A conversation with Tanya Watkins, executive director of SOUL, a BLM-affiliated Chicago movement, about how her initiative employed digital tools such as Qomon to face opponents and structure its action.
The Use Case
Organisation: Soul Chicago
Location: Chicago, USA
Cause: Movement, Nonprofit
Scale of use: Chicago
Main Goal: Organize volunteers work
Favorite feature: Team Organization
Learn more about Soul Chicago & Tanya Watkins
Soul Chicago is part of the broader Black Lives Matter movement, this Chicago-based organization is fighting for racial and economic justice in the United States. Qomon in action helped them to widely mobilize.
Their mission: provide aid to low-income people of color in the Chicago Southland, then empower them to fight for their own liberation.
Chicago representative (S.O.U.L.’s Executive Director) Tanya Watkins told us over a couple of pints, how she got into activism and what she has learned from her own experience as a field organizer.
As a resident of the Chicago suburbs, Tanya has witnessed firsthand the social and economical problems facing the people of her community. She worked in public office but soon realized that there were other ways to bring about change. Before long, she got involved in community organizing.
For Tanya, the fight is as political as it is personal. She described her desire for her daughter to grow up in a better world. In the interview, she told us:
“It is my responsibility as her mother — it is my responsibility as a good neighbor to fight to create the world as I see it… The world as it should be.”
The Quote
According to Tanya, Qomon could be a game-changer for the grassroots movement.
The Key Results
By putting the organizers and volunteers’ needs first, Qomon in action can help them capture data, target their strategies and ultimately spark more meaningful conversations.
Watch Flow's full conversation with Tanya below:
