Bringing Communities Together at Highlander

by HUBERT SAPP

e are often asked: “What does Highlander do for communities?” The fact is, the Highlander Center doesn’t do anythingfor com-

munities. Rather, the community itself - sometimes with other com- munities at Highlander-gets together to decide its own concerns and priorities.

Is this is an overly simple description of a very complicated process? A few examples of how Highlander works with communities will show the role we actually play.

Exchanging Experiences, Building Skills In our environmental health program work we receive many requests

for assistance. Several years ago, a community group representing a coalition of communities in one region of Tennessee felt threatened by a bill before the legislature. The bill proposed to give final siting authori- ty on establishing new waste dumps to the governor, thus bypassing local governments’ licensing and zoning procedures. This community had already successfully fought off an attempt of a large waste manage- ment concern to obtain a license. This new legislative authority would effectively negate the strength it mustered for that struggle.

The coalition requested that we provide assistance in calling a meet- ing of various groups around the state concerned about this issue to sit down together and discuss their differences on this bill as well as their common concerns. They held the meeting at Highlander with representation from throughout the state. They were able to agree on the features that all would oppose as well as those they would like to

Hubert Sapp is director of the Highlander Center in New Market, Tennessee.

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see in the bill. They also acknowledged areas where they had separate positions. Following this meeting, the groups so were successful in pub- licizing the negative features of the bill that it was defeated in the legislature.

Frequently, as communities become aware of serious environmental pollution problems in their area, they contact us for resources and in- formation. Our response is to put them in contact with other commu- nities that have faced similar problems, but are further down the road solving some of them. This may include facilitating an exchange of visits between the communities, or planning a workshop, or meeting with the affected communities. Whichever approach is used, we de- sign and discuss it with the community groups so that it becomes their agenda. The resource people at any meeting or workshop are primari- ly from communities similar to their own.

Sometimes the concerns discussed by community groups are gener- al problems affecting large numbers of groups or issue areas. For ex- ample, several people from different community groups raised an is- sue a few years ago about the continuation of their local struggles for a better community. This problem was often expressed as a question about who would carry on the efforts as present members moved to other matters. Seeing this as a general concern, we began to discuss with community groups how to address the problem. We soon recog- nized a common thread involving the need for leadership training and development as well as a related concern about youth opportunities.

With this information, we started to exchange ideas about how we could contribute to the communities’ need to refresh themselves peri- odically with new members and new leadership. As a result of this dis- cussion, over the past four years we developed a summer youth work- shop program, community research fellowship program, and recently agreed to sponsor again the Southern Appalachian Leadership Train- ing Program (SALT).

The common aspect of all of these programs is that people from community groups involved in social struggles come to Highlander to learn with each other about the struggles of their own and similar com- munities. In the research fellowship program, they are able to develop specific skills needed by their home community group. In the youth and SALT programs, they are able to develop their leadership and educa-

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tional skills. The youth participants also represent an opportunity to develop new networks and to expand existing ones. In the four years of these efforts, we have had over 63 participants from 25 different communities and 11 southern and border states.

Working “With, ”Not “For” Let’s return now to the question: “What does Highlander do for com-

munities?” As the examples show, we try primarily to assist communi- ties in the development of their own agendas. Through putting them in contact with other organizations facing similar problems but with more history, we seek to demonstrate that something can be done to address the critical problems facing them. The group concerned about the bill in the legislature knew much more than we did about their is- sues and about the defects of the bill. We were in a position to assist them in quickly establishing contact with many other groups with similar concerns and providing a neutral space for them to meet and to get to know one another better. We had no further role past helping to plan and facilitate the meeting. Yet the ad hoc coalition that grew out of that meeting was strong enough to continue and win a major victo- ry in the legislature.

The many groups seeking information about how to fight toxic wastes today today have a vast resource of other experienced community groups as well as state and national coalitions. Our role can be to help them gain access to this large pool of information and learn how to develop their own approach to finding a solution to their problems. Perhaps Highlander’s role can be best pictured by considering what

we are doing in community leadership development and education. No one community came to us and suggested a summer youth program or a community research fellowship program. Yet the impact of many different conversations convinced us that this was the best response to the issues raised by those community groups. The participation of these groups has demonstrated many exciting and new ways for communi- ties to relate to Highlander and to work with each other. Over the years we see increased diversity in the groups that send representatives to these activities. Participants come from deep south communities, Appalachian communities, Native-American tribes and communities and some non- southern communities as well. This participation further enriches High- lander’s own contribution to all those involved in our work.

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This diversity is brought directly to bear on the continued shaping of our programs and their relationships to the community groups. The design of each program is shared between Highlander and the spon- soring groups. They, together with the representative they choose to send to Highlander, plan what the program will provide and how the activities will be carried out. Of course, we continue a process of review and reflection with the community groups on the significance of the program and its meaningfulness to the community’s work. This process picks up any weaknesses and shortcomings at any given point, and seeks to strengthen the overall approach for the next group of community representatives. In conclusion, we see Highlander as a joining together with commu-

nities from different walks of life and different areas to create some- thing new. We very much see this as a search and exploration activity in partnership with the community groups most affected by the problem. What is developed from this process is very much in tune with each group’s approach and strategy towards change. They are in turn able to share the lessons learned with the broad network involved in High- lander’s work, as well as with each of the other networks open to them.