| Eric K. Ward |
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Eric Ward is the national field director with the Center for New Community based in Chicago. The Center for New Community's mission is to build community, justice and equality. The Center is grounded in many faith traditions, and builds community where the dignity and value of all humanity is manifest. Its work is carried out across the nation. The Center is a non-profit 510(c)(3) organization founded in 1995. He is the lead organizer for Which Way Forward: African American, Immigration and Race, a national framework for exploring policy and program decisions regarding the impact of anti-immigrant public policy on the Black community. Since 2006 he has been the editor of Nativism Watch, a weekly email sharing research on anti-immigrant issues and leaders with more than 800 allies and organizations. Eric began his evolution as a human rights leader in 1989 in the Pacific Northwest. A former staff member with the non-profit organization Clergy and Laity Concerned (CALC), 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 is a leader who has consistently demonstrated an ability to anticipate fundamental changes in the political and social landscape, and to both prepare and organize constituents to change how they do their work and adjust their strategies to meet new challenges. A sought after speaker and trainer, Eric has worked closely with organizations such as the Council on Foundations, Western States Center, Catholic Conference on Immigrant Rights, The U. S. Social Forum, The Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation, American Jewish Committee, United Food and Commercial Workers, and United Methodist Women. Eric has served on the boards of the Western States Center, McKenzie River Gathering Foundation and A Territory Resource Foundation. He was also an advisor to the Home Alive Self Defense Project for Women from 1998 until 2003. 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. In 2007, Eric co-authored the seminal report Nativism in the House a report on the House Immigration Reform Caucus. 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. In 2007, Eric was honored with as an Everyday Freedom Hero by the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center and Pepsi for his contributions to strengthening civil society and civil rights. Eric is the publisher of the online magazine Imagine2050.Net and writes regularly for the Progressive Media Project. |
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