Tribute to Fred Goff from DataCenter on Vimeo.

Tribute to Zoia Horn from DataCenter on Vimeo.

“This is the first legislation in the United States to give basic rights and protections to domestic workers and will cover New York’s 200,000 domestic workers, including nannies, elderly caregivers and housekeepers. The new law requires that private employers provide overtime pay for domestic workers, one day off a week, three days paid leave annually after one year and inclusion in disability benefits laws regardless of immigration status. Similar measures are being considered in California and Colorado.

This victory demonstrates the crucial role that research plays in organizing, at the grassroots level, for broad policy change. In 2004, the Domestic Workers United in partnership with DataCenter published Home is Where the Work Is: Inside New York’s Domestic Work Industry. This seminal study helped pave the way for the bill’s passage and continues to be one of the most authoritative sources of data on this largely invisible and vulnerable workforce. The study also showed how domestic workers can use their own experiential data and be recognized as genuine policymaking experts, heralding a change in the domestic industry as a whole.

Non Profit Day 2010, August 31, San Francisco, CA
Executive Director Miho Kim will open for the keynote speaker and share her reflections about DataCenter’s Shared Leadership Model during the plenary panel.
Read it here: Reflections On Shared Leadership (pdf)

Environmental Justice Research Training Academy, September 11 & 12, DataCenter
This year’s EJ trainings will be led by our amazing interns Omonigho Oiyemhonlan and Nicholas Cragoe.  If you received an invitation to attend this training, reserve your spot as space is limited.  It’s going to be a great training!

Democratizing Research: How to Use Participatory Research to Tap the Existing Knowledge in Your Community, September 24, 9:30am-12:30pm, CompassPoint SF

ReGeneration! Research Legacies Moving Forward, Dunsmuir-Hellman Estate, November 10, Oakland, CA

written for the Grantmakers for Effective Organizing Conference in Pittsburgh,  April 2010

Miho spoke about Shared Leadership at Compasspoint’s Nonprofit Day, August 2010. She also opened the conference with a speech about Stories, Culture and Social Change.

When it comes to the topic of shared leadership, DataCenter had typically responded to small- to mid-size non-profit organizations eager to learn about our experiences in trying to promote a sustainable organizational culture of collaboration over competition, dialog over debate, and “power-with,” over “power-over.” In most cases, callers had observed a fair amount of unhealthy, challenging power dynamics play out in the organization, and felt the urgency to ‘really do something about it this time.’

But it’s not just a desire to problem-solve that draws the emerging post-boomer generation of non-profit leaders like the X-ers (like myself) and Millenials to Shared Leadership. A participant in a small group at a workshop I recently facilitated hit it on the nail when she exclaimed, “the younger leaders seem to have a whole different set of values – whether they be about work, or lifestyle–and the E.D. position the way it’s handed down to them is simply not what they want–at all!” Every one else was fervently nodding. At that point, I knew the one thing that brought us together: whether through our research inquiry, or being in the field, we shared a burning desire to know why that is –and what we can all do about it.

In the case of DataCenter, it took literally the hemorrhaging of our organizational leadership, from the Co-Directors up through the Board of Directors in its entirety, to incentivize a rather radical structural shift to a Shared Leadership Model. This organizational ‘rupturing’ in a way cracked open the space to take what was always a highly regarded “value” at the DataCenter into an actual “structure.” But it was also a necessary shift in order for the ‘leadership position’ to be an option for any of the remaining staff – and we knew somehow, it had to be filled. Our then-Interim Executive Director would sigh and say, “unbelievable…here you have an amazing leadership opportunity, and none of you want to take it. What is going on?”

In order to learn how to promote successful executive directorship at DataCenter, our co-founder, Fred Goff, conducted more than 20 interviews for the now available Executive Director position. Concerns the staff associated with the E.D. position reaffirmed the findings from those interviews. For example:

• the loneliness of the position, exacerbated by thanklessness of the job;

• fractured nature of the job – having to juggle so much– and having to remain composed and graceful at the same time;

• constantly dealing with a crisis, and being expected to resolve them by every one else.

We created Shared leadership so as to address all three of these challenges, not solely because they themselves were problematic, but because we felt they interfered with the ability of our organization to be an effective vehicle to embody values of collaborative leadership, democratic participation, and staffing sustainability, while promoting them through our program work.

The Shared Leadership that works for your organization should start with the following guiding questions: 1) what are our values and 2) how do they relate to the organization, and lastly, 3) what needs to be in place to help create them, and maintain them.

Your organization needs to articulate 1) Values & Principles, 2) systems and structure and 3) practice that to them help uphold the values and turn them from mere ‘idea’s into a ‘thing’ that trumps all pre-established ‘norms’ and dominant convention.

There was a keen interest in my small group to explore the question of whether equal pay, a commonly suggested practice of Shared Leadership, was really feasible. “I mean, does it really work?” asked a participant with a touch of skepticism. My answer would have to be, it depends. I would like to push back and suggest that we ask the question a different way. Pay Equity made sense to DataCenter, primarily because we wanted to reflect our belief that ALL knowledge (experiential to intellectual), ALL skills (financial projections to organizing), and ALL leadership styles – including one as obscure as “good followership”–as equally valuable to our collective ability to execute our mission. I think in a few years, we may be in a different place, where we no longer need Pay Equity to demonstrate DataCenter’s core belief for whatever reason. For example, Asian Women’s Shelter in San Francisco has its own way of honoring their belief that all experiential and intellectual knowledge are equally valuable among their staff body that reflect both their constituents and non-constituents. Organizations are living beings, and each uniquely lends to expressing similar values in different ways. The important thing is, that it’s not a rule for those who have to live by it, but rather, an opportunity for ideological expression they’re grateful to take.

One way to approach this question may be to ask “if we institute equal pay, what existing impediment to fostering collective leadership would it address/resolve?”, rather than “does pay equity work?” Alternatively, one can ask, “what specific organizational value would this help manifest? Is this the best way to manifest that value, or is there another (perhaps more practical or culturally-appropriate) option?” The framing of the conversation should always be, “what is our value and how do we make it happen?” Pay equity, in other words, is a means to that goal–rather than an end in itself, or a static ‘product’ that gets placed on the moral pedestal of the organization, isolated from all others.

Also, anything with a strong ‘practice’ component means that, by nature, any tool must be nimble and adaptable. Policymaking is one possible route, but once formally prescribed, it can sometimes be a setback when circumstances change (and boy, do they). What needs to be clearly articulated and adhered to as “the law of the land” is the organization’s own set of values. At DataCenter, we have a Shared Leadership “Constitution” and it’s not a document with Preambles and Articles. It’s a quilt: each peice representing a one-word value we carefully selected together. Aside from the Secretary of State and the IRS, this quilt determines for us how we run and steward our vehicle for change in service of our mission. It will be modified over time to fit the changing context in which we operate.

This is the sort of topic that benefits from staff-wide (if not organizational-wide) engagement. The bigger picture rules that if not proactively defined, often start looking mightily preferential to efficiency, profitability and quantifiable outcomes even if nobody has named them as such. Incidentally, these qualities are also those unconditionally prized in the corporate sector from which we love to set ourselves apart in the name of public interest and social change. (Funny how that happens.)

It’s amazing how enriching the conversations can be. Conversation can also be a tremendous catalyst of shared sense of investment and ownership across the board. The process, if done with intentional facilitation, yields big ‘sustainability’  dividends time and again.

“To my surprise, Shared Leadership in fact mean more structure, not less,” observed a participant, and that cannot be more true.Facilitative leadership is one of the qualities we name as a leadership quality at DataCenter that helps sustain Shared Leadership. It may be considered perhaps more critical than my (arguably) dashing charisma as Executive Director. This is precisely because the space for growth of each and all persons’ leadership (however way they come) are recognized as assets to organizational strength. And this is the proudest outcome of a leaderful organization.

For more on Shared Leadership at DataCenter, check out, our Mission, Vision and Values.

DataCenter is pleased to announce the release of our new publication, Research Justice in a New Era: DataCenter’s 5-year strategic priorities for 2010-2014 (pdf)! This strategic planning process came at a time of major transitions in our society and our world, and also a time of transition for DataCenter, as Co-founder Fred Goff retires after more than 30 years of leadership and service to the organization and the social justice movement (see our blog on Founder Transition here).

We updated the Mission Statement, our tagline, and our “look” – and above all, we are particularly excited to share with you our graphic rendition of our vision and strategy for helping communities build legitimacy behind their voice through use of strategic research — after all, people who have first-hand experiences have the expertise to craft solutions that last! We look forward to your feedback.

Also available:
-DataCenter 2009 Annual Report (pdf) is here!
-New Blog: “ReGeneration: Research Legacies Moving Forward,” Celebrating the Legacy of DataCenter Co-Founder, Fred Goff and his Lifetime of Service to Social Justice Research

DataCenter has been working with Storytelling and Organizing Project (STOP), Harm Free Zone, Visions to Peace Project, and Revolution Starts at Home to develop a track at this year’s Allied Media Conference in Detroit (June 18-20, 2010).  The Creating Safe Communities track explores how to use media to develop and implement transformative anti-violence initiatives in your community.   It has a special focus on using storytelling as a tool for organizing against interpersonal violence.  The track is designed to highlight our collective responses to violence, and showcase our creative resources for self-determination, liberation, and community accountability.  Creating Safe Communities provides a space for artists, organizers and media makers involved in movements for transformative justice, community-based approaches to violence, and prison industrial complex abolition to share media-related skills and tools, as well as lessons learned in their work.  All sessions in this track reflect the belief that safety is created through personal and social transformation, not criminalization and imprisonment.  They also reflect a commitment to inter-generational organizing.   For more information, visit the Allied Media Conference website:  http://www.alliedmediaconference.org/.  And stay tuned!  We will stay in Detroit for the USSF and are planning some good stuff there too.

February 26th, 2010
University of California, Berkeley

DataCenter co-facilitated a workshop on “Decolonizing Research” with Pacific Institute’s Community Strategies Program at the Decolonizing the University Conference.  Hosted at Berkeley, the conference gathered hundreds of students from across the UC and CSU university systems to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Third World Strike that led to the formation of Ethnic Studies Departments at UC Berkeley, San Francisco State, and other campuses.   Miho Kim co-led the workshop with Program Co-Director Catalina Garzón. Fifteen students attended the interactive workshop, which focused on discussing the historical treatment of low-income and communities of color as “research subjects” and on re-imagining the role of researchers in documenting community-generated knowledge to support empowerment and social change.

The motto “be the change you want to see in the world” has manifested in DataCenter’s Shared Leadership Model since 2006.  With a Design Team comprised of representatives from Bay Area social justice organizations, we convened a monthly three part-series of dialog with more than thirty other organizations to document our diverse experiences – both successes and challenges – exploring alternatives to a top-down leadership structure as a social justice movement.  We listened to each other and exchanged tools and resources, as well as wisdom.  The knowledge capture using participatory methodologies imparted insights appreciated by grantmakers, capacity-builders, and organizers alike.  Check out the powerpoint summary of this experience, recently presented at the brownbag hosted by Learning Leadership Community – the funder of the series – available on our websites!

For more information and resources, visit the Leadership Learning Community Bay Area Learning Circle wiki at: http://leadershiplearning.pbworks.com/BayArea_10212009

Download powerpoint summary pdf format

The ‘First Wednesdays’ Series

First Wednesdays, 4pm-7pm, April-June 2009

April 01, 2009
‘Power’ and Leadership Principles & Values
@ The Foundation Center-San Francisco

May 06, 2009
Sustainable Systems and Structures
@ Madison Park Community Room
100 9th Street, Oakland, CA
across from Lake Merritt BART

June 03, 2009
Building a Sustainable Accountability System
@ The Foundation Center-San Francisco
312 Sutter Street, Suite 606, San Francisco directions

Please RSVP as space is limited! to miho althea kim, DataCenter miho@datacenter.org or (510) 835-4692 ext. 302.

Have you tried to or dreamed about how to effectively foster social justice values in the internal practices of your organization? Conflicted with challenging dynamics of power and authority that hinders leadership development of not only constituents, but staff themselves?

If you want to engage in stimulating dialog and exchange wisdom with other progressive and social justice non-profit organizations in the Bay Area, to deepen both the theory and practice of multicultural, values-based leadership development, come join us! We hope to create a space for a facilitated participatory program where people involved in numerous capacities in the organization can walk away with concrete, practical tools & ideas to be positive and effective agents for social justice inside their workplaces and out…

In the first part of the series on April 1st, we will begin generating values and principles of shared leadership and exploring the realities and possibilities of power and leadership in our organizations. We’ll move through small and large group discussions, share tools to frame our thinking, and document our learnings together toward a deeper and broader understanding of how we can put our principles into practice.

Attendance is FREE; however, due to limited capacity, RSVP is requested.
Refreshments will be served, but feel free to bring your own food!

Co-presenters: Patricia St. Onge of Seven Generations Consulting, with
DataCenter, brought to you by the First Wednesday Series Planning Committee
(group of local non profit organizations interested to share their work on values-based
organizational culture, policies, and practices)

The First Wednesday Series is a part of DataCenter’s commitment to long-term cultivation of a circle of social justice non-profits that are exploring alternatives to hierarchy in different forms. We are creating an open, participatory venue to examine collaborative leadership structures. The First Wednesday Series Planning Committee believes the documentation and sharing of alternate models of leadership to advance social justice offer a significant tool to the rest of the field and the broader social justice movement.

The First Wednesday Series is funded by the Leadership Learning Community Seed Fund, with space generously provided by the Foundation Center of San Francisco for two out of three of the convenings.