NLIHC’s Training Institute Held the First of a Three-Part Series Webinar on “Organizing 101: Community Organizing and Power Building”

By May Louis-Juste, Project Manager, Strategic Partnerships 

NLIHC’s Training Institute for Tenants and Residents hosted its first of a three-part webinar series and provided an engaging and information session on Organizing 101 on Thursday, May 29. This webinar, designed for tenants and resident organizers at all levels, focused on the foundation for building effective community power to drive long-term, systemic change in housing policy. 

The session opened with Billy Cerullo and Tia Turner, Housing Advocacy Organizers at NLIHC, leading a grounding conversation about the nature of power: focusing on what power is, how it works, and how organizers can use it to make change. Participants were then asked what they believe power is, and whether it is “good, neutral, or bad,” with most individuals emphasizing that power itself is neutral. From there, organizers broke down the differences between advocacy, activism, and organizing. Then, Billy and Tia introduced the full cycle of organizing starting with base building through deep, trust-based relationships with impacted communities, then identifying and narrowing in on specific, actionable issues rooted in larger systemic problems.  

Billy closed with a powerful message: “organizers teach leaders, and leaders organize, building a leaderful movement rooted in mutual trust and shared purpose.”  

Whether you’re just getting started or deepening your practice of organizing, this training and those to follow in the three-part webinar series offer practical tools and powerful insights to support transformative change. 

The webinar recording can be found here, and presentation slides can be found here. 

For more information or to get involved with future sessions with the Tenant Institute, contact Dee Ross at [email protected].