The Alston/Bannerman Fellowship Program, based in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the List of United States ...

, is committed to advancing progressive social change by helping to sustain long-time activists of color. The program honors those who have devoted their lives to helping their communities organize for racial, social, economic and

environmental justice Environmental justice is a social movement that addresses injustice that occurs when poor or marginalized communities are harmed by hazardous waste, resource extraction, and other land uses from which they do not benefit. The movement has gene ...

. The program provides resources for organizers to take

sabbatical A sabbatical (from the Hebrew: (i.e., Sabbath); in Latin ; Greek: ) is a rest or break from work; "an extended period of time intentionally spent on something that’s not your routine job." The concept of the sabbatical is based on the Bi ...

s for reflection and renewal. Since 1988, there have been 171 Fellows. They've worked on a broad range of issues from environmental justice to fair wages, from immigrant rights to native sovereignty, from political empowerment to economic revitalization. They are from 32 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam.{{Citation, title=Black, Brown, Yellow, and Left: radical activism in Los Angeles , author=Laura Pulido, year= 2006, publisher=

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...

, id={{ISBN, 0520245199, url= https://books.google.com/books?id=CzarnBhJiZUC&dq=%22Bannerman+Fellowship%22&pg=PA296, isbn=978-0-520-24520-4 Established in 1987, the Alston/Bannerman Fellowship Program was founded on the belief that the most effective approach to achieving progressive

social change Social change is the alteration of the social order of a society which may include changes in social institutions, social behaviours or social relations. Sustained at a larger scale, it may lead to social transformation or societal transformat ...

is by organizing low-income people at the

grassroots A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or continent movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from volunteers at the local level to imp ...

level. Many elements contribute to a community organization's success, but none are more important than the vision, commitment, talent and hard work of its organizers and leaders. Yet few resources are available to support them and, as a result, too many experienced organizers "burn-out" and too few younger ones see organizing as a viable long-term profession. The Program's founders decided that a practical contribution to strengthening

community organizing Community organizing is a process where people who live in proximity to each other or share some common problem come together into an organization that acts in their shared self-interest. Unlike those who promote more-consensual community buil ...

would be to give organizers an opportunity to step back from their work for a period of reflection and renewal. They created the

program, now called the Alston/Bannerman Fellowship Program. The program is named for Charles Bannerman had worked with Mississippi Action for Community Education (MACE), an organization founded by Fannie Lou Hamer, Annie Devine and other local civil rights leaders; and

Dana Alston Dana Alston (December 1951 – August 7, 1999) was an environmental justice advocate. She revolutionized the fight for environmental justice, by combining climate activism with a concern for environmental pollution experienced by communities of col ...

, an activist who worked with the National Black United Fund, the Southern Rural Women's Network,

Rural America Rural areas in the United States, often referred to as rural America, consist of approximately 97% of the United States' land area. An estimated 60 million people, or one in five residents (17.9% of the total U.S. population), live in rural Ame ...

TransAfrica Forum TransAfrica (formerly ''TransAfrica Forum'') is an advocacy organization in Washington, D.C. that seeks to influence the foreign policy of the United States concerning African and Caribbean countries and all African diaspora groups. It is a resea ...

and the

National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy The National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP) is a progressive advocacy and watchdog group that monitors charitable spending in the United States. It was established in 1976 and is based in Washington, D.C. It advocates for a greater fo ...

References

External links

Banerman Fellowship Home Page
Community-building organizations Organizations based in Baltimore 1987 establishments in Maryland