THE
CORNERSTONE
PROJECT
Organizing can be the most beautiful thing. It’s also hard.
We help groups create the strategies, structures and culture that grow movements and win campaigns.
WE HELP YOU BUILD TRANSFORMATIVE ORGANIZATIONS.
We bring our experience in labor, student and community organizing over the last two decades to support groups and individuals at all stages of organizing.
Our programs, which can be provided virtually or (if you are in the DMV area) in person, include:
CUSTOM TRAININGS
ONE-TIME CONSULTATIONS
CAMPAIGN SUPPORT
All of our programming is free, but donations are appreciated. Whether you are starting something from scratch or are in the thick of a campaign and need strategic input, we are here to support you!
WE provide expertise in labor, student and community campaigning in the following areas:
Issue Selection – How to select an issue that is winnable, widely felt and builds power.
Power Mapping – How to identify supporters, allies, and targets.
Ladder of escalation – How to structure your campaign so that it builds pressure on your targets and turns up the heat.
Campaign goals – How to set realistic goals and timelines based on your group’s capacity and vision.
Base building and leadership development – How to bring your co-workers or community members into your campaign and empower them to lead.
Winning people over – how to appeal to those who are not already on your side.
Evaluating tactics – how to determine whether a tactic is effective or not.
Conflict – How to transcend internal disagreements or conflict.
Combating fear – How to adequately assess risks and address fears involved in organizing.
Busting the union busters – How to counter an anti-union or other kinds of smear campaigns.
Organizing conversations – How to design a “rap” (script) which can be used in having one-on-one conversations with your base.
Internal Democracy – How to create healthy structures and procedures to promote internal democracy in your organization.
Community – How to promote a sense of mutual respect and community among your members.
Accountability – How to develop accountability mechanisms which promote fairness, sustainability and help you meet your goals.
Communications–How to efficiently disseminate your message to your base and to potential supporters.
WE HELP YOU BUILD TRANSFORMATIVE ORGANIZATIONS.
We bring our experience in labor, student and community organizing over the last 20+ years to support groups and individuals at all stages of organizing.
Our programs, which can be provided virtually or (if you are in the DMV area) in person, include:
GROUP CONSULTATIONS
CAMPAIGN SUPPORT
All of our programming is free, but donations are appreciated. Whether you are starting something from scratch or are in the thick of a campaign and need strategic input, we are here to support you!
WE provide expertise in labor, student and community campaigning in the following areas:
DEVELOPMENT
Issue Selection – How to select an issue that is winnable, widely felt and builds power.
Power Mapping – How to identify supporters, allies, and targets.
Ladder of escalation – How to structure your campaign so that it builds pressure on your targets and turns up the heat.
Campaign goals – How to set realistic goals and timelines based on your group’s capacity and vision.
Base building and leadership development – How to bring your co-workers or community members into your campaign and empower them to lead.
STRATEGY
Winning people over – how to appeal to those who are not already on your side.
Evaluating tactics – how to determine whether a tactic is effective or not.
Conflict – How to transcend internal disagreements or conflict.
Combating fear – How to adequately assess risks and address fears involved in organizing.
Busting the union busters – How to counter an anti-union or other kinds of smear campaigns.
INFRASTRUCTURE
Organizing conversations -How to design a “rap” (script) which can be used in having one-on-one conversations with your base.
Internal Democracy – How to create healthy structures and procedures to promote internal democracy in your org.
Community – How to promote a sense of mutual respect and community among your members.
Accountability – How to develop accountability mechanisms which promote fairness, sustainability and help you meet your goals.
Communications–How to efficiently disseminate your message to your base and to potential supporters
OUR TEAM
SAM
Sam Agarwal (she/they) has been an organizer & activist for a decade.
In India, she worked with frontline communities in struggles against land grabs and for indigenous forests rights.
In the US, she has helped lead successful campaigns for migrant justice, affordable housing, and graduate worker unionization. She holds a PhD in Sociology from Johns Hopkins University.
KEVIN
Kevin James (he/him) is a local organizer based in Baltimore, MD.
He is a former high school teacher and has been active in campaigns since the late 90’s.
He has organized around death penalty abolition, global justice, anti-war, education reform, police accountability, housing justice, community self-determination, and Palestine solidarity work.
He is also the political hip hop artist Son of Nun.
Valentina
Valentina Dallona (she/her) is a labor and community organizer based in Baltimore, MD.
Vale grew up in Italy, and was active in the student movement against austerity there and in the UK.
In the US, Vale has campaigned around sexual assault, migrant justice, police accountability, and has won unions with graduate students and nurses.
She is the Political Director with Justice is Global and loves cooking, hiking, and learning new stuff.
Don’t you pick and refuse me, ‘Cause the things people refuse
Are the things they should choose. Do you hear me? Hear what I say!
Bob Marley – Corner Stone
The cornerstone is the most essential element upon which a structure is built. All other stones are set in reference to it.
For Bob Marley, the cornerstone represented Black people being rejected and exploited. But it was also a battle-cry for collective liberation.
At The Cornerstone Project, we believe movements must be built on strong foundations.
The pressing struggles of our time–to redistribute wealth, end racist policing, overthrow apartheid regimes–are going to require all hands on deck. Everyone can effectively contribute to the movement for social justice. We are here to show you that there are tried-and-tested methods of organizing, and with some direction and practice anyone can be involved in this transformative and life-sustaining process.
However, you can’t build a house unless you first lay down the cornerstones. Similarly, the movements that radically changed society were premised on something that Ella Baker called “spadework”–that is the slow-moving, and get-your-hands-dirty work that is sustained through the collaboration of many individuals. Often in history’s telling of the civil rights movement the dramatic moments–the heroic acts of civil disobedience and the charismatic leaders– overshadow the much more mundane work done by many anonymous faces. “Our collective imagery does not include organizers returning to talk to some frightened farmer for the tenth time”, reminds civil rights chronicler Charles M. Payne.
Our goals as a collective are, thus, not only to share and disseminate the spadework skills that have been passed to us by the organizing giants from a bygone era–a necessary part of building effective campaigns–but also to help groups build long lasting organizational power. Specifically, through our trainings, we aim to increase the longevity and sustainability of organizations by helping develop leaders who focus on building others, and by supporting them with their strategies.
We come to politics from an intersectional, anti-capitalist, and internationalist perspective. We are especially interested in working with groups that are building in this broad left tradition. This includes rank-and-file labor initiatives, poor peoples’ movements, neighborhood-based efforts, student organizations, environmental justice groups, and anyone interested in building a world free from oppression and domination of one group over another. We also welcome groups that wish to articulate their politics as such but have not yet done so.