Frequently Asked Questions

How does the HTC Recruit students for internships?

HTC has placed and supervised over 55 community organizing intern candidates, and has engaged in the training of dozens more students who consider organizing as a possible career path. Besides some national advertising, we recruit in the following ways:

• Training of dozens of UM Students in field placements through the University of Michigan Political Science Dept. ,Schools of Social Work and Public Health and the UM Semester in Detroit; Significant class presentations at UM, UM Dearborn, Western Michigan University;
• Additional recruitment through staff at: MSU, WSU, Syracuse U, Smith College.
• Our best experience thus far is through multiple contacts at University of Michigan. Other venues are being sought at Community Colleges in Michigan and around the US.

At what kinds of sites are interns placed?

Most important is the available quality of supervision. HTC has begun to consult and provide organizing services in a variety of neighborhood and institutional settings with the assurance of strong supervision by a trained organizer and access to bi-weekly Tubman Seminars. Tubman provides interns, services, training and consulting across Michigan in the following settings:

• SW Solutions in SW Detroit: we develop leadership and strategy for parents’ groups (Local School Community Organizations) and neighborhood groups. A leadership training institute is envisioned for the fall of 2009. 7 Public Schools in SW Detroit, building the base and leadership of parents’ groups (LSCO’s) through action strategies to impact neighborhood conditions.
• Youth Organizing/YOUTH VOICE: working with SW Detroit youth-serving agencies and high schools.
• Homeless Organizing- Detroit Action Commonwealth: residents/customers at the Capuchin Soup Kitchen on Detroit’s Eastside have formed their own power organization called the DAC. They have forced improvements in local homeless shelters, effecting better service from Secretary of State, met with mayoral candidates on issues of transportation and living conditions.
• Gesu Communities United: working with neighborhood/church organizing in the McNichols/Livernois neighborhood meetings of 275 people and 350 people in the last 2 years. Tubman interns work with Gesu Church and in the Fitzgerald neighborhood.
• St. Cecelia/Ponchartrain Neighborhood Council: neighborhood and church-based organizing in Grand River/Livernois neighborhood. Tubman interns active during the past 3 years.
• Battle Creek Creating Change: neighborhood organization, local issues, expansion to other neighborhoods in Battle Creek Michigan.
• ISAAC Kalamazoo: intern working with HTC grad, Rachael Tanner, director of ISAAC, a congregation-centered community organization in regional Kalamazoo.

When did HTC begin?

In Mid-2006, several organizers and leaders met to create HTC as an organization to recruit and develop new community organizers. With seed funding from the UFCW foundation, HTC placed its first intern (UM ’06 Graduate Andres Kwon) in Syracuse, NY with the ACTS Congregation-centered Community Organization. Bill O’Brien, then regional director for the Gamaliel Foundation, left to direct Tubman full time.

How is the HTC structured and funded?

In 2008, HTC became an independent 501c3 Michigan non-profit corporation. A diverse seven person Board of Directors oversees the financial operations of the organization, and Southwest Solutions provides both in-kind and contractual administrative services. HTC’s major funders include the Mott Foundation, Kresge Foundation, UFCW Foundation, and the University of Michigan. HTC also charges fees to provide community organizing trainings and cover internship costs.

How does HTC promote organizer development?

We take seriously the successful development of professional community organizers from their initial interest and throughout their professional careers. Phases of the development include:

• Pre-internship candidacy program: students are given supervision and direction in a variety of organizing venues (schools, congregations, soup kitchens, neighborhood organizations) throughout SE Michigan. Promising candidates are offered 3-month internships.
• 3-month internship: 6-8 paid internships are offered with close supervision, weekly seminars, reading assignments, retreats.
• 6-month fellowship: successful interns are assisted in locating suitable follow-up work that will likely lead to full-time professional engagement as an organizer.
• Solidarity events and continuing education: twice yearly, graduates and associates of HTC are offered a retreat experience to talk about their work, develop their professional plans and find solidarity with other organizers. Periodically HTC organizes events and dialogue for continuing education with professional organizers, foundation directors, political leaders, etc.
• Professional Development: HTC contributed half of the cost for 2 successful interns to travel to Guatemala for 2 months of language school in order to develop their capacity as professional organizers. This experimental action was successful, and HTC will review continuing and expanding this kind of professional development

What success has the HTC had in the placement of professional organizers:

In the few years of operation, we have given paid internships to 30 organizers, and provided candidacy supervision for dozens of others. Some choose not to continue in community organizing. A total of 12 Tubman grads have moved ahead in a career of community organizing and at least 4 of the grads now direct their own organizations. :

• Andres Kwon graduated from UM in ’06, served the 3-month internship and the 6-month fellowship and since then has been the lead organizer for ACTS of Syracuse.
• Jaime Nelson graduated form UM in ’07, served a brief internship and has continued fellowship and development with HTC. She is the Lead Organizer of Creating Change in Battle Creek.
• Rachael Tanner graduated from UM in ’07 and after the 3 and 6 month programs was named Lead Organizer for ISAAC in Kalamazoo.
• Chris Dadok graduated from UM in ’08, served internships in Battle Creek, served as Deputy Director/Education and Youth Organizer of HTC.
• Jomil Wells graduated from Western Michigan in 2008, served her internships and is presently a professional organizer with ISAAC Kalamazoo.
• Eric Fergen graduated from Fordham in 2004, completed a Tubman internship and is lead organizer of NOAH Niagara Falls.
• Sarah Sweeney graduated from UM in 2007, used her Tubman internship to build Gesu Communities United and joined the staff of Catholic Alliance for the Common Good (DC).
• Brian Peck graduated from UM in 2007, completed a Tubman internship and in 2008 joined the Michigan organizing team for Catholic Alliance for the Common Good.