NTIC convenes 32nd annual Leadership Meeting: brings
over 150 community leaders from 22 states
National Training and Information Center board member and president of
Cleveland's East Side Organizing Project Inez Killingsworth opened the
32nd annual NTIC sponsored Leadership Meeting in Chicago with the announcement, "President
Bush is busy waging war. Meanwhile we're fighting a war for survival
in our neighborhoods. So, today we have to get our neighborhood leaders
ready to organize and strategize on our campaigns and be ready to take
our issues to the top decision-makers."
Over 150 leaders from 34 organizations and 22 states came together to develop strategies on nine national campaigns. Outcomes include:
Community Reinvestment
Groups working on the campaign to modernize the Community Reinvestment Act are focusing on three strategies: regulatory, congressional and media. Community organizations will work on getting the district staff of the regulatory agencies to visit their cities for meetings and continue to build publicity around strengthening the CRA.
Neighborhood Safety
Evaluation of how community groups address issues of crime and violence in communities since Sep. 11 focused on racial profiling, mistreatment of the immigrant community and police accountability. Leaders agreed to the development of a new campaign called the "Standard of Good Policing For a Secure Community." The groups will work together to address local policing concerns while developing national standards for policing.
Abandoned Buildings
Eleven organizations met to strategize on how to build their power locally and nationally on its Abandoned Buildings campaign. Groups agreed to find out how money on housing gets spent in their cities, hold meetings, and organize tours with their Congressional representatives to show them where the money is not going.
Immigrant Rights Campaign
Local groups strategized about
getting the most out of local and national organizing to build support
for the student adjustment of 
undocumented
students which would would include the legalization of many of
these youth and allowing them to attend public universities with in state
tuition. Currently, many of these students can only attend their
state's universities
by paying out of state tuition. Groups agreed that their role was
to build support for student adjustment in order to highlight the
coalition's
ability to impact the legislation.
National Youth Campaign
Youth leaders and staff surfaced the idea of connecting a scholarship for youth to local issues that youth confront in their school and community. The goal is to draw a stronger connection between a scholarship for youth and local organizing. The youth team also committed to making this issue a year-round campaign.
Education
The education team of community leaders agreed that their goal is to set a precedent by pushing the federal legislators to make a significant appropriation to fund school construction. After going through a legislative and power analysis, the team began to develop a plan to build bi-partisan support. The team also discussed more coordinated efforts to generate media on education issues.
Access to quality jobs
The jobs team developed a plan to move forward on forging a partnership with the Department of Labor and also build more power on employment issues. The team agreed to build towards a jobs briefing in Congress at the coalition's national neighborhoods conference and created a media strategy to put the jobs issue center stage. The groups also developed a calendar with local actions that tie into national efforts, all leading up to the national conference.
Predatory Lending
After discussing the positive results from a national negotiating session with Citigroup, potential next steps were discussed, including research on a new national target. It was suggested that a list of the top ten lenders (in terms of originations) be used to provide a 'menu' of options for local fights.
Family Farm and Rural Issues
Family farm and rural leaders explored the connections between giant agribusiness corporations and the destruction of rural life and family farms. Participating groups, included: Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri and Minnesota. Urban neighborhood leaders who also participated, were interested in connecting rural and family farm issues with urban neighborhoods at future meetings.
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CDBG Allocation
Community groups call for more funding for affordable
housing in low-income neighborhoods
1st Quarter Accomplishments
NTIC receives honors, awards and
appoinments during the first three months of 2003
NTIC Research Spotlighted
NTIC connects Chicago's rising foreclosures
to increasing sub prime and predatory lending
Partnerships and New Relationships
NTIC staff meets with foundations
from across the country during 2003's first quanter
On the Road
NTIC staff provides training
and technical assistance to grassroots organizations around the country