GRANITE STATE ORGANIZING PROJECT

A coalition of religious, community and labor organizations addressing the issues of affordable housing,
jobs, access to health care, quality education and immigrant and refugee rights.

Manchester mourns the loss of a leader . . .
Reflections on the life of Mr. Willie Miles

I met Mr. Willie in the Spring of 2011. I was working with Karen Juall, the teacher of an early childhood literacy program based in Elmwood Gardens to do some leadership training for parents in Elmwood. She told me there was someone I had to meet, someone who had been working to improve the community for many years, someone she called Mr. Willie.

Mr. Willie was a natural organizer. He had relationships with nearly every household in this community of over 200 families. He and I hit it off immediately and began working together to educate and inform residents of their rights as tenants of public housing, to fight for more services and better police protection for the community and to encourage residents to take action on their own behalf. We developed an Elmwood Gardens Leadership group, made up of residents who had been through an eight session GSOP designed leadership training series. One of the projects the leadership group came up with was community walks. For two years, members of the leadership would . . . read more »

The Granite State Organizing Project is the largest grassroots community organization in New Hampshire. We are comprised of 29 religious, community, and labor organizations, representing 40,000 New Hampshire families. Guided by faith and democratic values, we mobilize our many voices on issue oriented actions, building strong relationships and stronger communities.

Learn more about GSOP: View our slide show presentation (PDF)

2014 MICAH Dinner