testimonials from organizers
Through Base Building for Power, I learned the power of relationship-based organizing. I learned how to have one-on-one organizing conversations, how to agitate, give a vision, and ask direct questions to motivate people to take action. Through building trust and benefiting from ongoing mentorship with the Base Building training team trainers helped me understand how important relationships are to train other people. I was so excited to fight that I decided to put off school to organize airport workers in Los Angeles. The skills I learned are already having direct changes in people's lives. Last month I was able to take over 400 workers at LAX airport who were never involved in the union to go on strike, not only once but twice, winning several dollars in wage increases.
— Tess Williams, Airport Union Organizer
As a single mother, immigrant, renter and low-wage worker in Los Angeles, I have been exploited most of my life. But I didn’t see myself being able to change anything. This training has empowered me to be a leader for my community by giving me the tools to fight. The program made a big impact in my life, helped to build my confidence, and taught me how to recruit volunteers. Now I enjoy encouraging other people to stand up for themselves. Since the training, I have worked for unions, mobilized voters, and was even a trainer for the program in Arizona. It’s amazing to see so many people like myself with no previous experience becoming strong leaders and organizers. SI SE PUEDE! (I also learned how to play pool!)
— Maria Echeverria, Community and Union Organizer
I came to the program as a food service worker, as well as a student activist. I knew how to show up at rallies, but I did not know how to systematically build a movement. Base Building for Power showed me that there were skills and steps to organizing that are teachable, practicable, and replicable. Knowing these steps - how to build a list, how to have an organizing conversation, how to connect to folks around their issues, how to facilitate a "house meeting" gave me the confidence and ability to actually work towards trying to build a better world. I have since gone on to work as an organizer with the Worker Solidarity Network, where we recently won $12 million from the government for increased enforcement of workers rights laws. But the most valuable thing I got is the incredible growing community of organizers that have been through the program. I’ve met over 50 other young organizers, and we are supporting each other as movement leaders by sharing experiences, skills, and supporting each other emotionally so we can do this for the long term.
— Ismail Askin, Worker and Climate Change Organizer
This training gave me the tools and the guidance that I needed to be able to grow as an organizer. As a person who doesn’t fit the stereotypical white-masculine ideas of leadership, this program helped me to see myself as a leader, as someone with valuable contributions to offer my community, and with a bright future in movement-building. Now I’m leading tenants to fight for rent control. I learned so much and am incredibly honored that I got to be part of a project grounded in a long lineage of radical organizing, building a powerful movement for justice.
— Gabby Doebeli, Worker and Tenant Organizer
I am just one of the hundred organizers that was trained by the Base Building for Power program. In the two years since I've participated in the program, I've been heavily involved in political and worker organizing. I've successfully led two worker bargaining fights, as both an organizer and negotiator, winning a $2 wage increase for hotel workers. I knocked on hundreds of doors to mobilize voters in Arizona and Georgia, contributing to huge victories in 2022. I've empowered hundreds of people to fight for themselves, their coworkers, and their communities through committee building. These victories are possible because Base Building for Power invests in people deeply, during and after the program.
— Kai Sharpe, Hotel Union Organizer
As a new union organizer with the nurses union, I was searching for mentors who were able to spend time with me to talk through my workplace organizing campaigns and offer advice. Through Base Building for Power, I have been fortunate to meet weekly with experienced organizers who have helped me through every step and question I had in my campaign. My mentors not only trained me on how to have effective 1 on 1 conversations, but explained the "why" behind each step whenever I struggled with replying to workers' responses. Now I feel more confident doing 1-1s, and am building solid worker committees. I am training the workers to understand that they need to take ownership in their fight. I have been able to get nurses who have been in the union for decades to push past their fear and organize their first collective actions ever for safe staffing and better wages.
— Stephanie Fung, Nurses Union Organizer
I have been committed to justice all my life, but since joining the Base Building for Power family, I am putting my passion and skills to better use for the community. I am growing tremendously as a leader. Through this program, I started a new career as a union organizer. I have represented members in grievances, led arbitrations, and I just organized my first hotel into the union. The work is not easy, and sometimes the hurdles are enormous and feel overwhelming. Base Building for Power is training the next generation of skilled and fired up organizers, and forming a community of support so that we can all do this for the long haul.
— Nancy Trigueros, Union Organizer
Prior to this program, I thought that being pushy was a bad thing. I was scared to be direct with people about the action needed to address the most pressing issues in our communities. Through practice, encouragement, role-plays, and tangible goals, this training has taught me how to lead using kindness, but also determination and passion at the same time. Now, I am fully able to convey the importance and urgency of whichever campaign or movement I am fighting for. This has allowed me to recruit many more people into our movements for justice. I have used these skills in a successful campaign to unionize 4,500 of UBC Teachers Assistants and Research Assistants and achieve a 98% strike vote for thousands of Safeway workers.
— Sienna Nargang-White, Union Organizer with UFCW
Base Building for Power changed my personal and professional life. At first I was confused by the structure of organizing people one by one. As time went by, I became more confident, and my mind began to open to the power of organizing without focusing on a single leader, and how it could benefit my community. Now I am registering voters in Arizona with Mi Familia Vota, organizing mobile home tenants to fight for their rights with Poder Casas Mobiles, and fighting for immigrant rights with Paisanos Unidos. The road to justice is long, but I’m excited to learn more and improve the lives of the most vulnerable in my community.
— Sandra Alvarez, Voter Registration Organizer in Arizona
The Justice Summer program has changed my life, and the lives of those around me for the better. This program really pushed me out of my comfort zone and helped me gain more confidence in organizing and leading people from all walks of life around various important societal issues. The personal networks we built in this program have continued to grow and foster a much larger community that is continuously ready to take action in the face of injustice. I really appreciate the continuous follow-up and support from the team, in providing me with further organizing opportunities, as well as ongoing advice and training that I can apply and share with the various organizations that I am a part of in the Filipino community.
— Shelly Caneja, Community and Political Organizer