grassroots solutions has a tradition of breaking traditions. Instead of sending our holiday cards in December, we send them on January 30 to honor the birth date of Saul Alinsky, the pioneering community organizer who founded the Industrial Areas Foundation and trained one of the great generations of organizers whose grassroots efforts continue to inspire us today.
To honor Alinsky’s legacy, we created the grassroots solutions “Organizer of the Year” contest to discover the next great generation of organizers who are following in his footsteps. During the month of December, our Facebook fans nominated 38 inspiring organizers to compete in our contest, and cast 125 votes on our Facebook page. On the last day of voting, two of the nominated organizers were neck and neck in the vote count; ultimately, the winner won by a single vote. We’re guessing these two frontrunners organized their colleagues and friends to vote right up until the last minute to secure their victory – as any good organizer would do!
The fabulous winner of the contest will be announced later this month but, because the race was so close (a single vote!), we also want to pay tribute to an exceptional runner-up, Stacey Burns.
Pictured: Erika Staub, Nursing Students for Choice; Stacey Burns; and Becky Ek, Nursing Students for Choice
Stacey Burns is a reproductive rights organizing powerhouse. As an unpaid volunteer, she mobilizes other activists on behalf of Medical and Nursing Students for Choice, the National Network of Abortion Funds, Planned Parenthood, and other worthy groups. While advocating for reproductive choice is the cause dearest to her heart, Stacey is also deeply committed to community engagement, as evidenced by her close, ongoing involvement with the Midtown Farmers Market, and her volunteer work for many progressive electoral campaigns in her neighborhood (Corcoran Neighborhood for Obama, Jason Stone for Minneapolis Park Board). If she’s not phone-banking, event-planning, e-mailing, or envelope-stuffing for one of the aforementioned causes, it’s probably because she’s raising awareness about obstetric fistula in the developing world, or finding a home for an orphaned cat.
We want to thank Stacy and everyone who nominated and voted for their favorite organizer on grassroots solutions’ Facebook page! Stay tuned for the big unveiling of our “Organizer of the Year” contest winner at the end of this month!