About Us

Mission

The mission of the Harriet Tubman Center is to be a recruitment and training center for new organizers.

Our Vision

Organized individuals can collectively improve the quality of life in their community. Through their work in faith communities, neighborhoods, on college campuses and in workplaces, intern organizers of the Harriet Tubman Center recruit leaders to build the power of communities to create positive change.

We offer paid internships to individuals with a desire and capacity to work in diverse communities as prepared and competent organizers. We believe in mentorship and a broad range of organizing experiences for young organizers. We believe that community organizing can be a fulfilling career, and our goal is to help open doors to this critical profession. By bringing together young and experienced organizers and leaders for solidarity and continuing education events, we also seek to create a supportive network developing and achieving personal and professional goals.

Where We Are Going

Tubman is on a path to become a statewide collective focused on building statewide power to change the rules in Michigan in favor of low and moderate-income people. Over the next 3-5 years, Tubman will become a firm of organizers of all levels; recruiting, training and placing organizers; creating new local organizations and building the organizing capacity of existing agencies and community organizations; and creating statewide issue campaigns and coalitions of partner organizations and allies.

Where We Have Been

The Harriet Tubman Center was founded in 2006 to fill a void in the recruitment and development of professional community organizers. The Center began with conversations among congregation centered community-organizers, university students and professors, union organizers, and independent young organizers seeking solidarity, professional development and wider career options.

HTC is focused on creating connected, competent organizers through internships and job placement opportunities. We are a 501c(3) non-profit organization. Since 2007, The Harriet Tubman Center has recruited hundreds of people for community organizing internships and has trained and graduated 56 interns. We have tripled the number of sites where interns organize alongside seasoned veterans.

Leadership development in a wide variety of local institutions has led to tangible victories in school parent organizations, a youth organization, a union of homeless and low income tenants (Detroit Action Commonwealth) and several congregations. We have placed several interns in Kalamazoo and Battle Creek. Many of our graduates hold positions as professional community organizers in several cities across the United States.

We hold an annual retreat with graduates, new interns and seasoned community organizers and also provide graduates with other professional development opportunities.