Marshall Ganz

Marshall  Ganz grew up in Bakersfield, California, where his father was a Rabbi and his mother, a teacher. He entered Harvard College in the fall of 1960 but left a year before completing his studies to volunteer in the 1964 Mississippi Summer Project. He became a field secretary with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, discovered a vocation for organizing and, in the fall of 1965, joined Cesar Chavez in his effort to unionize farm workers. During 16 years with the United Farm Workers he learned union, community, issue and political organizing, became Organizing Director, and was elected to the national executive board on which he served for 8 years.

After leaving the UFW in 1981, he turned his organizing skills to the broader community. He designed organizing programs with union, electoral, issue, and community groups; formed an institute to recruit, train and develop organizers; and researched causes of decline in civic engagement. Working with mayoral, Congressional, Senate, and Presidential campaigns he developed new techniques for mobilizing citizen participation.

Realizing that techniques alone could not meet this challenge – and that he needed to understand it at a deeper level  – in 1991 he returned to Harvard College after a 28 year “leave of absence”, completed undergraduate work in modern American history and government, and graduated magna cum laude in June 1992. He continued his studies at the Kennedy School of Government, where he earned an MPA in June 1993 and began to teach organizing. He joined the faculty in 2000 upon completing his Ph.D. in sociology at Harvard.  Along with teaching graduate and undergraduate students organizing practice, he designed practitioner training programs for community based organizations in Israel, Argentina, and diverse US venues including unions, community development corporations, and synagogues. He researches leadership, organization, and strategy in social movements, civic associations, and unions and their role in public life and has published in the American Prospect, American Journal of Sociology, American Political Science Review, Social Science and History Journal and elsewhere. His first book, “Why David Sometimes Wins: leadership, organization and strategy in the unionization of California agriculture” will be published in the fall of 2008. He currently serves as a Lecturer in Public Policy at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

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David Hunt

In 1996, David Hunt founded David Hunt and Associates to serve as an institution dedicated to citizen empowerment and community development.  This institute has a diverse and eclectic client list ranging from National and local foundations.

Hunt has been trained in many small and large group facilitation methods which serve him well as a nationally sought after speaker, facilitator, trainer, planner, thinker, community and organization builder. Much of his research, training and methodology development were born during his three-year, 1995 – 1997, W.K. Kellogg Foundation National Leadership Fellowship. He uses a wide variety of techniques and tools including storytelling to create sacred space where the voices and visions of all that are gathered can be shared and heard.

Prior to starting David Hunt and Associates, Hunt served for eight years, 1988 -1995, as the executive director of the Chicago Rehab Network, a 25-year-old coalition organization of Chicago's community development corporations dedicated to Community Development without Displacement.  During his tenure, Hunt doubled the agency's budget, quadrupled its staff and expanded its membership.  A $2 million dollar single-family loan fund was developed for its members, the Housing Development Training Institute was launched, and the nation's first Masters Degree Program for nonprofit developers of affordable housing designed for and by community developers from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Even more significantly, under Hunt's leadership, the Rehab Network led a very successful, broad-based, citywide campaign, known as the Affordable Housing and Community Jobs Campaign, which resulted in the city of Chicago targeting $750,000,000 to low-income housing development. His 20 years’ experience in the community development and citizen empowerment field gives him a special interest in working with community based organizations and community organizers.

Since 1998 Hunt has served as one of four principal trainers of the Midwest Academy, one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious organizing for social change training institutions.

From December 2002 to January 2005, Hunt took a leave of absence from his company to serve as the national organizing director for USAction, a national progressive organizing institution with thirty-six member organizations in 24 states. His job included developing and implementing a campaign to defeat the health care bill pushed by the major drug makers and HMO’s. In January of this year, he took on the role of developing USAction Education Fund’s (USAEF) non partisan voter registration and Get Out The Vote program. Though the great work of USAEF partners in sixteen states, USAEF registered over 600,000 people. It was the second largest voter registration program in the nation’s history.

Hunt is also the founder of the Community Building Storytelling Project, a project designed to reintroduce storytelling into American culture as a tool to build community and heal America.

Hunt served on a wide variety of volunteer boards including the advisory committee of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago, and as a member of the board of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, and the National Storytelling Association.

Hunt grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and attended Howard University in Washington D.C. and now resides in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Tracey Howard

Ms. Tracey Howard is a resident of Elizabeth New Jersey and works as the Executive Assistant to Krishna Garlic at Brand New Day Inc. Tracey is no stranger to struggle, perseverance and determination as a single mother raising six children in the inner city. While working full time, Tracey also returned to school as an older, more mature student to complete her college degree. She has completed her course work and will graduate from the Ashworth University with a degree in Criminal Justice. Tracey’s life long dream has been to work with the criminal population, particularly juveniles and help them to make better choices upon release. This desire and passion to change lives has motivated her to continue with her formal education and pursue a Masters in Social Work.

As a longtime resident of urban neighborhoods, Tracey has always been an active volunteer on the PTA, Neighborhood Associations, attends community meetings and volunteers as a troop leader with the girl scouts. It was this vigor for community service that made Brand New Day Inc offer Tracey a job with the company, where she could apply her passion and community dedication.

In her role at Brand New Day Inc, Tracey serves as Team Leader for the local Advocacy team, which meets with local and state elected officials and makes recommendations in favor or against housing legislation. In addition, Tracey sits on the Citywide Juneteenth Committee which commemorates the freedom of African Americans from slavery and bondage. She also sits on the E’Port Pride Day committee which facilitates a local parade and community festival to encourage community interaction and foster neighborhood pride.

Penny Meredith

Penny Meredith has been employed at Brand New Day Inc since 2001. She was initially hired as the Community Organizer and soon built a full service line of business for the organization, Community Education & Organizing. As the Community Education Coordinator, she and her staff provides full comprehensive education services to include; financial literacy, homeownership and foreclosure prevention. Ms. Meredith often travels to churches, mosques and community centers throughout the State of NJ to facilitate workshops in the field. In addition, she and her staff are leading community organizing efforts in three urban communities; Elizabeth, Irvington and East Orange.

Ms. Meredith has the following training and certifications;

• Professional Certificate -- NeighborWorks® Center for Homeownership Education and Counseling (NCHEC)*.  Certified Homeownership educator.  The newly formed Center meets the nationwide homeownership education and counseling standards and offers national curriculum and certification.
• Certificate in Credit Counseling for Maximum Results*
• Certificate in Financial Fitness: Teaching Financial Management* Skills to help individuals and families develop sound money management habits
• Professional Certification NeighborWorks® Center for Homeownership Education and Counseling (NCHEC)*.   Post Purchase Educator
• Certificate in Compliance in State and Federal Regulations for Lending
• Certificate in Fundamentals in Community Organizing
• Certificate in Grassroots leadership development
• Certificate in Evaluation Strategies for Community Building
• Certificate in Counseling the Homeless and those At Risk of Becoming Homeless
• Certificate in Combating Predatory Lending
• Certificate in Principles of Community Building
• Certificate in Beginning to Intermediate Foreclosure Prevention
• Professional Certification NeighborWorks® Center for Homeownership Education and Counseling (NCHEC)*
• Certified in Foreclosure Loss Mitigation and Counseling

Ms. Meredith is the mother of three children, Amir, Arshad and Akil and shares her life with her husband Phillip Smith. She is an active member of the Elizabeth Branch NAACP, volunteers with the local Girl Scout troop and is a Mary Kay representative. 

Mike Reardon

Michael Reardon has over thirty years in community organizing and/or community development.  His accomplishments include participating as Co-Chair of the Organization of the Northwest (TON), an IAF community organization on the northwest side of Chicago, working as a community organizer for United Neighborhood Organizations (UNO) on the south side of Chicago, Small Business Development Counselor for North River Commission in Chicago, and later Executive Director.

Michael has spent sixteen years with Neighborhood Housing Services serving as Neighborhood Director of NHS of West Humboldt Park, NHS of Back of the Yards, Associate Director of Neighborhoods, and presently for the past five years, Neighborhood Director of NHS of Chicago Lawn and Gage Park.  During his past five years, NHS of Chicago Lawn and Gage Park has partnered with Greater Southwest Development Corporation, an economic development organization, and The Southwest Organizing Project (SWOP), an institutionally based community organization and member of United Power for Action and Justice, to address the housing issues that included predatory lending, foreclosures, and now the impact of sub prime lending on the health and well being of the neighborhood.

Susan Ritacca

Susan Ritacca is the Field Director for Action Now. She started as a community organizer with ACORN in 2006 and has worked on campaigns including anti-violence, balanced development, raising the living wage and minimum wage in Illinois, immigration reform and predatory lending.  Susan graduated from Northwestern University in 2005 with honors.

Amaad Rivera

Amaad Rivera,co-author of Foreclosed: State of the Dream 2008, directs UFE's National Racial Wealth Divide Program. His articles and publications have been featured in major media outlets such as the Washington Post, Black Agenda Report, National Public Radio, Democracy Now, Too Much, BET.com, numerous local radio stations, CSPAN and Boston Neighborhood Network News.

Before coming to United for a Fair Economy, Amaad served as AmeriCorps Program Officer for the Massachusetts Service Alliance., co-managing a portfolio of organizations dedicated to addressing issues of poverty, health care disparities, environmental disasters, education inequity, civic engagement, volunteerism and youth development.

Amaad serves on several boards, including GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Educators Network) and the Racial Imbalance Committee advising the MA Department of Education. He has bachelor's degrees in Marketing, Psychology and Information Technology from Bentley College, and is currently completing his graduate studies in Education, with a concentration in Social Justice, at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Advisory Group

• Carmen Amigon, Community HousingWorks
• Melvyn Colon, NeighborWorks® America
• Alma Counverthie, Lawrence CommunityWorks, Inc.
• Jan Forte, UNHS NeighborWorks HomeOwnership Center
• Brian Greenan, Neighborhood Housing Services of Baltimore, Inc.
• David Haiman, Movement Matters
• Reemberto Rodriguez, NeighborWorks® America
• Shanna Sassoon, New Orleans Neighborhood Housing Services
• David Thibault-Munoz, Twin Cities CDC
• Marta Vizueta, Movement Matters

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