2012 CHANGE Dues Agreement (please click twice to download)

CHANGE Dec 4, 2011 Assembly of Celebration (CLICK TWICE to upload pdf)

CHANGE QUARTERLY REPORT SUMMER 2011 (you will need to click the link twice to download the report)

By Jacob Carah (Winston-Salem Journal August 28, 2011)

A schoolteacher, a homeless man, a lawyer, a doctor, a Baptist preacher and a Muslim walk into a room.

This is not a joke. This is CHANGE — Communities Helping All Neighbors Gain Empowerment. It’s a nonprofit interfaith organization that has been engaging the community of Winston-Salem for nearly 10 years.

The Rev. Ryan Eller, lead community organizer, and Mustafah Abdullah, the associate organizer, say the group’s goal is to bring together people in the community from all walks of life.

The group began in 2001, when the community was changing demographically and just after the 2000 census showed that a high level of racial segregation still existed in many local neighborhoods. These changes came as racial questions arose in the case of Darryl Hunt, a black man who was freed from prison in 2004 after new DNA evidence showed he was wrongly convicted of the murder of Deborah Sykes, a white copy editor at the now-closed Sentinel newspaper.

“Amidst all of these challenges in our community, a group of dedicated leaders saw a vision where citizens had a significant place at the decision-making table, but also a community that was less segregated, where people are engaging with each other in a positive way,” Eller said.

For Eller, the strength of the group resides in the different perspectives of its members. The group is made up of 50 Forsyth County member institutions, mostly churches that comprise about 26,000 people in membership and outreach.

Current member Lehoma Goode, a retired Moravian minister and schoolteacher, said, “It’s just about the only place where I can be with so many different kinds of people and build all different kinds of relationships in order to do things for the public.”

Goode said that while views often diverge, the members always treat one another with civility.

“We don’t try to boil things down to the least common denominator. The point is to be honest with each other about what we think,” she said. “That is the power of the interfaith experience. We share our perspective while being respectful of the other person.”

The organization has had many successes, Eller said. It worked to ensure that a 2006 bond referendum on schools included existing inner-city schools, not just new ones. It helped to get lead poisoning removed from hundreds of homes in a 2008-09 initiative. The group’s many projects have included holding community meetings to identify local priorities, supporting local health clinics, and pushing for the creation of summer jobs for teens. Just last week, the group won agreement for two homeless or formerly homeless people to have seats on the Homeless Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County.

“There are a countless number of campaigns that we could point to, but I think the most significant thing that we have seen in the last few years is the growth of our organization as it relates particularly to African-American and Latino diversity, as well as our recognition of being a truly interfaith organization here in the Bible Belt, even when you have a lead organizer, like me, an ordained Baptist minister,” Eller said.

Abdullah said the organization has given residents more opportunities to participate in public life and interact with people they would not normally come into contact with.

“I think more and more people see that our narrative in the community is that no matter what you are — white, black, poor or wealthy, Muslim, Christian or Jewish — we are all intertwined together and belonging to the commitment of the common good,” Abdullah said.

Some criticism leveled

CHANGE has its critics.

Nathan Tabor, the chairman of the Republican Party in Forsyth County, said the group is not as nonpartisan as it claims. Eller has a political background, having managed the campaign in 2008 for the unsuccessful Democratic challenger to Republican U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx.

Tabor points to CHANGE’s successful effort in 2009 to get the legislature to make Winston-Salem/Forsyth County school board elections nonpartisan. Some saw that as a political effort to try to reduce the Republican majority on the board.

“If you are going to be involved in higher-level service, you are going to be a registered Democrat or Republican,” Tabor said. “There is a certain ideology that goes with that. When people are deciding on whom to vote for, they are looking to see how that individual is registered to vote.”

But the group says the vast majority of school board elections in North Carolina are nonpartisan, and the goal — and successful result — was to draw more people to run for office and to leave party politics out of the school board race. Twenty-six people ran for the board in 2010, although all the incumbents were re-elected.

The change in school board elections didn’t last. The legislature this year reversed course with a bill by state Rep. Dale Folwell, R-Forsyth, that restores partisan elections.

“Over 10,000 citizens of Forsyth County signed petitions asking for (nonpartisan school board elections), and we believe partisan politics should not be involved in something as important as our kids’ education,” said the Rev. Steve Boyd, a board member of CHANGE.

Tabor also accused CHANGE of promoting forced school busing in its call for more diversity in the school system.

Boyd said the group never suggested or brought up forced busing.

“Our request was that the community — led by our education leadership — engage in a process of research, discussion and decision-making regarding reviewing and updating the current student assignment plan, which is typically done every 10 years or so, but hasn’t been done in the last 16 years,” Boyd said.

Vic Johnson, a Democrat and local school board member for District I, said he also disagrees that the group as a whole is nonpartisan. “Publicly, they say they don’t want to endorse people (in elections) but underhandedly they do,” Johnson said.

CHANGE compiled a scorecard on candidates in the 2010 school board election based on answers to a survey.

Johnson said he doesn’t think the group can make much of a difference in the community without publicly supporting elected officials who can affect issues.

Neighborhood impact

CHANGE leaders say members are trying to focus on bringing people together across political lines on common community goals, not pushing one political agenda.

For Boyd, who has been involved with the group since its inception, criticism that the group lacks conservative voices or is politically slanted toward Democratic initiatives are attempts at politicizing the issues, which contradicts the group’s goal.

“I think a lot of people involved with CHANGE would be surprised to be characterized as not conservative,” Boyd said. Many members belong to conservative religious institutions and want to preserve family values, which they see as a conservative value, he said.

Boyd said CHANGE tries to help neighborhood groups come together to have a voice on issues that directly affect their particular community.

“It’s very difficult for a group of citizens to go to the city, to the county, to the school board or to any governmental body or agency and have much of an effect, as a single neighborhood,” Boyd said. “Businesses’ interests are very organized in terms of influence of governmental policy. Political parties are very organized in terms of their philosophy and agenda, but the rest of the civic sector, nobody organizes things, and they need to be at the table when decisions are made.”

By: JournalNow Staff (Winston-Salem Journal, August 28, 2011)

The Homeless Caucus, a group of homeless and formerly homeless people, has received two voting seats on the executive board of the Homeless Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County. These representatives will have a practical perspective on the problem of homelessness that will doubtless benefit the council.

The Homeless Council is a coalition of nonprofit and government representatives who do an annual count of homeless people in Forsyth County and help distribute federal grant money to agencies that deal with the homeless.

Mayor Allen Joines supported the appointment. “How could anybody say no?” he told the Journal’s Laura Graff. “We need someone to put a face on the invisibility of homelessness.”

Members of the executive council are paid by their employers to attend the meetings. The chairman of the Homeless Council, David Harold, said he will pay a small stipend to the homeless or formerly homeless representatives with money from the outreach fund at his church, Our Lady of Mercy.

The two members will be chosen within a few weeks.

“For a long time, we have wanted this; we just didn’t know how to make it happen,” Harold told the Journal. “Homeless people and people who have recently been homeless know much better what works than people like me.”

The Homeless Caucus was formed by the community-organizing group CHANGE (Communities Helping All Neighbors Gain Empowerment), which some critics charge leans left. But there is nothing partisan about the problem of homelessness. It strikes without discrimination.

The problem is severe, and especially in a down economy, can overtake people through no fault of their own. To our shame, it often affects military veterans. The Associated Press recently reported that the number of homeless female veterans in North Carolina and South Carolina is increasing.

Winston-Salem and Forsyth County have made some headway dealing with the problem through efforts such as the Ten-Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness, backed by the United Way of Forsyth County. But every bit of effort is needed to help. We applaud the Homeless Council for a move that should prove to be positive.

Homeless win voice on council

By LAURA GRAFF, Winston-Salem Journal (August 24, 2011)

They asked, and they received.

Homeless or formerly homeless people won two seats on the Homeless Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County on Tuesday night during a gospel-music-inspired meeting at a small church in downtown Winston-Salem.

Four formerly homeless people shared their experiences with David Harold, the executive director of the Homeless Council. Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines then asked that Harold reserve two seats on the council for homeless or formerly homeless people. Cheers erupted in the room upon Joines’ promise.

The Homeless Council includes representatives from nonprofit and government organizations. The council organizes an annual count of homeless people in Forsyth and helps distribute federal grant money to local agencies that deal with the homeless.

Harold promised that homeless or formerly homeless people would have two voting seats on the council, adding that he would pay those representatives a small stipend for their work. The two members will be chosen within a few weeks.

“For a long time, we have wanted this; we just didn’t know how to make it happen,” Harold said. “Homeless people and people who have recently been homeless know much better what works than people like me.”

Joines, too, promised to try to appoint homeless or formerly homeless people to boards and commissions that deal with homeless issues.

“How could anybody say no?” Joines said. “We need someone to put a face on the invisibility of homelessness.”

The meeting was organized by the Homeless Caucus, a group consisting mostly of homeless or formerly homeless people. The caucus was formed by the community-organizing group CHANGE, or Communities Helping All Neighbors Gain Empowerment.

Bernadette Wilson-Conley, a member of the caucus who spoke at Tuesday night’s meeting, said she became homeless after moving her family to Greensboro from Miami. Her then-husband did not move with her, and Wilson-Conley said she found herself alone with three small children.

“I knew I could work; I wanted to get a job,” she said. “But I needed someplace safe for my kids to stay while I did it.”

Wilson-Conley eventually found help through a Greensboro housing group. She said she met a number of women through the Greensboro program who were intelligent and who had jobs but who remained homeless or in transitional housing because their jobs paid low wages that would not cover the cost of child care.

Wilson-Conley said having people who have been homeless on the council would help Forsyth draw more federal grant money.

“It makes us much more attractive and competitive,” Wilson-Conley said.

Click link to download: CHANGE QUARTERLY REPORT APRIL 2011

ON APRIL 8, 2011, THE C.H.A.N.G.E. STRATEGY TEAM ISSUED THE FOLLOWING STATEMENT CONCERNING HOUSE BILL 523:

CHANGE Congregations To NC State Legislature: “Keep Politics Out of Our Children’s Schools!”

Party affiliation tells voters nothing about what a candidate will do to address student achievement, support teachers, increase parental involvement, or decrease bullying. Current school board members have said publicly that party politics play no role in their deliberations.

There are, however, negative effects of partisan elections for School Board. If the nearly 50,000 unaffiliated voters registered in Forsyth County want to run, they have to gather more than 9,000 signatures simply to get on the ballot—a very discouraging hurdle right out of the gate. On Election Day, they find themselves about 14,000 votes behind, because of the straight party votes that go to the party affiliated candidates. Therefore, partisan elections significantly limit the number of people who can and will run.  In the past, some incumbents haven’t campaigned and made their positions known, counting on their party brand to do the work for them. It is no surprise that 88% of school boards in NC have non-partisan elections and 10,000 Forsyth County voters signed a petition asking for them here.

In 2010, we had our first non-partisan School Board election. More candidates—26—ran than in any race in 20 years. The candidates developed clear positions debated issues vital to our children’s education, such as student achievement, parental engagement, out of school suspensions, school assignment, and bullying. Rep. Folwell says he wants increased numbers of informed voters to participate; we believe that returning to partisan School Board elections will not produce that result.

Partisan school board elections seem primarily to serve the parties and the political interests of those with partisan political aspirations. Those things are not bad; they just should not be mixed up in our children’s education.

Quotes from CHANGE, Community Leaders and Media Commentary:

“CHANGE members want to bar partisan politics from crossing the schoolhouse door—Republicans and Democrats alike…Imagine that, an election in which the candidates talk about relevant issues rather than slinging mud, crowing about money raised or relying on party-line voting.”

~ Winston-Salem Journal column by Scott Sexton; May 7, 2009

“It is time for elections for the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County school board to be nonpartisan…this bill [HB 833 which passed in 2009 making elections nonpartisan and staggering the terms] should be approved…decisions that have to do with what’s best for our students should not be influenced by party ideology. Republicans are the majority on the school board now but the argument would be just as valid if Democrats were in control….fresh, nonpartisan voices could bring new solutions to school problems.”

~ Winston-Salem Journal editorial entitled, “It’s time to drop exception and remove party politics: Nonpartisan School Board;” May 5, 2009

“We need our best minds and most capable leaders serving on the school board.  Many of our most capable leaders will not offer themselves for service as long as the election for the school board is partisan.”

~ Attorney and Business Leader Mike Wells

“CHANGE is reportedly planning a petition drive to determine whether there is community support for nonpartisan school board elections. We’d like to be among the first to sign the petition. What good does it do to have Republicans and Democrats on the Forsyth County Board of Education—or any Board of Education, for that matter? None we can see…State law decrees that county boards of education be elected on a non-partisan basis–but in 1970, Forsyth and several other counties were granted exemptions to the law.  Only 15 of the state’s 100 counties have partisan school board elections, and Forsyth is the only metropolitan district among the 15…Our children are our future. Their education is the key to that future. It would be a pity if party politics got in the way of responsible spending and the effective management of our children’s educations.”

~ Kernersville News editorial entitled, “Not a bad idea;” June 12, 2007

“C.H.A.N.G.E. believes it is time to think, not as Democrats and Republicans, but as parents, educators, and community members who want the best possible education for our children.”

~ Walt Joyce, Co-Chair of C.H.A.N.G.E. School Board Election Reform Action Team

“It may be that it’s time for nonpartisan school-board elections in Forsyth, one of the last counties that still has partisan elections for those offices. As supporters of nonpartisan school-board elections have long said, the school board should be free of party politics…And a push for nonpartisan elections in the late 1980s supported by Republicans, fizzled in the state legislature…in the long run, nonpartisan elections for school board might really succeed in removing at least some of the politics from election campaigns and from work on the board… maybe there really could be more focus on key issues—such as providing the best education possible for public-school students…CHANGE, at least, has the right idea in gauging public interest (via) a petition drive.”

~ Winston-Salem Journal editorial entitled “A Nonpartisan Push;” June 18, 2007

“It is proven that nonpartisan elections help school boards focus on true education issues rather than party labels, encouraging candidates to help educate voters and be clearer on issues, and encouraging voters to get better informed and engage more in the process.”

~ Educator and Former City Council Member Dr. Virginia Newell

“…volunteers collecting those signatures regarded each one as a small victory toward making Election Day less about party affiliation and more about educational issues.”

~ Winston-Salem Journal article entitled “Nonpartisan election urged: petition relates to school board in Forsyth;” July 1, 2007

CLICK HERE for the Full YES Weekly Article

Written by Keith Barber of YES! Weekly, March 9, 2011

…Reaching across racial lines has served as a primary theme of CHANGE since its inception as evidenced by the group’s successful efforts to help bridge the racial divide in Winston-Salem…

“One of the major impact’s of CHANGE’s work over the past 10 years is folks in Winston-Salem have come to believe their voice matters, Boyd said.

Equally important, the inspiration for the beginnings of CHANGE are reflected in the group’s daily work.

“It’s basically white people and black people joining together, listening to one another, talking to one another, finding out what’s going on in the community,” Boyd said…

The Rev. Darryl Aaron of Highland Avenue Baptist Church in Winston-Salem said CHANGE’s future is bright due in large part to its adherence to its core principles. “The beauty of CHANGE is it´s an organi- zation that gives people who see the disparity, the injustice and gives them a framework by which they can organize and fight that  injustice,” Aaron said. “It’s not politically driven; it is strictly about organizing people to exercise their full potential so all persons in the community might get the right piece of the pie.”

CHANGE draws people from all facets of the community regardless of political affiliation, reaching out to “everyone who wants to participate in eradicating justice and seeing the community live out its ideals,” Aaron said…

Sharee Fowler, a founder of CHANGE, said the to fully understand the ethos of the group, it is important to listen the voices of its members. Fowler related the testimony of several CHANGE members during a recent retreat.

“Attending his first delegates assembly, one leader said, ‘It was the largest gathering of diverse people I had ever seen in my life and the joy I felt was overwhelming,’” Fowler said.

“Another leader said, ‘CHANGE was my place of growing up and under- standing this call and being around a group of people who nurtured that.’” Fowler said a member of CHANGE’s lead- ership team summed up their experience in the organization by stating, “Understanding this isn’t you and me, this is us. We are doing this together. I have this wonderful sense that we are in this together.” Fowler said the training she has received as a leader of CHANGE has transformed her into a better teacher, professional and community member, and that is why the organization will remain viable and deeply engaged in the issues that affect all Forsyth County residents for decades to come. “I am a better everything because of CHANGE,” Fowler said. “I am a more engaged citizen, and I am more committed to the future of this community because of this organization. CHANGE has profoundly impacted my faith journey and my sense of hopefulness for the future. To be honest, I’m not sure I would have stayed in this community had it not been for CHANGE.”…

…To read the full article CLICK HERE