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A Remembrance of Connie Fitzgerald
Connie Fitzgerald, passed away peacefully at her home after a seven year battle with ovarian cancer on January 25, 2019. She was Spirit in Action’s Operations and Finance Director for the last 10 years, working through mid-December 2018. Connie was the backbone of Spirit in Action, the glue that made sure everything was working smoothly. […]
Spirit in Action’s Fall 2018 Newsletter
Tags: civic engagement, Collective Visioning, community organizing, dismantling racism, empowerment, get out the vote, linda stout, spirit in action, training
Read the entire Fall 2018 Spirit in Action Newsletter here. Dear Friends, I can see how it happened every step of the way. There are breadcrumbs all over the place. Go back with me nearly four decades, when the Right created a plan to change what we teach our kids. In the 1980s, the Rev. […]
Let the Youth Lead – My Thoughts after the Parkland Massacre
Tags: civic engagement, community organizing, cultural shift, empowerment, get out the vote, leadership development, linda stout
Again we have news of a horrific school shooting, this time in Parkland, Florida. Having cried many tears this week, I find myself wondering why we can’t we get legislation passed that would make these kind of shootings less possible. And, how can our leaders be so tied to money from the National Rifle Association […]
Why Rosa Parks Really Sat Down On the Bus
As we come to the end of February and Black History month, I am reposting a story about the role of women in the civil rights movement. Just as history often overlooks the contributions of African Americans, so does it overlook the story of women, telling “his-story” as opposed to “her-story.” I hope you will […]
The Story of my Time at Spirit in Action and the Experiences I will Take with Me – by Lia Kaz
Hi everyone. This is my last blog as Spirit in Action’s North Carolina Community Organizer for the We the People: Working Together program. This fall, I will start at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for my Masters of Social Work. Before I leave I wanted to share with you some things I’ve […]
The Choice Should be Ours: Fair Maps for a Fair Democracy – by Lia Kaz
Tags: community organizing, empowerment, leadership, Lia Kaz, popular education, Social Justice, spirit in action, We the People
Gerrymandering: Because, why should voters choose their representatives, when representatives can choose the voters? Imagine North Carolina as a puzzle. Jagged lines are drawn across the map, spreading across counties like greedy fingers and into neighborhoods like silent snakes. North Carolina, and many states across the country, has these oddly shaped voting districts that end […]
Holding the Hula Hoop — by Lia Kaz
Tags: civic engagement, Collective Visioning, community organizing, empowerment, Lia Kaz, linda stout, We the People
What can you do with a hula hoop and a bunch of tacos? They were integral components to We the People’s most recent community meeting about education. Dedicated community members opened up real dialogue in plain language about education policy. One community member offered to do research, another offered to help secure food, and everyone […]
Let’s Discuss Healthcare – Community Meeting
Tags: civic engagement, Collective Visioning, community organizing, empowerment, Lia Kaz, linda stout, We the People
We the People: Working Together recently held its first 2017 Monthly Community Meeting – Let’s Discuss Healthcare. In these meetings, we focus on issues that community members identify and develop plans of action. We ground ourselves in real life experiences and build bridges to the policy realm by making research accessible and political leaders reachable. […]
The Joy of Organizing Along the Road to Justice
It is a powerful time to be doing election work. When we ride out to the communities, there is a merging of fear and excitement. We round the unpaved roads through the Blue Ridge Mountains, rural Appalachia full of reminders that there was once a thriving industry here. We pull up to the mobile home […]
If my mother could challenge racism in 1960 North Carolina, what will you do for Justice today?
Tags: civic engagement, community organizing, cultural shift, empowerment, get out the vote, linda stout, spirit in action
I remember when I was about seven years old, my mother took me with her to a small country store that served as a store, gas station, post office and now I know a voter registration center. We went in and stood in line behind another woman at the post office window. It was the […]
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