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GAMALIEL FOUNDATION
Inclusion and Racial Equity Task Force
PROGRESS REPORT
PRINTABLE COPY
November 30, 2007
Marty Sanchez, CRI; Ponsella Hardaway, African American Organizers; Ann
Smith, Gamaliel President, Rev. John Welch, AALC; john powell, Kirwan
Institute, Rev. Kevin Turman, Council of President. Rev. Susan Gaeta,
Gamaliel National Clergy Caucus; Rev. Ralph Newell, International
Leadership Assembly, Ana Garcia-Ashley, Latino Organizers. Not pictured:
Mike Kruglik, Metro Equity; Angela James, Joint Territories, Mary
Gruber, NTOSAKE and Rev. Don Burton, Gamaliel Director of Communication
December 2006.
Some leaders of the African American Leadership Commission made
known to the Gamaliel Foundation central staff and to Carl Anthony at
the Ford Foundation that they had serious unresolved concerns and
conflicts with Gamaliel.
(The entirety of Gamaliel’s correspondence with the Ford Foundation is
available for viewing at www.gamaliel.org.)
While many concerns were raised,
the core of the conflict appeared to revolve around
issues of accountability, transparency, conflict identification and
resolution, the development of African-American, Latino and multi-ethnic
leadership, inclusion, communication, and the relationship between the
African American organizers and clergy and the larger network.
Subsequently, the Gamaliel Foundation Board charged this Task Force to
assess what steps Gamaliel needs to take to address these concerns and
to assure inclusion and racial equity in the network.
The following is a brief outline of what has been accomplished
thus far, what is ongoing, and the projected dates for completion of the
project.
March 2007.
The Process Planning Committee was convened to develop a process
for assessing inclusion and racial equity problems within the network.
Professor john powell, a
Gamaliel Strategic Partner and Director of the Kirwan Institute for the
Study of Race and Ethnicity at Ohio State University, was engaged to
serve as a consultant to the process.
May 2007.
The Committee sent a draft report to the Gamaliel Network
recommending that a survey be conducted to assess the opinions of a
large sample of Gamaliel’s membership about the problems identified by
the AALC Executive Committee and the Ford Foundation’s concerns about
the situation.
October 2007.
The Gamaliel Assessment Team was engaged by the Task Force and a
survey instrument was designed. The instrument was sent to the Gamaliel
network to solicit comments.
November 2007.
After comments were analyzed and refined, members of the
Assessment Team began conducting interviews with members of the Gamaliel
network and affiliated partners.
Statistical breakdown
of the sample of board members, national and international clergy,
presidents, leaders, members of various inter-network tables, central
and territorial staffs, organizers, strategic partners, as well as
former leaders and organizers who will be represented in the survey:
Gender:
61% male; 39% female
Ethnicity:
53.3%
White; 35.3% African American; 9.3% Hispanic; 2.2% Asian
Region:
Midwest 45.2%;
Mideast 33.3%; East 11.2%; West 6.3%; South 3.0%;
South Africa 1%
Position:
Board members 5.8%; organizers 33.8%; clergy 33.3%; leaders 27.1%
The interview instrument
poses questions regarding leadership development, access to leadership
positions by African American and other clergy and organizers of color,
processes for monitoring and resolving conflict, and methods for
promoting effective communication across the network.
Interviews
will take place in person or by telephone.
If anyone is not contacted, but wishes to participate they may do
so by completing and submitting a paper survey.
Privacy.
The information provided will only be used by the Inclusion &
Racial Equity Task Force to prepare its report about improving inclusion
and racial equity, communication, and conflict resolution processes.
The privacy of participants will be protected.
Participation
is voluntary and there will be no negative consequences if anyone
chooses not to participate in the survey.
Current Status.
Approximately one third of the survey is completed.
December 31, 2007.
All interviews are scheduled to be completed.
February 2008.
Final report with recommendations is scheduled to be completed
and submitted to the Gamaliel Foundation Board and the Gamaliel Council
of Presidents.
The Task Force selected the following consultants to assist them with
this assessment.
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MARGARET M. CAMARENA
 Study Designer and Organizational Development Consultant
Margaret Camarena has served in senior management positions at
educational and research institutions for the past 10 years, and
has over 25 years of experience conducting research and
evaluation studies in the areas of education/training,
employment, health, substance abuse/mental health prevention and
treatment, housing and workforce development.
Her experience encompasses a range of responsibilities that
includes all aspects of managing research, evaluation, and R&D
projects. She currently serves as the Director of the Social
Science Research Center at Old
Dominion
University.
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Melissa
Giraud
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Melissa Giraud is a radio producer, media consultant, youth
organizer and immigrant rights advocate in Columbus, Ohio.
She was an NPR producer in
Washington,
D.C. for six years.
Along for the Ride, an experimental radio and Web series,
which she co-conceived and produced, is among the major programs
she worked on. The series aired on All Things
Considered in 2001-2002. The purpose of the program was to
recruit and coach a young, diverse group of experimental
reporters
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Idelisse
Malavé
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Idelisse Malavé is an attorney who has litigated civil rights
cases with the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education
Fund, represented people of color in small businesses and women
in divorces in a small private practice, and served as Vice
President of the Ms. Foundation for Women for six years.
For the past 11 years she has been Executive Director of the
Tides Foundation, where her duties included interviewing staff
and grantees and running focus groups,
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Mary
McGirl
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Mary McGirl’s career encompasses that of social worker, program
development specialist, court visitor and consultant. She
has extensive interviewing experience, especially with diverse
populations. She has worked as a consultant for the Kirwan
Institute, most recently assisting with interviews for projects
in the Cleveland area. She was employed in the
Minneapolis/St. Paul area by public, private, for profit, and
not for profit organizations. In direct service work with mental
health
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Shaun L.
Tucker
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Shaun Tucker has worked to increase the civic participation of
Ohio's African-American and faith
communities for the past decade. He has presented
workshops at the West Ohio Conference of the United Methodist
Church’s annual
conference and has organized voting rights forums and workshops
for the Cleveland Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
Currently he organizes pastors to participate in lobbying visits
to the Ohio Statehouse. He is a lobbyist and community organizer
for nationally recognized organizations specializing in voting
rights
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All Inclusion and Racial Equity Reports and the survey questionnaire can
be found on the Gamaliel website:
www.gamaliel.org.
For further information, please contact Ann Smith
aesmith@gamaliel.org or
312-357-2639.
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