Solutions
for Economic Empowerment and Dignity (SEED),
New York, NY
SEED
is an emerging, inclusive cross-section of New Yorkers determined to generate
Solutions for Economic Empowerment and Dignity. SEED
brings a multi-sector approach to bear on our collective hopes for widespread economic
opportunity. We aim to broaden the array of
participants and resources to make institutional, systemic change.
Historically,
issue-based, constituency-driven approaches to poverty have been marginalized and
unfulfilled in their isolation from mainstream power structures. Entrenched
partisanship breeds hopelessness and an endemic culture of scarcity. Grassroots organizations that emerge tend to focus
on what can be agreed upon that is opposed rather than visions of hope for the future.
It is difficult at the fringes to coordinate sustained, multi-faceted strategies
that enjoin rather than polarize people to address the complex structures that perpetuate
poverty.
SEED
will put serious muscle behind grassroots groups by engaging a broader spectrum
of citizens. With a commitment to at least fifty percent grassroots representation
in all SEED programs and governance bodies, more than ample passion and commitment will be
supplied from those who have firsthand experience of poverty.
This
year, SEED will establish the first two of eleven sector alliances: religion and media.
Over time, a total of eleven alliances (religion, media, business,
government, technology, health, education, philanthropy, labor, law and the arts) will be
mobilized. Each alliance will engage in a
sustained dialogue to create a project that addresses a universal access issue--education,
child care, health care, elder care, employment. SEED
will encourage cross sector collaboration and synergy of efforts to promote widespread
economic well-being in New York.
The
model is conceived to leverage resources of midlevel sector leaders. It uses cutting edge dialogue tools to create a
container in which groups can identify shared concerns about what is and articulate shared
visions of what can be. SEED is designed to
create new visions by rallying around what we are for versus what we oppose.
The
conveners for SEED are Melinda K. Lackey, Founding Director and Carlos
Monteagudo, Founding Associate. Melinda
co-founded two other New York City non-profit organizations: Iris House: A Center for
Women Living with HIV and the Hunter College Welfare Rights Initiative. Melinda and Carlos began working together as
fellows of the National Leadership Program of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
Beyond
Charity is SEED’s religion sector program.
We are seeking a diverse group of religious leaders who, if convened and set
in motion as a team, has the capacity to set a lot more in motion. Once the field cultivators develop a program, they
will plant seeds for action within their respective institutions, as they coordinate
outreach to other churches, synagogues, mosques and faith institutions—to organize
the growing network.
In
broad terms, we anticipate that Beyond Charity will mobilize a multi-faith collaborative
to spark a systems approach to poverty in the religious sector. Beyond Charity aims to shift emphasis from service
provision (charity) that fills the gaps in a broken system, to change the systems which
create the need for these services in the first place.
Who
are the “strategic who” in the faith community? What
institutions (and individuals within them) if convened as a team will spark advocacy for a
systems approach to widespread economic well being? How
would your faith community like to be involved? The
SEED conveners are keen to establish relationships with national and international
organizations and networks to guide, support and collaborate in this emerging New York
City project. Please contact Melinda Lackey below to get involved.
--Written
by Melinda Lackey
Contact
point:
Melinda
K. Lackey
Solutions for Economic Empowerment and Dignity (SEED)
68-36 108th Street, Suite B66
New York, NY 11375
Phone: 718-793-6509; Fax:
718-793-0496
E-mail: info@seed-ny.org |
