoughts to you. I write about the hot issues in organizing, the amazing resourcefulness of community leaders and the powerful work of National People’s Action. But I’ve never had the chance to talk about the backbone of power and what continues to make our organizations tick and keep on winning.

We are about power. Power is defined as the ability to act and the source of our power is primarily organized people – along with a little bit of organized money – focused on making neighborhoods a better place to live, work or worship.

NTIC is about developing powerful leadership teams at both the local and national level. Leaders such as Inez Killingsworth, Emira Palacios, Marilyn Evans, George Lawson, John Viramontes and Marylou Symmes are well known to their many followers, partners and also to any crooks.

What is less well known is that we are unique in how we organize our money. Many other networks require contracts with local groups, which in turn pays tens of thousands of dollars to a central operation for training and other services. NTIC believes that it is an ongoing struggle for local groups in the network to raise money for their organizing and we don’t want to pimp off of their hard work to garner money to maintain our national operation.

As a result, NTIC does the opposite and provides local groups with funding by serving as a conduit for national grants. Nearly 70 percent of the dollars raised in these national grants go directly to the local groups.

This past June, I was part of a NTIC national leadership panel who took part in a briefing for key legislative and policy staff of members of Congress. This standing room only event took place in the Longworth House Office Building and also included news reporters and U.S. Department of Justice officials.

We described, how over a 15-year period, NTIC and local grassroots groups, who were and are a part of the national programs with the Bureau of Justice Assistance under the U.S. Department of Justice, have received about $11 million in tax dollars to organize for safe and secure neighborhoods. Groups in both rural and urban areas have developed proven practices such as shutting down drug houses, creating hot spot programs and build partnerships with law enforcement. According to NTIC calculations, for every dollar which the groups in the program have received – we and they – have been able to leverage another $1,000 from sources such as foundations, banking reinvestment agreements, increased government services and many volunteer hours. The total amount, what as leveraged over the last 15 years, was $11 billion.

Over the years, our secret weapons in the fight to create safe and secure neighborhoods have been a dynamic staff and leadership team, who were involved in the Washington, DC briefing.

Inez Killingsworth is one of our secret weapons. She has been involved in these Department of Justice funding partnerships from the very beginning – both in Cleveland, OH playing a key leadership role with her local organization and nationally as an NTIC Board Member.

The other secret weapon – who works closely with Inez – is Jaci Feldman, who is the NTIC national staff person who pioneered this effort 15 years ago and continues to be the mainstay for this program. Jaci has been the Program Director from the beginning and over the years has maintained regular contact with nearly 150 local groups from across the country – which crossed network lines and included groups affiliated with DART, Gamaliel Foundation, Center for Third World Organizing and ACORN. She was also the point person with members of Congress, high ranking Justice Department officials, key staff from the National Crime Prevention Council, countless local law enforcement officials and other NTC staff involved in the program.

The best kept secret is that NTIC really has been able to generate more bang for the buck when compared to other more well known and well funded national crime prevention programs. NTIC's budget has always been under at or at about one million dollars a year, with about half of that money going to local groups. It is a rather modest amount compared to other national crime prevention programs – who get funded at five million and upwards. But look at how much we've accomplished.