Steven Goings here (also known as Quazar) with our first ever NCBI MC Blog Post!

As the semi-new (8 months) chapter administrator, I come to NCBI via my other relationships in the local community.  Most specifically, AmeriCorps, the Service Learning Institute, the NAACP and the Monterey Peace and Justice Center.  What excites me most about the Monterey County Chapter of the National Coalition Building Institute is its potential both as a leadership building and coalition building organization.  As a leadership organization, we have long been established in a number of our local high schools developing young leaders through our annual Training of Trainers program at the start of each school year and our support for the NCBI clubs at Seaside, Carmel, Marina and Palma High Schools (among others).

We are now poised to reestablish ourselves within the heart of  various communities as well.  You may notice that we have this nifty new website and blog.  Now we can share interesting related material from the web such as this quick thinking response to racist abuse by Soccer Star Dani Alves:

As we develop the website, one of our main goals is to post existing and develop new resource guides that cater to particular communities.  Thanks to the efforts of CSU Monterey Bay’s Admission Office, we have a good start on African American and Hispanic/Latin@ resources and thanks to CSUMB’s Otter Cross Cultural Center and the Safe Zone Committee we also have access to resources for the LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer) community.

In addition to sharing, posting, and developing cultural resource guides, we are also looking into expanding our Board of Directors and are looking for talented and dedicated board members with strong roots in a variety of sectors of our community including, education, government, faith communities, civil rights, labor, law enforcement, service organizations, and the peace community.

Speaking of the peace community, I just left the 10 year anniversary celebration of the Peace Resource Center in Seaside.  I was fortunate to have served for a year as its president in  2011.  Thanks to the generosity of their Board of Directors, I was able to write an insert their last Quarterly Fundraising letter introducing NCBI Monterey County and pledging that they will see much more of us in the near future.

And speaking of anniversaries, NCBI Monterey County is in the planning stages of our 20th anniversary celebration to coincide with NCBI International’s 30th anniversary celebration.  I can’t wait to discover what we come up with and hope that many of you will join us when we have a time, place, and event set.

In the meantime, we thank you for staying in the fight to end discrimination of every kind, for continuing to promote diversity, and for remaining committed to the healing of all those who have been hurt by oppression.

–Steven Goings & Quazar

http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001tLybxbyzBlzVOrIHuWoU10ZEyzCh9gipKFgWp0ezBii-iaa6HuMgHQoPVvXCfHD5aQ_Zt