On December 13^th, 2011 The Empower Houston Leadership Project graduated its first class of 19 community organizers. This is a varied group of individuals who are working on community projects that they selected and now carrying forward in the months to come. The graduation was held at the SHAPE community center and following a dinner of Lasagna and salad the class received certificates and heard our final guest speaker for this session,Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia.

Other guest mentors also present were Judge Zinetta Burney, Minister Mohammed and Deloyd Parker who joined in congratulating the class on their work and welcoming them to the struggle.

The group’s ongoing projects are varied; from Getting Out the Vote to creating a  food-Co-op and working with Community Gardens to Nutritional Training these ongoing projects are added to the diversity of the EHL network so that future members will have access to the training and experiences of past class members.

New classes are being planned and will be announced shortly. Some will join current projects and others will start new projects, but all members of the network will have access to a community bulletin board and other online resources at www.empowerhoustonleadership.org.