Cheryl Brown
Labor Specialist

Cheryl Brown is on the Leadership Development Team at the Labor Center. She has worked as an organizer with labor, community and policy organizations. Before joining the Labor Center, Cheryl was Political Director at the Contra Costa Central Labor Council and Building Trades Council. Previously, she worked as an organizer on fair trade, living wage, economic development, environmental justice, and immigrants’ rights campaigns with the Tennessee Industrial Renewal Network, Save Our Cumberland Mountains, Good Jobs First, and Urban Habitat. Cheryl has extensive training and experience using popular education and other training methodologies, and has collaborated with the Highlander Center, Commission on Religion in Appalachia, Applied Research Center, California Labor Federation and numerous other organizations on education projects. She received a Master’s Degree in International Development from American University’s School of International Service and completed the Southern Empowerment Project’s six-week organizing training.

Areas of Expertise
• Political action
• Community organizing
• Economic Development
• Jobs and the Environment
• Labor-community coalitions

Current Projects
California Union Leadership School
CULS is a program for senior-level union leaders who are seeking to further improve their strategic planning, decision-making, and campaign skills. A week-long course in the spring will be followed by local projects and a two-day follow-up in November.

California Lead Organizers Institute
CLOI brings together lead organizers and aspiring lead organizers from unions and community-based organizations to collectively enhance campaign skills and supervision skills. A year-long program that includes a one-week training and two weekend follow-ups.

Strategic Campaigns
This course is designed to give participants tools and skills to plan specific campaigns. The course methodology uses real examples of worker or community problems brought to the class by participants. By the end of the week-long course, participants will have developed a detailed campaign plan to present to other participants.

Recent Publications
Movement Generation: Young Workers Connect Theory and Practice, The Ark, National Organizers Alliance Newsletter, June 2007.