Tim Fisk of Hatfield leads advocacy group Alliance to Develop Power
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SPRINGFIELD - Hatfield resident Tim Fisk, named last week as executive director of the advocacy group Alliance to Develop Power, has big shoes to fill, but those who hired him for the $70,000-a-year job say he's up to the task.
In announcing Fisk as new executive director for the alliance, members of the board of directors cited his core role in the creation and development of their innovative organizing model and his "formidable track record in overseeing many outstanding advancements for the organization."
"ADP looks forward to rebuilding a strong core and reinvigorating our grassroots base," said Andrea Goldman, ADP board co-chairwoman. "More than ever, ADP is unified in its goal to create the world as it should be."
Interim director since May, Fisk replaces Caroline Murray, who held the post for 18 years and who once, as an alternative to fighting the powers perceived as owning the economy, said, "Our goal is to create an institution our members control," adding, "We want to own stuff, too."
"She was an amazing contributor," Fisk said. "It's always a test if the founder and executive director can move on and the organization can thrive."
It's not as if Fisk is a newcomer to the work. He has worked with the nonprofit since 2003, and now will oversee ADP's worker cooperative United for Hire, and the newly created ADP Action.
He has plenty of experience with grassroots organizing. In 2010, as managing director of the nonprofit, Fisk took a group of low-income members to U.S. Sen. Scott Brown's office in Washington just before the Senate was to vote on the Dodd-Frank bill, which called for sweeping changes in the abusive lending practices and high-risk wagering that precipitated the financial banking crisis of 2008.
"The ADP took over Senator Brown's office, what we call a 'hit,'" Fisk said.
The direct action marked the first time Brown had a face-to-face meeting with a Massachusetts community group and ended up with the senator pledging his support for the bill. Fisk believes the act played a role in Brown's change of heart.
"It was another example of how low-income people of color can positively interface with civic life," he said.
The bill passed and with it came a bureau to protect consumers from financial fraud, and tools for the government to better supervise the nation's largest financial institutions. Many Republicans decry the bill as a hindrance to "job creators," with presidential candidate Mitt Romney calling for the law's repeal. These battles never really end, but the dignity of self-determination is the cornerstone of ADP's mission. Its slogan: Real people with real solutions building real power.
A founder moves on
Murray, one of ADP's founders, left in May, saying only that it was a mutual decision between her and the board of directors. Murray addressed her departure in a letter to staff and members of the alliance.
"I am especially grateful to the many thousands of grassroots leaders who have shared their lives with me over the years. Their courageous acts, standing in the face of injustice and speaking truth to power, have sustained me," she wrote. "At a time when ideologues are attacking the most fundamental rights of low-income communities, immigrants, communities of color and workers, ADP reminds us that we area all in it together - that justice denied to some is justice denied to all of us."
Founded in 1989, ADP has a staff of 12 and works with low-income people in Hampden, Hampshire and Franklin counties. Among its accomplishments are the establishment of 770 tenant-controlled units in greater Springfield, Westfield and Greenfield, all community-held assets. Members are connected to services through block parties and become more invested in the community as a result, according to its website.
Through the United for Hire initiative, ADP members have even started their own landscaping business where they mow their own lawns, reflective of an economic philosophy where people, not capitalists, own the economy. Undocumented workers are encouraged to come out of the shadows, register, pay taxes and most importantly, keep their families together.
"ADP is more relevant than ever," Fisk said. "People should have the power to direct the decisions that affect our lives. By engaging collectively in civic life it insures that low-income people of color have a seat at the table."
"It's about finding a voice," he said. "It's about grassroots leaders and empowerment, and how this organization will wield its power. It's not top-down. Decisions are made by our base."
ADP, he said, seeks to be a model for broader adoption of these programs. He also said that not only will the organization endorse candidates for local office, "We'll develop our own candidates."
On Sunday, Fisk took part in a rally and march in Northampton to reverse the effects of climate change, part of a simultaneous effort internationally. "ADP co-sponsored the rally because we believe that environmental injustice affects low-income people and people of color the most," he said. "At ADP, our members engage in civic life by speaking truth to power. We look forward to lifting up the issue of environmental injustice in the coming year."
The notion that an addiction to fossil fuels has had a significant impact on the climate strikes a chord with ADP members. The nonprofit's headquarters at Springfield's 130 Union St., along with numerous dwellings in the city's South End, was severely damaged during the tornadoes of June 1. ADP and seven of its institutional partners are temporarily operating out of a satellite office in Holyoke while trying to raise $1 million for repairs through a capital plan put on fast track.
"We have plans to turn our building into a big public art piece, beaming pictures and words on the side of the building," said Fisk. "It's a great way to engage residents of the South End and for local people of color outside of ADP."
Fisk, 37, a native of West Springfield, lives on the Tetrault Farm in Hatfield. He graduated from UMass in 1997 with a degree in anthropology, but his first love was theater and he went on to produce and direct shows in Seattle and at New York City's community-driven Foundry Theatre. But rent and salary were far apart. "Wall Street had taken over Manhattan by then," said Fisk. "I felt that I missed my chance to have that city life."
He began consulting with ADP in 2003. He saw his mission as "getting institutions to talk to each other in a productive way." In 2007 he joined the staff as managing director. Over the last four years he has been working closely with others to develop the ADP Community Economy, which combines community organizing, economic development and community building strategies.
In addition to choosing a new executive director, the ADP board has approved a new staff structure that will have William Cano, ADP's worker center director, serve as deputy director. Frances Boyes will return to the staff as the director of economic development, and Jessi Kirley will assume the role of director of community building.
"With new leadership, we will continue to lift up those communities that have been left out in the past," said Keya Hicks, co-chairwoman of the organization's board. "Stronger than ever, we will continue to fight for the rights of all people."
