The Initiative for Community Power brings people together by organizing reading groups, hosting speakers, screenings and visiting scholars, and organizing convenings on issues and disciplines related to inequality, racial justice, political economy, policy, power and social change. Our work catalyzes high impact partnerships and learning among faculty, students and leading social justice practitioners.
Recent Projects
LPE NYC Chapter
ICP has worked closely with the Law and Political Economy Project at Yale and The Action Lab to organize an LPE NYC Chapter. We hosted numerous for more than 500 students, faculty and practitioners at NYU Law, featuring talks by Angela P. Harris, Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Amna Akbar, Andrew Friedman, Ana Maria Archila, and others. In Fall 2024, LPE NYC launched a night school / speaker series in partnership with the New School for Social Research.
Social Justice Visits, Book Talks, Lectures, and Screenings
The Initiative has organized visits, lectures, and screenings to introduce students and the broader community to inspiring and challenging social justice themes, stories, scholars and practitioners.
- With the Action Lab and LPE NYC, ICP co-hosted a Book Talk featuring Vincent Bevins, author of "IF WE BURN". Through Bevins' research and firsthand accounts, this Book Talk unpacked the paradox of global protests not leading to more equitable societies, from the Arab Spring to Chile and Hong Kong. Steve Kest, a leader in the progressive movement, joined the conversation, exploring organizing outcomes and strategies for future efforts. The panel was moderated by award-winning journalist Anjali Kamat. We delved into the role of structure and decision-making in revolutionary change, providing insights into the challenges and potential of social movements.
- ICP hosted a visit from Robeyoncé Lima, a Brazilian lawyer, activist, and politician. She is state deputy for Pernambuco and the first trans woman elected to state office in Pernambuco.
- The Initiative organized a visit from the leadership team of the Immigrant Alliance for Justice and Equity Mississippi, a front-line, membership-based organization building the power of immigrant communities.
- ICP co-organized a panel discussion with labor leaders from the Amazon Labor Union and Workers United to discuss emergent labor organizing efforts and the struggle for dignity and respect in the workplace.
- ICP held screenings of the documentaries We Still Here about organizing in Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, and Primera about a courageous protest movement that challenged neoliberalism and corruption in Chile.
- The Initiative co-sponsored From Crisis to Horizon: A Discussion Series on Social Housing with the Housing Justice for All Coalition, the Urban Democracy Lab, the Action Lab and the NYU LPE chapter.
- Our virtual social justice film series, The Freedom Forward Film Series, brought together social impact storytellers, social justice practitioners, and artists dedicated to imagining a world with freedom, justice, and well-being for all.
Dismantling Racial Capitalism Series
Dismantling Racial Capitalism brought together more than 100 academics, organizers, policy-makers, students and change-makers to examine how racial capitalism drives inequality, exploitation, and destruction and how we can catalyze change
- The Dismantling Racial Capitalism series, co-created by ICP, has brought together more than 300 academics, organizers, policy-makers, students and change-makers to examine how racial capitalism drives inequality, exploitation, and destruction and how we can catalyze change.
- To kick off the Fall 2024 Dismantling Racial Capitalism series, we were honored to host Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Professor of Earth & Environmental Sciences, American Studies, and Africana Studies at the City University of New York Graduate Center. Gilmore is a renowned scholar and activist whose work has profoundly influenced debates on prison abolition, racial justice, and geography. Gilmore engaged in conversation with Laura Liu from The New School and Angeles Solis from The Action Lab. Together, they explored the systemic issues of racial capitalism and the transformative power of abolitionist movements.
- As part of the Dismantling Racial Capitalism series, in December 2023, ICP co-hosted a thought-provoking discussion based on Arun Kundani’s book, ‘What is Anti-racism? And Why It Means Anti-capitalism.’ Nikhil Singh moderated the conversation between Kundani and Tejasvi Nagaraja. They delved into the complexities of anti-racism and its intrinsic link to anti-capitalism, touching on pressing issues such as colonialism, the plight of Palestine, the echoes of empires, and the necessity for collective action. The dialogue illuminated the entrenched structures of power and offered enlightening perspectives on mobilizing for change. The evening left attendees with new insights and a reinforced urgency to strategize for actionable solutions against inequality and exploitation. For further exploration on this topic, check out Arun's engaging book ‘Anti-racism and Why It Means Anti Capitalism’, available at @versobooks.
- As part of the ‘Dismantling Racial Capitalism’ series, ICP co-hosted a conversation with Olúfémi Táíwò to explore the mechanisms and impacts of racial capitalism, drawing from Táíwò's works 'Elite Capture' and 'Reconsidering Reparations.' The conversation illuminated the intricacies of systemic inequality and exploitation and brought together a diverse group of academics, organizers, policy-makers, and activists. We also strategized about actionable solutions and opened new cross-sectoral space for dialogue and learning dialogue for change.
- To explore the themes of housing, environmental justice, and reparations, the Dismantling Racial Capitalism series has hosted a series of discussions that have aimed to demonstrate how injustice follows from imperatives of capitalism and racial systems; highlight efforts and successful campaigns in dynamic campaign work, with international examples; and identify footholds to subvert and invert logic. Check out the full program.
Power Convenings
Our Law and Power Building convening created space for students, organizers and lawyers invested in progressive social change to grapple with how to effectively deploy their skills and capacities – and, more broadly, law itself – in service of organizing for social, economic, and racial justice.
Our Countervailing Oligarchic Power convening brought more than 50 social justice leaders together to discuss how to curtail right-wing, oligarchic power and build a multi-racial and equitable future.