Appalachia Train the Trainers Immersion 2008

Appalachia Train the Trainers Immersion: Exploring the Methodology of Immersion Courses

Faculty and students from 12 different seminaries, colleges, and universities participated in the Poverty Initiative’s first Train the Trainer Immersion Experience. Evoking the mission of the Poverty Initiative: to raise up generations of religious and community leaders committed to building a movement, led by the poor, to end poverty, this week long course provided participants with an intense week of critical reflection and engagement around the complexity of poverty that is being experienced in the Appalachian region and examined what steps are being taken to confront the reality of poverty in Appalachia. We spent time discussing theories of poverty and race, the history of organizing in Appalachia, the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement and Martin Luther King’s Poor People's Campaign, issues of welfare reform, health care, and living wage jobs, etc.  The course offered a model for building ongoing relationships with communities and organizations of leaders in a movement for economic justice around the country. Experiences included poverty reality tours, Bible studies, video-showings, and dialogue with leaders of local and national poor people's organizations and religious congregations engaged in mission work and community organizing. Significant time was spent addressing the theological implications of building a movement led by poor people to end poverty and discussing the role religious and academic institutions can play in movement building.