Civic Conversation with Community Organizer John Heffernan

We will be speaking with Heffernan about his time as a community organizer and learnings from his work with Fred Ross. The event will include a viewing of the film, American Agitators, followed by discussion.

John Heffernan has over thirty years of experience in leadership roles in international development, human rights, rule of law, democracy and governance, humanitarian relief and post-conflict reconstruction projects in the United States, Africa, South America, Asia and Europe. He has served as executive director of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights’ Speak Truth To Power; director of the Genocide Prevention Initiative at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum; senior investigator with Physicians for Human Rights; chief of party for the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs in Guyana, South America; founder and executive director of the Coalition for International Justice; and country representative for the former Yugoslavia and Sudan for the International Rescue Committee. He was trained as a community organizer by Fred Ross.

explores the remarkable life of Fred Ross, Sr., born in 1910 and raised in Los Angeles, who for over 50 years, led a groundbreaking organizing approach that improved the lives of thousands. Generations of organizers and activists, many who are featured in American Agitators, stand on the shoulders of Ross and his innovative organizing tactics that cross sectors and issues areas. American Agitators takes us to Atlanta, Georgia where Fight For 15 organizers fight for an increase in minimum wage and the unionization of workers across the Southern states. In Oakland, California in 2023, teachers, families and community members joined forces to forge a fair contract with the Oakland school district guided by the same principles of community organizing and getting out the vote pioneered by Fred Ross Sr. and set into motion by his son, Fred Ross Jr.

Host or Publisher Palisades Hub