Isaiah

Leadership development, training and capacity building is the core strategy ofisaiah to advance public campaigns to shift public opinion and toadvance policies for racial and economic justice in Minnesota. Programs to develop the capacity and leadership of community-rooted institutions lead to the creation of distinct coalitions and programs such as the muslim coalition of Isaiah; kids count on us (a coalition of over 500 childcare centers); Isaiah leadership chapters in small towns and regional centers across central and southern Minnesota; the young adult coalition; and the barbershop and black congregations cooperative.civic engagement and public campaigns:isaiah provides strategic capacities for the members and coalitionsconnected to Isaiah in order to effectively do public campaigns definedby the members of the organization. Isaiah develops policy andresearch, strategic communications, digital and online organizingcapacity, data tracking and tools for scaled civic engagement. Thestrategic capacities of the organization are deployed in the service of continued public development of grassroots leadership for racial and economic justice in minnesotamidwest collaborative for training and capacity building: Isaiah acts as a home for a midwest organizing training andcapacity-building program. Isaiah, along with organizations in mo, oh,mi, wi and in, have built a shared organizing training program todevelop grassroots leaders, organizing staff and operations staff tobuild powerful organizing organizations in states across the midwest.in addition to training, this project works to build strategiccapacities such as shifting public narrative and strategiccommunications, policy research and campaign development and sharedresearch and development to make community-based organizations morepowerful and effective. National partners include faith in action, seiu and community change.muslim coalition of Isaiah and ending islamophobia:the muslim coalition of Isaiah is a network of 24 mosques and muslimorganizations that work collectively to advance muslim publicleadership, change the narrative about muslims in Minnesota and worktoward ensuring civil rights for muslims in Minnesota. Isaiah supportsthe steering team and leadership teams of the muslim coalition throughtraining, capacity building, strategic communications, policydevelopment and strategic campaignskids count on us campaign and childcare:kids count on us is a coalition of 512 community-based childcare centers that serve low income families across Minnesota. Kcou is led by a steering committee of early childhood educators and workers, parents, and childcare center directors and owners. Isaiah supports the kcoucampaign through training and capacity-building, strategiccommunications and researching and developing policy campaigns toincrease support for affordable childcare for low and middle incomefamilies. Staff of kcou also work with childcare centers to ensure thatstate regulatory agencies are supporting culturally competent,community-run, locally owned childcare centers.barbershop and black congregations collaborative:the bbcc is a coalition of black owned barbershops and congregations inbrooklyn park, brooklyn center, and north minneapolisworking to build the public voice and engagement of african americanand african immigrants. Bbcc facilitates regular trainings, publicforums, public education and civic engagement through barbershops andcongregations. Bbcc is working collectively on tenants' rights,affordable housing, restoring the vote for formerly incarcerated people, transforming public safety, and criminal justice reform.building an inclusive economy:a shared project across Isaiah is to build an economy that works forall of Minnesota's families. Isaiah is working to advance paid familyand medical leave, affordable childcare, expanding public health careand affordable housing at the state level. Isaiah conducts scaledpublic education for its members on these issues, creates communityconversations, engages with policy makers, trains members to engagewith local press and media, participates in coalitions with partnerorganizations and creates ongoing opportunities for Isaiah members tohave a public voices on these issues at the state, regional and locallevel.100% clean energy and addressing climate change:isaiah is a core member of a state-wide campaign to get Minnesota to100% clean and renewable energy. Isaiah has launched a state-widepublic education drive to about climate change and what minnesotans cando together to move toward being a 100% clean energy state. This includes engaging policy-makers at the state level as well as workingwith local leadership teams on local solutions and actions.democracy campaignthe democracy campaign is a state by state project aimed at protecting and expanding key democratic freedoms and institutions. Isaiah is the Minnesota host for this project. The goals of the project are to pass legislative reforms in 2023 that protect and strengthen democracy, such as automatic voter registration, restoring the right to vote to people with felonies, modernizing election equipment, pre-registration of 16- and 17-year-olds, additionally, we aim to build public and decision-maker support for democracy. This is a massive and long-term goal, which includes (a) shaping public opinion through strategic communications; (b) giving more people first-hand experience of democracy in action through participation in public life; and (c) connecting democracy in the public eye to more tangible changes like living wages, police accountability, and housing security.