Street Roots • September 22-28, 2017
O p in io n
Leadership means helping others lead, too
ast week I wrote about my reflections and
A shining example of this is the lack of
lessons learned from the relationships
sophistication with nonprofit leaders refusing to
between advocates and elected officials.
embrace technology and social media. Tools that
This week I’m writing about when it’s time for younger generations use to effectively
community leaders to step aside in order to
communicate with the masses.
build and share power within our movement.
One of the biggest reasons the public doesn’t
One of my first mentors on the streets was
understand the effectiveness of our movement
Genny Nelson, who
is we are still trying to explain the complexity of
h m h b h m
co-founded Sisters Of The
housing through archaic avenues that never
Road in 1979.
even reach broader audiences. It’s my opinion
«RM
Genny’s
work
in
the
W
that storytelling and photography will go 10
fi
community, along with
times further on social media and digitally than
many others, helped
an executive director trying to explain the
B y Israel B ayer
shape the relationship
complexities of a housing system to a public
■ ■ M H o n a
between advocacy,
that isn’t even listening.
government and social
Instead of holding on to these philosophies,
services in Portland today,
nonprofit leaders would be wise to turn to the
especially in the Old Town/Chinatown
next generation to understand storytelling in
neighborhood.
the 21st century within their own organizations.
One of the best attributes Genny had was
By working together, organizations can find a
passing along knowledge and helping mentor
way to share power within their own groups and
future generations on what it would take to build
empower others to take part in a broader
and maintain a housing movement. She took the
movement and help deliver a message we are all
time to not only speak truth to power and work
trying to capture.
to create systemic change in the community, but
Of course, fighting poverty is bigger than
she also spent an enormous amount of time
social media or a website. That’s just one small
working with others who would eventually carry
example among a broad range of issues.
the torch of the work she had
Often times decision makers,
dedicated her life to.
especially elected officials, are able to
One of the reasons Street Roots
determine an advocate’s strengths
is successful today is because at
and weaknesses in the community,
The reality is
the heart of the organization is the
and if you’re not evolving or you’re
people don't
philosophy of nonviolence, being
burned out, it show s. W hile w e all
nonjudgmental and meeting people
b e lie v e in o n e
com e from different exp erien ces,
where they are at, regardless of
person's ideas hope is going to be 10 times more
their life circumstances. Genny’s
or ability to lead inspiring than being cynical.
guidance was critical in helping
Being a leader at any level comes
—
they
believe
shape the Street Roots that you
with an enormous amount of
in
the
idea
of
pressure and stress. It’s important to
see today.
why
people
are
Genny Nelson’s mentors came
remember that nobody gets it right
doing
out of the Depression era,
all of the time. In fact, part of being
including Dorothy Day, a woman
able to be innovative and effective is
something
who helped create the philosophy
both admitting when you’re wrong
bigger than
of using nonviolence in social
and falling on your face a time or two.
themselves.
work. Their mentors touched the
None of us are perfect. It’s O K to
work of Mother Jones and the
admit when you’re wrong and it’s OK
abolitionist movement. All of the
to fail.
work we do today is connected to
The reality is people don’t believe
the past with the idea of being more effective
in one person’s ideas or ability to lead - they
and working toward creating social change in
believe in the idea of why people are doing
the future.
something bigger than themselves. Given the
It’s my opinion that if you re an executive
chance, I believe the vast majority of humans
director or an organizer or community leader
want to do the right thing and help others in
and you’re not taking the time to mentor others
our community. They just need the time and
around you and the next generation, you need to
space to do so.
rethink things. We all need one another.
None of the work we do comes without the
The last thing we need are people that are
power of a group of people or a coalition
simply hanging on to something they don’t have
working together to support one another. There
the energy to lead. Nobody lasts forever, and if
is no one voice or individual that carries the
the goal is to maintain strength within an
day. It takes all of us being leaders in the
organization and in our movement, people
community to create social change.
shouldn’t feel threatened by creating room for
That’s why I’m grateful for the gifts that
others to share power and lead.
Genny Nelson gave to Street Roots. Her
Part of the reason I’m stepping down at
mentorship of a few people allowed a lot of
Street Roots is because I felt like I didn t have
people in the end to benefit. It’s something we
the energy to effectively lead the organization
can all learn from.
into the next era. It wasn’t fair to either Street ,
I suppose my point in all of this is don t be
Roots or the people around me. It certainly isn t
afraid to take the time to help others. Share
fair to the people we serve.
your experiences. Your knowledge. Your life
So often I see the same executive directors
lessons. And work to give others the ability to
delivering the same messages year after year
carry the torch for the common good, knowing
without incorporating new leadership within
that the things we pass on today can go on to
their organizations or not sharing their assets
create amazing things tomorrow.
with others in the community.
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II© ill
If you would like
to have
L
Israel Bayer is the
executive director o f
Street Roots. You can
reach him at
israel@streetroots. org
or follow h im on
Twitter @israelbayer.
Executive Editor Joanne Zubi
joanne@streetroots.org
Vendor Program Director Cote Merkel
cole@streetroots.org
Operations Director Sa rah Bèecro ft
Development Director Sarah Cloud
Program Assistant Caelin M iitko, Jesuit
Volunteer
Board of Directors
C h a irm a n Brad Taylor
V ic e -C h a irm a n Rachel Langford
T r e a s u r e r Heather Stadick
S e c re ta ry Dan Jones
D ire c to rs Rich Rodgers, Michael Anderson,
Sandra Hahn, John Brown, Nels Johnson and
Alison Hallett
Volunteers
Jan Bayer, John Barker, Stacey Heath, Anjali Rathore,
Zoe Klingmann, Dan Jones, Dennis Hogan, Monica
McKune, Susan Wolfe, Lucas Hawthorne, Thomas
Buell Jr., Jeanie Lunsford, Jason Cohen, Doug
Spangle, Susannah Kamala, Jon Raymond, Diana
Richardson, Paul and Madeline Gefroh, Mary Anne
Joyce, Del Shawn Davidson, Gillian Floren, Mark
OlDani, Bianca Butler, Alex Cherin, Jenny Farres, Evan
Firsick, Camber Hansen-Karr, Miranda Woods, Henry
Brannan, Megan Smith, Luke Scheuermann, Annie
Aube, Helen Hill, Mark Brown, Lily Krai, Mary
Emerson, Adam Bruns, Brooke Anderson and Megan
Pickerel-Winer. If you're interested in volunteering
with Street Roots, please submit a volunteer
application at streetroots.org/volunteer. Or you can
call for more information at 503-228-5657.