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PILA is committed to nurturing ongoing and
meaningful peer-learning opportunities among our partners as a means to both
sustain their own leadership development and political participation strategies
as well as strengthen their alliances with each other and with organizations
new to the field.
Immigrant Leadership Gatherings
We convene periodic Immigrant Leadership
Gatherings (ILG) where PILA partners can share leadership strategies and
experiences with other community organizations from throughout Northern California. Over 150 staff and community leaders
from approximately 40 organizations attended the last ILG in 2005.
Fifteen PILA partner organizations formed the planning group for the event and
presented workshops where they shared specific examples of their work and
successes in building grassroots immigrant leadership on such topics as:
building multi-ethnic youth power, leadership development in legal and service
organizations, parent involvement and leadership, member-led campaigns, using
Teatro Popular in the community, electoral work and movement-building, and
organizing immigrant workers.
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A few thoughts from participants
about their experiences at the 2005 ILG:
“it was great to hear about the concrete
alliance-building between communities”
“seeing the actual organizations do the trainings…
it shows that popular education does work”
“the value and vision of leadership development
as a part of a larger movement to change society”
“sharing strategies for leadership will help us
to develop our own models”
“active and fun”
“concrete experiences with development
of leaders and organizing”
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To support ongoing peer learning we’ll offer the following in the near future:
- A listserv for PILA intensive
program participantsto stay connected and share information or questions
about their ongoing leadership development strategies.
- A quarterly e-newsletter that
features in-depth information about PILA Bay Area partners’ leadership
development strategies and lessons, and provides updated information about
general resources and tools available to support immigrant leadership
development.
- One-time trainings and
convenings on specific topics
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