After attending a training, Parris Wallace, an organizer with Poder in Action, sat down with us for an interview about our popular education program. 

UFE's cultural organizer, Eroc Arroyo-Montano, recently partnered with Poder in Action to host "training of trainers" workshops, where participants learn the principles of popular education and practice tools of facilitation, healing justice, and movement building.  

What does your organization do?

“I work with an organization called Poder in Action, a group of mainly women of color that have taken on the police here in Phoenix. We have the deadliest police force in the country right now. Holding police accountable, that’s our biggest fight.”

What is your role?

“I lead our organizing on community college campuses in Maricopa County, where students are at the intersection of low-income, people of color, working class, with families, and are often overlooked or targets of police violence. We are doing bi-weekly ‘know your rights’ trainings, all student-led — I train the students and they present to their peers.”

What has been UFE’s role in these organizing efforts?

“UFE’s Eroc Arroyo-Montano has been working with us on a healing justice framework. He has taught me a lot about self-care and has had a direct impact on my everyday life and my work.”

What did you think of UFE’s “Training of Trainers”?

“Eroc invited me to a UFE Training of Trainers this year. It was amazing. I came back with the idea of working with the City to do a participatory budget. I proposed it, we met with the city manager, and we are moving ahead. There are whole sections of the city that have been forgotten and it’s primarily where we all live. We’re trying to figure out a more sustainable future.”

What have you personally gained from working with UFE?

“Through my work with UFE I’ve become a good facilitator. All the practices I’ve learned from Eroc have helped me in this work. I’ve taught the practices to my co-workers.”

United for a Fair Economy challenges the concentration of wealth and power that corrupts democracy, deepens the racial divide and tears communities apart. We use popular economics education, trainings, and creative communications to support social movements working for a resilient, sustainable and equitable economy.