BOLD Organizing
Black Organizing for Leadership & Dignity

About BOLD

BOLD (Black Organizing for Leadership and Dignity) is a national Leadership training program founded a collaboration between the Center for Third World Organizing (CTWO) and Social Justice Leadership.  The program is designed to help rebuild Black (African-American, Caribbean, African, Afro-Latino) social justice infrastructure in order to organize Black communities more effectively and re-center Black leadership in the U.S. social justice movement.  

Historically, the African-American community has played a key leadership role in social change in the U.S., whether at the forefront of sweeping movements or as inspiration for other communities to organize.  Yet, nearly half a century after the sweeping successes and change brought about by the U.S. civil rights movement, many Black communities in the U.S. face disproportionate hardships ranging from high rates of unemployment and incarceration to over-representation in failing schools and proximity to toxic dumping grounds.  

Addressing the chronic conditions facing many working class Black communities is critical to achieving lasting, meaningful change in the U.S.  Renewed, authentic Black leadership and deeply organized Black communities must lead this change locally and, at the same time, be more effectively engaged in social change work and movement-building at the national level alongside the burgeoning mobilization of other marginalized communities in the U.S.  

SJL and CTWO's goal was to meet this movement-wide challenge by establishing BOLD as a national training program that creates a leadership development pipeline to increase the skill-level and number of Black organizers and directors working for social change in the U.S.  BOLD will also strengthen the Black social justice infrastructure by developing a network of Black leaders and organizations that are organizing to increase power at multiple levels for the Black community and for the social justice movement as a whole.  

Participants will be engaged in BOLD through training programs: a community electoral activist camp for Black grassroots activists, an organizer fellowship for new and emerging Black organizers, and a directors training and development track for new and emerging leaders of Black organizations.  All training levels will focus on these key areas:  

1.  Organizing and social change skills

2.  Political education

3.  Organizational performance

4.  Transformation of self

5.  Transformation of community  

BOLD trainings for activists, organizers and directors are conducted throughout the country thereby supporting a broad network of Black leaders and infrastructure. We are intentionally building with existing alliances, organizations and individuals interested in developing a Transformative Organizing model together.  

Rebuilding Black social justice infrastructure and re-centering the Black community and Black leadership within the social justice movement is a long-term endeavor and will require the ideas, inspiration and effort of many leaders and organizations across the country.  Our aspiration for BOLD is to build a long-term project that can play a concrete and catalytic role in supporting the development of these leaders and organizations within the Black community and creating a shared, trusted space to work together to address the challenges facing working class Black communities and the broader social justice movement.