About Us

Gamaliel was founded in 1986 to train community and faith leaders in building political power and creating organizations that unite people of diverse faiths and races.


Mission

Our mission is to empower ordinary people to effectively participate in the political, environmental, social and economic decisions affecting their lives. Gamaliel’s diverse members apply their faith and values to the pursuit of equal opportunity for all, shared abundance, and stronger, more prosperous communities.


Our work falls into three main areas:


1. We build strong local organizations

With 44 affiliates and 7 state offices in 17 states, Gamaliel works to build strong metropolitan and statewide organizations. National staff provides consulting, training and support to leaders and staff in local organizations. A survey of organizers and lead staff across the network found that Gamaliel’s national staff is majority women: People of color are about 40 percent of organizers, lead organizers, and directors across the network (56% of organizers across the network are women; 26% are women of color). Learn about our affiliates here.


2. We develop powerful leaders through training

Gamaliel organizes: three national weeklong trainings per year, an advanced leadership/strategic campaigns training every other year, Ntosake women's leadership development training once a year, a biennial Race and Power training, National Religious Leaders Caucus, and national leadership conferences across the country. These events reach more than 1,000 people in a typical year. Learn about our training here.

Download a flyer about our training here.


3. We run influential advocacy & nonpartisan civic engagement campaigns

15 years ago, Gamaliel helped pioneer advocacy and organizing on regional equity, working with partners like John Powell and others. This work continues to be foundational to our policy and issue organizing. Recognizing the job-creation potential of developing and maintaining good infrastructure, and building on local affiliates worker rights’ advocacy, Gamaliel has focused its campaign and jobs work on increasing access to jobs and job training. This is a major focus of current work along with our issue campaigns: criminal justice reform, integrated voter engagement, racial equity, and immigration reform. Learn about our current campaigns here.

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Network Updates

Introducing Rev. B. De Neice Welch, Ntosake Consultant
Ntosake and Gamaliel are excited to welcome Rev. B. De Neice Welch as our new Ntosake Consultant! Rev. Welch is the Senior Pastor of Bidwell Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She attended National Leadership training in 2015, and served as Ntosake Chair for five years. She is a longtime leader, and later organizer, with Pennsylvania…
Race and Power Postponed to December 2022
Due to the continued spread of the highly contagious Delta variant of COVID-19, we have made the difficult decision to postpone the Race and Power in America Summit until December 2022. Please know we don’t make this decision lightly. We consider the Race and Power Summit to be a central part of our fight for racial…
Sr. Cheryl Liske on life as an organizer
Spanish Transcript: Cynthia: Saludos a todos los que estén viendo este video en este momento. Mi nombre es la Rev. Cynthia Jarrold. Soy una alta asesora para estrategias de financiamiento y asuntos externos para la Red Gamaliel y he formado parte de la red por poco más de diez años. Estamos hoy aquí porque Gamaliel…
Transformational Justice in Action plans social media action, virtual town hall
Transformational Justice in Action is holding two actions in Autumn 2021 in support of our effort to restore  voting rights to people with conviction histories. The first is a month-long social media action to raise awareness of our #UnlockTheVote campaign leading up to the second, a virtual Town Hall on October 1. This Town Hall…