Community Voices Heard (CVH) is a member-led multi-racial organization, principally women of color and low-income families in New York State that builds power to secure social, economic and racial justice for all.  They accomplish this through grassroots organizing, leadership development, policy changes, and creating new models of direct democracy.

Join us to learn how CVH builds leadership development and collective power towards broader goals of government transparency and social justice. We'll explore case studies around three impact issues: welfare policy reform, public housing reform, and participatory budgeting. We'll also learn what it looks like to fund this work. Attendees will learn how funding community engagement can fit into a broader social change grantmaking strategy. This is not to be missed!

Speakers:

• Sondra Youdelman, Executive Director, Community Voices Heard

Sondra has been at CVH since 2000 and was named the organization’s Executive Director in March 2007; she was previously CVH’s Director of Public Policy and Research. Sondra has worked both in the United States and abroad to achieve social and economic justice through organizing. She has over 15 years experience as an organizer and activist with grassroots groups including farm workers, Native Americans, public housing residents, and low-income workers in the United States, and abroad for various populations throughout Latin America and in several African countries. She obtained a Master’s Degree in Public and International Affairs from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School in order to gain policy analysis tools to bring back to the grassroots. She also has a BA in American Studies focusing on Oppression and Revolution from Wesleyan University.

• Kevin Ryan, Program Director, New York Foundation