On November 9, UUSC's Economic Justice Program staff attended three trainings at the 2007 “Nonprofit Workout,” whose theme this year was “The Ways We Lead: Creating Adaptive, Inclusive Organizations.”

The afternoon workshop I attended was called "System-wide Governance: A New Model for Creating Democratic Sustainable Grassroots Organizations."

This workshop presented a new model for nonprofit “governance." Governance is a tricky concept that most people associate with the primary role of the board of directors.

I was interested in this workshop because of some of the things I've witnessed in our partner work. Over the past three years, it's become clear that cultivating, training, and engaging a diverse, engaged leadership council (or board) has made a "make it or break it" difference in the long-term sustainability and success of some of our partner organizations.

Given the demands and precarious nature of labor rights work – especially cultivating leaders, processes, and infrastructure that are capable of supporting the growth of a long-term, resilient (and responsive!) labor rights movement – creating effective relationships among staff, board, members, and constituents is essential.

Over the years, UUSC's technical support to some of our partners has centered on strengthening this network of relationships. (Personally, as a board member of different organizations, I'm also fascinated by the variety of interpretations of the role of the board – in both the nonprofit and for-profit sector.)

The idea behind System-wide Governance is simple, but radical – and the perspective I took away from the workshop gave me food for thought to share with our partners, and in my own multiple roles as a board member, staff, and constituent!

Here's the gist:

System-Wide Governance is a model in which governance responsibility is shared across the organizational system among the key sectors of an organization – that is, members, staff, and board.

It is based upon principles of participatory democracy, self-determination, and genuine partnership and on community-level decision-making as the foundation of true democracy.

Critical organizational and strategic decisions are made together by active members, staff, and board. The types of decisions that are made in this way are those that determine key strategic directions or changes, long-term programmatic or organizational visions, new initiatives, political positions, and major policy and/or organizational decisions.

This approach was taken on to great success by one of UUSC's neighbors in Cambridge – Centro Presente – a member-driven, state-wide Latin American immigrant organization which strives to give their members voice and build community power.

Many successful programs and advocacy initiatives have come out of their work – including currently, the emergence of a worker center.

Ariel and I will be sharing these models with our partners as they work to build movements and programs that place member workers at the center.

To read more, check out:

"System-wide Governance for Community Engagement," by Maria Elena Letona and Judy Freiwirth. The Nonprofit Quarterly, Winter 2006.

"Engagement Governance for System-wide Decision-making," by Judy Freiwirth (check out p. 2 of the article for a useful diagram of this model), The Nonprofit Quarterly, Summer 2007.

On November 9, UUSC's Economic Justice Program staff attend three trainings at the 2007 “Nonprofit Workout,” a biennial conference whose theme this year was “The Ways We Lead: Creating Adaptive, Inclusive Organizations.”

One of those workshops was called “Circles of Change,” led by Linda Stout and Pamela Freeman. If you aren't already familiar with Linda's work, she is a nationally known activist, speaker and author, founder of the Piedmont Peace Project, and leader of a movement-building organization called Spirit in Action.

If you were one of the 400 UUs who attended Linda's workshop at Portland's General Assembly this year, you know what I'm talking about!

Spirit in Action addresses three key themes that Linda heard consistently from activists working for social change across many issues and many constituencies. She writes:

• "We must create a vision of what we are trying to build. People will not join us if all they see us talk about is what we are against, not what we are for.
• "We need to learn new ways to communicate and connect with each other. We often re-create the competitive and distrustful environments that we are trying to work against. Racism, classism, and other oppressions affect how we work together, and we often look at each other with the most critical eye, rather than paying attention to each other’s best gifts.
• "The third thing folks talked about was what I call 'spirit' or heart connection – a connection to something greater than ourselves, a connection to each other, to the earth, to the ancestors, and to our deepest self. Many activists talked of being drawn to social justice work from deeply held heart-values or spiritual beliefs. Yet there is little time for paying attention to spirit in our political work, and many people feel this, especially when they need something to sustain them through difficult times. People also felt this lack kept us from connecting with each other as deeply as we should."

I was really excited to meet Linda in person, having read and given away dozens of copies of her groundbreaking book “Bridging the Class Divide” over the past decade. This little green book tells the story of the Piedmont Peace Project and emphasizes the importance of deliberately cultivating class awareness for creating democratic, inclusive, and sustainable grassroots movements.

The “Circles” workshop taught skills for working collectively in diverse groups, a process for collective visioning, how to encourage interactive learning, and ways to foster trust and openness as the basis for powerful ideas and collaboration.

The techniques were helpful and refreshing, including a practice of gathering group agreements before engaging in debate, and leading a team in a visioning process that encourages big bold “outside of the box” thinking.

These were tools I could immediately apply in our focus groups, in staff meetings, in union discussions – and tools I could share with partners to assist them in cultivating the innate creativity, freedom, generosity, and leadership of people in their communities.

One of the many jewels I brought back was a reflection by Margaret Wheatley. I recently used it to open a brainstorming session in a partner focus group, and I share it here:

Turning to One Another

There is no power greater than a community discovering what
it cares about. Ask “what’s possible?” Not, “what’s wrong?”

Keep asking.

Notice what you care about.

Assume that many others share your dreams.

Be brave enough to start a conversation that matters.

Talk to people you know.

Talk to people you don’t know.

Talk to people you never talk to.

Be intrigued by the differences you hear.

Expect to be surprised.

Treasure curiosity more than certainty.

Invite in everyone who cares to work on what’s possible.

Acknowledge that everyone is an expert about something.

Know that creative solutions come from new connections.

Remember, you don’t fear people whose story you know.

Real listening always brings people closer together.

Trust that meaningful conversation can change your world.

Rely on human goodness. Stay together.

Trust that.

I'm always looking for new skills to help me better manage the Economic Justice Program and cultivate our partnerships. Recently, Ariel and I tapped into some staff development funds to help us learn about some new models for strengthening collaboration for social change.

On November 9, we attend three trainings at the 2007 “Nonprofit Workout,” a biennial conference offering dozens of workshops and attracting nonprofit leaders from across the country. This year’s theme was “The Ways We Lead: Creating Adaptive, Inclusive Organizations.”

The next few postings give an overview of the workshops we attended, and how what we learned relates to our work. Click on any of the embedded links to learn more!

Did you know you can get buy bed pillows, sweet mangoes, and six different styles of cowboy hats from the comfort of your own car while driving from Mombasa to Nairobi? And get a great deal at the same time?

Flexibility and entrepreneurship are highly prized skills in many cultures – they are particularly valued in today’s age of global capitalism.

During a recent partner visit to Kenya, UUSC witnessed this innovative spirit in the work of some of the world’s most enterprising workers.

Around the world, street vendors and mobile hawkers are demonstrating incredible flexibility as they respond to massive rural and urban change. These changes are a result of dramatic shifts in migration patterns, new policy environments, environmental changes, and shifts in cultural mores. The world is changing faster than ever, and because of that, the world of work is changing for people all around the globe.



UUSC is committed to strengthening sustainable livelihoods for those not usually recognized as significant contributors in the struggle for social and economic rights. Our economic justice program works to promote the rights – and responsibilities – of workers in the “informal economy.” These workers are often also the most marginalized and vulnerable – including women, children, and those workers migrating to find decent, paying work.

The concept of “informal economies” in most African countries dates back to the colonial period when colonial governments viewed indigenous unregistered economic activities as “informal” because they were not operating according to colonial government rules and regulations. The term now refers more broadly to all forms of “nonstandard” wage employment not covered by legal or social protections.

Informal economy jobs, however, can also be highly entrepreneurial. Currently, informal economy workers like street vendors and traders make enormous economic contributions to communities and nations, providing employment and substantive income that provide the basis for stable, peaceful civil societies.

Our partner, KENASVIT, the Kenya National Alliance of Street Vendors and Informal Traders, has made significant strides over the past two years by organizing and mobilizing street vendors. KENASVIT organizes to help traders gain access to their rights, and in doing so, the organization provides a voice and an infrastructure through which vendors can exercise their civic responsibilities as strong contributors to the economic health and civic order of their communities.

In August, UUSC programs staff visited KENASVIT Urban Alliances in Machackos, Nakuru, and Mombasa and attended the Annual General Meeting of the national leadership.

During our visit, we provided technical support and evaluation, and accompanied KENASVIT leaders as they paid calls on a variety of authorities including mayors, town councilors, district commissioners, and business leaders like the managing director of the Kenya Ferry Services Ltd., J.J. Ria.

During our meeting, Ria expressed, “We’re so happy that for once we’re able to deal with an organized team that is able to address concerns. We’re glad about the cooperation we’re getting from this alliance. They understand our mandate and we understand their rights. I hope we can replicate this kind of projects at other sites.”

KENASVIT is achieving recognition with local, regional, and national policy officials. Through their organizing efforts, the voice of street vendors and informal traders has informed the pending Micro and Small Enterprises Bill, now being considered in Kenya’s Parliament. This bill would formally recognize informal economy workers and provide for them in legislation and practices. This achievement has been made possible by the reciprocal recognition by vendors and policymakers that workers need to be able to exercise their rights as well as fulfill their responsibilities as contributing members of their communities and nations.

Informal work arrangements are here to stay. Street vendors and traders have not only persisted and expanded but have also emerged in new guises and unexpected places.

UUSC will continue to strengthen the work of innovative alliances like KENASVIT to provide a new model of successful worker organizing and policy impact that will strengthen rights for workers in the changing global economy.

UUs have long been actively organizing and advocating for economic justice.

UUSC's Economic Justice Program works to strengthen workers' rights around the world through partnership, policy work, education, and experiential learning.

Additionally, Unitarian Universalists for a Just Economic Community (UUJEC) has been working since 1994 to engage, educate, and activate Unitarian Universalists to work for economic justice, recognizing that people of faith are supporting and renewing their spiritual lives through the struggle for justice.

One new and exciting current collaboration between UUSC and UUJEC is the April 29-May 6 JustJourneys trip to Mexico to study the effects of economic globalization.

Another great opportunity to get active for economic justice is to attend a leadership gathering sponsored by UUJEC and the People Centered Development Forum, featuring activists and writers David Korten and David Cobb. This three-day workshop, "From Empire to Earth Community-Navigating the Great Turning" will be held March 30 - April 1, 2007, at
Columbus State Community College, Columbus, Ohio.

Juicy Fruit. Altoids. Doublemint. Lifesavers. Countless numbers of these sweets are produced, packaged, and sold by workers all around the world, following a path from mint farmers in Idaho to the stalls of street vendors in Indonesia and Brazil.

Wrigley’s, the well-known corporation that makes them, recently agreed to develop a new “supplier code of conduct,” as well as begin to audit their ingredient and packaging supply chain, and become transparent on progress related to overseas vendors.

These steps were stimulated by a recent shareholder resolution co-filed by Walden Asset Management and UUSC, and reflect a corporate advocacy strategy that strengthens human rights by moving companies to new levels of social responsibility.

To grasp the potential impact that accountable, responsible corporations could have in ensuring human and environmental rights, consider Wrigley’s “footprint,” which includes production facilities in 14 countries and offices in 36 countries. Wrigley’s brands -- including licorice candy in Sweden and Pim Pom lollipops in China and India -- are available in more than 180 countries, representing 97 percent of the global population. In 2005 alone, Wrigley’s netted $517 million in annual earnings, with over $4 billion in net sales. And they’re just one multinational corporation among thousands.

Wrigley’s recent strategic decision to close U.S.-based production facilities in Illinois and New Jersey and open a new factory in Silao, Mexico, also reflects the push-pull of an increasingly globalized economy. Wrigley’s represents both the scale, scope, and production trends of today’s multinational corporation. Their sign-on to a supplier code of conduct is an important step forward and reflects a growing trend by large corporations to invest new attention into how raw materials are derived, and how resulting product is produced and delivered.

It also demonstrates the kind of impact that consumers and shareholders can have in strengthening human and environmental rights through corporate advocacy. One of UUSC’s partners in this effort is the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility.

Jim Gunning, a chief architect of UUSC’s shareholder advocacy program and a leader at ICCR says, “This agreement by Wrigley to our demands is a win-win situation, and the full chain of Wrigley suppliers will become more socially accountable in the process.”

Now that’s something to chew on!

The following statement was made by Zapatista leader Subcomandante Marcos at a 2006 Workers' Rights Rally in Altepexi, Puebla, in support of maquila workers who make blue jeans in Mexico's Tehuacan Valley

"When we buy a pair of blue jeans, we don't see how they were made. The story of exploitation that we have been told by our compañeros and compañeras is not written on the jeans. You don't see the working hours of more than 12 hours. You don't see the humiliation that the workers experience at the hands of the line supervisors or the factory managers or the maquila owners. You don't see the exploitation they suffer after those long workdays when they receive only a small amount of money.

"That's how the system tricks us. The products appear, but you don't see the worker who made them, and who suffered to make them. And, above all, you don't see who gets the money that you pay for those jeans. . . . On these jeans is written a story that ended at the moment they were dyed in blue, when the dye residues were released and contaminated the waters of the Tehuacan Valley, when the polluted waters started to affect the indigenous people and communities who depend on the spring water. And when they lost their water and their land, they had to emigrate to the United States in order to find work.

"We have to scratch our story on these jeans with our own hands because we don't have anything else with which to write our names on them -- the story of our dignity, our strength and our courage . . . the story of people fighting together so that everyone lives in justice, democracy, and freedom."