Leveraging the power of relational organizing in Baltimore
“The historical truth is that no single person—no matter how gifted—has led complex social change on her own.”
Glenna Huber and Andrew Connors recently served as cochairs of Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development. BUILD is a multiracial, interfaith organization that works to improve jobs, schools, and community relations. The organizing work Huber and Connors led continues to have a transformative impact in Baltimore neighborhoods. Huber is rector of the Episcopal Church of the Epiphany in Washington, DC, and Connors is senior pastor of Brown Memorial Park Avenue Presbyterian Church in Baltimore.
How did BUILD come into existence?
Huber: In the early 1970s, Black ministerial leaders in Baltimore grew concerned that the movements of the 1960s had developed too much of a focus on charismatic personalities, and that made movements less energetic and less democratic. Those leaders invited the Industrial Areas Foundation—the oldest and largest power organizing organization in the US—into Baltimore to assist in identifying and training local leaders for a more relational form of organizing.
