Mid-South Peace & Justice Center
Mid-South Peace & Justice Center, founded on January 15, 1982, the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit community based organization located in Memphis, Tennessee, that is dedicated to educating, organizing, and mobilizing their community to increase social, economic, racial and environmental justice. The organization is trying to further the work of past peacemakers, such as Dr. King, by creating change through nonviolent action.
The Mid-South Peace and Justice Center is a organizing, strategy, and action center that educates and trains new community leaders to drive campaigns for racial, economic, environmental and social justice. We work to build the capacity of disenfranchised communities directly affected by injustice to organize movements that are fundamentally shifting power and dismantling oppression.
Founded in 1982, our mission is to engage, organize, and mobilize communities to realize social justice through nonviolent action. We are putting the power to correct injustice in the hands of those directly affected by it.
The Problem: There is an imbalance of power that tips toward those in society’s upper classes. This inequity is manifested in a variety of ways—from the lack of real community issues being addressed by those in power to the lack of a voice for our communities in the few conversations about these issues.
The Solution: Build a movement, led by people directly affected by injustice, that can shift power from corporate boardrooms to our communities. The first step in realizing this goal is to build the infrastructure for a broader movement to be constructed upon. As of now, we are training the organizers and building the alliances that will move our agenda. The next step is showing our communities that they have the power to create change. Our communities must take hold of this power through grassroots community organizing campaigns.
Our Objectives: Engage Communities in Building Power: Grassroots leadership development and organizer training to rebuild the capacity of low income and communities of color to organize for peace, justice, and power Organize for Grassroots Change: Consistent, coordinated, and supported organizing that lifts up and brings together the grassroots voices of the community to work toward a vision of liberation and social justice Mobilize Our Power for Justice: Grassroots, issue-based organizing campaigns on the local, state, and federal level based on the needs identified by our community and built based on their collective, organized power
Who we are: We are a multi-issue, cross-constituency, and membership-based organization working to fulfill our mission to educate, organize, and mobilize communities to realize social justice through nonviolent action. We work to engage and train new community leaders to organize campaigns for racial, economic, environmental, and social justice. Current programs serve the diverse needs of impoverished communities and address the root causes of injustice in Memphis and the Mid-South. We believe the most effective response to the challenge of violence and discrimination is to address the interrelated causes of injustice, such as poverty, racism, and unequal access to basic human resources. We have worked throughout our history to take such action on issues identified as important by our community.
We do our work through two program focuses: Training and Education: We seek to rebuild the capacity of communities and grassroots leaders to organize for positive change by providing training, popular education, and technical assistance to individuals, organizations, and communities working to address issues of social justice.
Grassroots Organizing: We organize individuals and communities to lead campaigns of economic, racial, environmental, and social justice. In 2010, the work focused on issues of jobs, housing, criminal justice reform, homelessness, the protection of civil liberties, and the ending of U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Training and Education: Grassroots Organizers Training for Power (G.O.T. Power): Training individuals and organizations in the skills of community organizing and developing grassroots leaders to make positive change in their communities. This is accomplished through the community organizer training program, ongoing support and development of graduates, and as acting as a training resource for the larger community.
G.O.T. Poder :: G.O.T. Power translated and facilitated in Spanish
Gandhi-King Conference on Peacemaking, 7th annual conference: A three-day conference bringing together modern visionaries on nonviolence and social change with community leaders, activists, academics and organizers to train, learn, plan and organize to create a culture of liberation and justice for all.
Grassroots Organizing Homeless Organizing for Power and Equality (HOPE): Worked with those who are experiencing homelessness to organize positive community action in and around issues connected with housing and police harassment, as well as local policy concerns of the unsheltered.
JustPeace MEMPHIS - Alternatives to Incarceration & Criminal Justice Reform: Organized, educated, and lobbied the public and elected officials about the positive benefits of progressive reforms to our local criminal justice system.
Issues First - Electoral Organizing: Through community engagement, candidate education, and promotion of accountability in banks and predatory lenders who own blighted properties, we sought to link the social problems of homelessness, affordable housing, poverty, and privilege with the issues of predatory lending, home foreclosure, and blight.
Immigration Reform: Worked in coordination with local, state, and national organizations to mobilize our community in support of comprehensive immigration reform.
End the Afghan and Iraq Wars: Organized ongoing protest and advocacy actions in opposition to the continued US military presence in Afghanistan and Iraq.