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Nashville Organized for Action and Hope (NOAH)

Many congregations do works of charity – serving others through food pantries, tutoring programs, building homes, etc.  But it’s hard for one congregation to carry out works of justice – of changing systems that create those needs. 

NOAH is an anti-racist, inter-faith coalition of 70+ congregations, community organizations, and labor unions, focused on changing systems.

HOW DOES NOAH WORK?

NOAH engages ordinary people in the political and economic decisions affecting their lives.

We do this in several ways:

  1. Listening to NOAH members:

NOAH congregations and groups involve their own members in “Listening Campaigns” with hundreds of one-on-one meetings that build relationships of trust and bubble up key issues and leaders.

  1. Elections:

NOAH does not endorse political candidates but gets them to endorse our issues agenda, and pledge to work with NOAH if they are elected.  NOAH also organizes to engage more people as voters and to educate them on the issues important to NOAH member groups.

  1. Research and Action:

NOAH Task Forces research their issues to understand possible solutions and decision-makers who can implement those solutions.

  1. Power Meetings:

We meet with political and economic decision-makers in small meetings as well as large Public Meetings for commitments and accountability.  We also testify at public hearings, hold press conferences, organize emails to officials, and engage in public actions to make change.  We know that the definition of power is “the ability to act” and we want that for ourselves and for everyone!

Some NOAH Successes:

  1. NOAH Public Meetings with Mayoral Candidates – Since 2015, NOAH has held these meetings of 800 to 1200 people to outline our issues and gain commitments from the candidates to meet with NOAH quarterly if they are elected.
  2. Barnes Fund for Affordable Housing – NOAH has successfully organized for over $130 million to go to this fund, which non-profits use to attract other funding to increase affordable housing.
  3. Metro Division of Housing – NOAH organized to create this separate division within the Metro Planning Department, ensuring that affordable housing remains a key issue regardless of who is elected mayor.
  4. Breaking the School-to-Prison Pipeline – NOAH worked to have Metro Public Schools implement “peace centers” and “advocacy centers” in each school, to decrease suspensions which had led to involvement with law enforcement.

Other Successes – https://noahtn.org/success-stories

Overall Website – https://noahtn.org

NOAH In The News – https://noahtn.org/news (Be sure to click on “Archive” at bottom of page.)

NOAH’s Task Forces:

  1. Affordable Housing – 3rd Sunday at 2:30 PM.
  2. Economic Equity, Jobs, and Transportation – 3rd Thursday at 6:30 PM at Greater Bethel AME Church.
  3. Education – 2nd Monday at 6:00 PM by Zoom.
  4. Transformational Justice (formerly “Criminal Justice) – 1st Thursday at 6:30 PM, at Clark Memorial UMC.