In the last fifteen years, the Ella Baker Center has seen a lot of change. We literally started our organization in a closet. Our founders picked the name “The Ella Baker Center” as a strategy for staying under the radar. Miss Ella Jo Baker isn’t the most well known legend of the civil rights movement; in fact, she led by creating space for others to find their own voices and visions. Our founders wanted to honor our connection to all those who came before us as well as be a launching pad for a new generation of activists.  They launched our organization under the slogan of  “not you parent’s civil rights organization.” No longer are we the scrappy little organization housed in a closet. Our work has grown and evolved. We still want to change the policies and practices that harm our communities; but in 15 years we have built people-powered campaigns that inspire, train and mobilize folks to stand up for what their communities need and that win big victories for the people of California. In the past few years, we have also deepened our connection to the civil rights hero for whom we were named. By meeting with veterans of the Civil Rights Movement, deepening our internal political education and launching our Ella’s Voice blog, we have come to even more powerfully admire Miss Baker’s work and strive to honor her legacy. Miss Baker knew that everyone had something important to contribute to social change and we agree. In 2011, our 15th anniversary year, our work will continue to build on this legacy. Our four people-powered campaigns, while each different in their focuses, all aim to build community strength and develop leaders-  leaders who can use their hands, hearts and voice to bring justice, opportunity and peace to all of California’s communities. With that in mind, we are excited to reveal, in honor of our anniversary, that the Ella Baker Center has a new tagline. While our work isn’t drastically changing, our story connects more strongly to the legacy of the champion for whom we were named. Many things have changed since 1996, but our strong conviction that people are the solution has never wavered.  We understand more than ever that the success of our work lives in the very people for and with whom we struggle, you. Miss Baker doesn’t fill the standard definition of a leader. Rather than leading marches and making speeches, she invested in the leadership of emerging change makers and created spaces where a diversity of voices could be heard. That approach to leadership resonates strongly with us. Lead, she did.  And so can you! So can every one of us. With our new tagline, we are better poised to build our base of people invested in our work to replace harmful policies, reallocate resources and generate opportunities so that all can live to their fullest potential. I look forward to working with you. Ella's Voice wants to give a special, thank you shout out to the team at Mission Minded who worked with the Ella Baker Center on our tagline development.