Eric Ward is the National Field Director of the Building Democracy Initiative of the Center for New Community.  He joined the Center in 2003.   He is the organizer of Which Way Forward, a national framework for policy and program decisions about relationships between native-born black people and immigrants with a goal of 400 participants.

Since 2006 he has compiled “The Nativism Watch”, a weekly email sharing research on nativism issues and leaders with more than 550 allies and organizations. He is a popular speaker for national conferences such as the Council on Foundations, the Western States Center and the U. S. Social Forum.  Eric advises other faith-based organizations such as the United Methodist Women. Eric studied Public Policy and Planning Management at the University of Oregon from 1989 to 1992, where he was the recipient of many University awards for leadership.

Experience:  A former staff member with the non-profit organization Clergy and Laity Concerned, Eric founded and directed a community project designed to expose and counter hate groups and respond to bigoted violence. Eric began this work during a period when the national white supremacist movement was shifting its focus from the South to the Pacific Northwest.

Eric is one of the very few prominent leaders of color working to counter organized bigotry in the nation. Nonetheless, he has demonstrated uncanny courage and surprising ease working in parts of the rural West where he might rightly fear for his life--even to the point of openly attending extremist gatherings. In fact, through patient mentorship, Eric has successfully turned violent neo-Nazi youth into spokespeople against bigotry and youth violence. This is all the more remarkable given Eric's strong and obvious identity as an African American man.

Eric has served on the boards of the Western States Center, McKenzie River Gathering Foundation and A Territory Resource Foundation. He is the editor of three published works: Conspiracies: Real Grievances, Paranoia and Mass Movements; Second Civil War: States Rights, Sovereignty and the Power of the County and American Armageddon: Religion, Revolution and the Right. Eric’s most recent writings have appeared in the Southern Poverty Law Center journal, "The Intelligence Report", and the European monthly, “Searchlight Magazine".  Eric currently serves on the board of the Moenkopi Group, a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation that produces high quality film and video documentaries on subjects not usually addressed in mainstream media.