Path To Power
Worcester, September 2024
On September 29, 2024,100 community leaders, board members, and organizers from across our MCAN statewide network gathered for a monumental moment - our Path To Power convening. During this time, MCAN collectively took two powerful steps. First we covenanted together committing ourselves to this network while adding our 9th affiliate, Merrimack Valley Project. Then, through a democratic process led by the People's Budget Committee, we selected our organizing focus for the years to come.
MCAN’s Covenant details our vision for the world we are committed to building and the way in which we seek to work with each other today. At the Path To Power gathering, community leaders, board members and organizers were invited to select a word or two from the Covenant which stood out to them and then write it on a leaf to be hung on a tree symbolizing our rootedness and growth as a network. (at left) Worcester Interfaith leader Jenn-E Memnon, Board Treasurer Martin Kelly, and leader Mike Jerry.
MCAN’s People’s Budget Committee presented three paths for MCAN leaders to have a powerful impact in the state budget in the years to come. Leaders, such as Samuel Pierce (at left) representing MCAN affiliate Prophetic Resistance Boston, were invited to share why they supported a particular path before each leader cast a vote. Click below to learn more about the process and purpose of this long-term work.
The afternoon event, hosted by MCAN affiliate Worcester Interfaith, provided opportunities for one to one conversations as well as cross-affiliate connections to be made. Lefty Morrill, Executive Director of Merrimack Valley Project, MCAN's newest affiliate, talks with MCAN Co-Executive Director William Dickerson II. Leaders from Merrimack Valley Project, Essex County Community Organization, and Prophetic Resistance Boston had the chance to share about their local work with each other.