Why a sabbatical for organizers?
The Center for Social Inclusion recognizes that working for social change usually means long hours at low pay with few tangible rewards and few escapes from the day-to-day pressures. Without time to rest and reenergize, the pressures can prove overwhelming and result in a loss of creative and critical leadership. The Sabbatical Fellows receive a $25,000 award to take three months off for reflection and renewal.
How do Fellows use their sabbaticals?
Alston Bannerman Fellows use their sabbaticals however they think will best prepare them for the work ahead. Fellows commonly spend the time and resources to travel, study, visit with other activists, read, write, acquire new skills, plan, evaluate, explore new interests, spend time with their families, recover their health, and restore their spirits.
Who are the Fellows?
Since its founding in 1988, there have been 190 Alston Bannerman Sabbatical Fellows whose work addresses a broad range of issues—from workers rights to environmental justice, from immigrant rights to native sovereignty, from affordable housing to education reform. Fellows have come from 31 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Guam.
What impact does the Program have?
Alston Bannerman Fellows strongly affirm the value of stepping back for a period of reflection and renewal. Sabbaticals strengthen organizational planning and leadership development, encourage innovation and collaboration, promote the value of reflection, and foster connections between organizers and organizations. By reinvigorating experienced grassroots organizers and encouraging younger ones to see organizing as a long-term career, the Alston Bannerman Fellowship helps build the necessary infrastructure for systemic and sustainable change.
How are Fellows selected?
Fellows are selected through an annual application process. The Selection Committee is comprised of leaders from around the country working in or for communities of color.
Who is eligible to apply?
To qualify for an Alston Bannerman Sabbatical Fellowship, you must:
- be a person of color
- have more than 10 years of community organizing experience
- be committed to social change work in communities of color
- live in the United States, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa or U.S. Virgin Islands
Beyond the basic eligibility criteria, the Alston Bannerman Program seeks applicants whose work:
- attacks root causes of inequity by organizing those affected to take collective strategic action;
- challenges the systems that perpetrate injustice and effects institutional and structural change;
- builds community capacity for democratic participation and develops grassroots leadership;
- acknowledges the cultural values of the community;
- creates accountable participatory structures in which community members have decision-making power;
- contributes to building a movement for social change by making connections between issues, developing alliances with other constituencies, and collaborating with other organizations.
The Alston Bannerman Program distinguishes between organizing, services, and advocacy and believes that organizing low-income people at the grassroots level is an indispensible part of successful social change.
The Program does not make awards to individuals:
- who exclusively provide services, such as substance abuse counseling, after-school programs, HIV-AIDS outreach or shelter for the homeless; or
- who advocate on behalf of a community without directly involving the members of that community in asserting their own interests and choosing their own leadership.
We do recognize, however, that organizations and leaders combine services, advocacy, and organizing. Providing services as a companion to organizing will not disqualify an applicant for the Sabbatical Fellowship. Similarly, we know that cultural work can be part of an organizing process. In such cases, applicants must demonstrate that their work has a direct and close connection to organizing, leadership development and democratic participation.
We also recognize that organizing is a full-time job for some, but for others it is voluntary work done outside of their employment. Both paid and unpaid leaders are eligible to apply.
What are Fellows required to do?
- Fellows are required to stop their day-to-day work activities for at least three consecutive months and devote that time to activities that are substantially different from their normal routine.
- Fellows are expected to attend pre- and post-sabbatical retreats.
- Fellows must begin their sabbaticals within one year of the awarding of the Fellowship.
- Fellows must report on their sabbaticals within four months of their completion and describe what they did, what they learned on sabbatical that will improve their leadership, and what impact the sabbatical has had on their work.
Selection Process Timeline
Download application here
- Applications must be postmarked by April 13, 2009
- Applicants not selected as finalists are notified by mail.
- Finalists are notified and interviewed by telephone.
- Fellows are selected by the end of July
CURRENT SABBATICAL FELLOWS
José Bravo grew up in a farmworker family, and as early as high school, he was leading protests for immigrant rights and against the KKK. Since 1991, José has been organizing around issues of environmental justice and workers’ health and safety with the Environmental Health Coalition, SNEEJ, and Just Transition Alliance. Recently, he has helped build statewide and national alliances focused on Chemical Policy, Green Chemistry and Green Jobs, bringing together environmental, health, and other organizations to promote new policies to reduce the use of toxic chemicals in everyday products like baby bottles and cosmetics. José is also a steering commitee member of the Climate Justice Forum.
The grandchild of indigenous people displaced from Michoacán, Arnoldo García grew up on the US-Mexico border and migrated to work the fi elds with his family. Inspired by their participation in the farm worker movement and Chicano theater, Arnoldo is a life-long activist, poet, and musician. Over the past 20 years, he was worked with the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (NNIRR) to help communities self-organize and advocate, not just around issues of legal status, but for their full labor, environmental, civil, and human rights. He currently coordinates HURRICANE, a grassroots network that is documenting human rights abuses and developing a shared analysis and agenda for change. Arnoldo has also been a very active supporter of indigenous communities in the state of Chiapas.
Drawn to the Chicano movement in the 1970s, Sylvia Ledesma has been organizing to build community power ever since. With the Southwest Network for Environmental and Economic Justice (SNEEJ) and People Organized in Defense of Earth and her Resources (PODER), Sylvia led efforts to hold the high tech industry accountable for its environmental and economic impacts on communities. Since 1999, she has been the key organizer of Kalpulli Izkalli, a grassroots intergenerational action and resource center in the South Valley outside of Albuquerque. Its innovative programs include a traditional medicine clinic and an apprenticeship for young women that links environmental and reproductive health.
The daughter of Chinese immigrants, Ai-Jen Poo became a student activist in 1995 and was soon working at CAAAV-Organizing Asian Communities, bringing together immigrant women who work as domestics in New York City. The result is Domestic Workers United (DWU) with members from 20 countries united to win respect, recognition, and fair labor standards. DWU has won over $450,000 in unpaid wages and advanced a Domestic Workers Bill of Rights in the New York state legislature. Ai-Jen also spearheaded the development of the national Domestic Workers Alliance with groups in 10 cities, which is advocating for federal regulations protecting domestic workers.
Born and raised in San Antonio’s poor Westside, Graciela Sanchez returned after college to organize around voting rights, Central American solidarity, women’s issues and gay and lesbian rights. She is the founding director of the Esperanza Peace & Justice Center, which since 1986 has grown into a vital cultural arts and activist organization. Esperanza is based on the belief that to participate fully in civic life, individuals must be culturally grounded and confident of their own voices. Esperanza advocates for those wounded by domination and inequality — women, people of color, lesbians and gay men, the working class and poor. It addresses issues ranging from immigration to AIDS, US military aggression and sexual violence. In addition to her local work, Graciela has served on national boards including the Astraea Foundation and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.
Motivated by her own family’s struggle as migrant farm workers, Juanita Valdez-Cox began organizing with the United Farm Workers in Texas in the 1970s. She worked on campaigns that won portable toilets and clean drinking water in the fields, a higher minimum wage, and workers’ compensation for farm workers. Following Cesar Chavez’s community union model of combining service delivery and community organizing, Juanita helped bring La Union del Pueblo Entero (LUPE/Union of All the People) to South Texas. LUPE’s accomplishments include helping to bring running water, paved streets, and streetlights to colonias. Juanita also helped establish Proyecto Azteca, a model self-help housing program.
