Building Power for Everyday New Yorkers:
Lessons from the Interfaith Civic Leadership Academy
By Naureen Akhter
Former ICLA Fellow, and Deputy District Director for U.S. Congresswoman Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez
I joined the first cohort of the ICLA as a complete novice, just beginning to dabble in organizing and advocacy — attending community meetings, brainstorming with community members about ways to build power, and establishing relationships with activists. Over the course of the intensive workshop series, I learned about organizing ecosystems, frameworks, and best practices. All this while I ran for and won a seat on my local Community Education Council, supported Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s successful campaign for congress, and helped establish a new community group that would become a veritable force in combating Islamophobia in our local community.
The knowledge and skills I gained as an ICLA fellow served me immensely in my role as Organizing Director for the Ocasio2018 General Election Campaign. Prior to the ICLA, I wasn’t well versed in power mapping. I had little understanding of who the power brokers were in our political landscape. I learned how deeply embedded monied interests were in policies that defined our day to day life. That meant, of course, that I learned about the outsized influence the real estate industry had in our government — how corporate interests trump those of everyday New Yorkers. Yet I also learned how everyday people push back against oppressive, exploitative practices. I learned how community leaders identified the causes of their problems, how they used power mapping to determine who could most directly influence the outcome of their situation, and how they organized long term sustained actions in their communities to bring about the necessary changes in their circumstances.
These basic organizing principles have helped me to build coalitions as a community activist, and they help me now in my role as Deputy District Director for Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez. Working for a legislator, I regularly meet with community members as they come to our office with their issues. My training in the ICLA has helped me navigate their challenges, identifying the appropriate stakeholders to engage, and steps to take to offer potential solutions. And I now get to “pay it forward” by sharing these lessons with young people in our community, who are embarking on their own journeys of community empowerment. As the Interfaith Center of New York begins training the third cohort of ICLA fellows, I can’t wait to see the change makers and community leaders that will emerge.
