June 26 - 28, 2009
Glendale, SC

ENGAGE's annual Convergences bring students, educators, organizers, community members, and other allies together to reflect on the year's work, learn from one another, share victories and struggles, and to set a course for the coming year.

This year’s ENGAGE Convergence is about rooting ourselves in community organizing and movement building within the United States. What does it mean to “go home and work from where we’re from?” What does it look like to be a strong ally? Join us in Glendale, SC (near Spartanburg) for a weekend of sharing, learning, planning, and dreaming into reality the next generation of ENGAGE projects.

REGISTRATION is open – register online by June 17th to let us know you’re coming!

OUTREACH – want to help spread the word?
Download this half-sheet flier (PDF) to print and share!

Convergence Details

Schedule of Events
Click here for the Draft Convergence Agenda/Outline (PDF).

Most of the sessions and workshops at the convergence are ENGAGE member-led, focusing on network-wide sharing of projects, campaigns, and skills. We are constantly seeking to strengthen collaborations with other student/youth-led networks, and to build mentoring relationships with diverse community organizers. We invite guest speakers every year that help us deepen our analysis and build new relationships. This year the Beehive Design Collective will be there to present their latest graphics campaign, “The True Cost of Coal,” about the devastation of mountaintop removal in Appalachia. ENGAGE mentor Kovit Boonjear from Thailand will also be presenting, reflecting on his time in the United States so far and on how we can strengthen ENGAGE’s work.

The week after the main convergence is packed full, too. For the first time, we’ve organized a full day anti-oppression training for ENGAGErs. And as in past years, post-convergence is the time for several days of intensive training and pass-on for incoming and outgoing interns on the CIEE-Thailand program, and internal meetings for staff and Board members.

Our Hosts
The 2009 Convergence is being hosted for the second year in beautiful upstate South Carolina by SEEC, Spartanburg Educators for Empowered Communities. SEEC organizes area students and faculty around issues of environmental sustainability and economic and social justice. They create local models of community-based education, working collectively to develop engaged citizens and to build grassroots movements for positive change. SEEC was co-founded by long-time ENGAGE member Allyn Steele, inspired by the educational process he experienced while studying abroad in Thailand. For more information, email SEEC.

Transportation and Lodging
Participants who are flying to the Convergence should plan to fly into Greenville-Spartanburg SC (GSP), Charlotte, NC (CLT), or Atlanta, GA (ATL) airports. See the online registration form for more details on housing options for the weekend, and to let us know your travel plans.

Cost to Attend
Please note that while there is no cost to register for the Convergence, ENGAGE will be asking for a nominal contribution ($40-60) onsite to cover food and event costs. Payment may be made by cash or check payable to ENGAGE at the Convergence.

Registration
Please be sure to register online as soon as possible so that the event organizers can plan for your participation.

Event Flyer
Help us spread the word about this great event! Click on the links below to download a flyer to distribute to friends, fellow students, colleagues, and allies.

Download a half-page flyer (PDF).

More Information
For more information or questions about the 2009 ENGAGE Convergence, contact the event organizer.

The Convergence Vision

ENGAGE was dreamed up a decade ago by students, teachers, and community mentors working together on the ciee Thailand study abroad program. In the past ten years, we’ve come a long away. We’ve had offices in Maine, San Francisco, and now in Washington, DC. We’ve wrestled with what kind of “non-profit” we want to be, what kind of organizing network we want to be. And our small internal planning meetings have steadily grown and evovled into what we launched as the annual Global Convergence in 2007.

The larger vision for the Convergence is not only to provide a space for ENGAGE members to meet, and not just to be a reunion of students from one or two alternative study abroad programs. We want to create a space to spark new relationships and projects, a space that includes all those involved in processes of transformative experiential education. All those who are working to bring people together across cultures, race, and class to build social and ecological justice: staff and alumni of various programs both based in the US and abroad, student/youth activists, popular educators, and community organizers and mentors.

We are a decentralized network living across the United States (and often found living, learning, working, and traveling in other countries too). We are linked by our passion for grassroots, community-based education for social change. Those of us who have been around ENGAGE for a while dearly value the friendships that maintain this network. We are energized and grounded by the chance to be together, in one place, at least once a year. Please join us this year!

Notes and Comments
You can read notes from past Convergences/Annual Meetings on this page.

Photos
Check out our flickr page for Convergence photos from the past few years!