The quest to galvanize and provide resources to young professionals continues. 

The quest to galvanize and provide resources to young professionals continues.

In June, the G.S.O.P (Granite State Organizing Project) helped to facilitate a networking and leadership training event held in Concord, N.H. The event was co-hosted by “Concord for Change.” Their goal is to cultivate and develop young leaders in the State of N.H.

Martin Toe is one of the organizers at G.S.O.P.

Once Martin moved to Manchester, he began seeing what the housing crisis looked like.

“Since August of 2020, my work at GSOP has been to help shape the conversation around the pandemic and the struggle of the NH housing crisis.  We educate community groups about what’s been taking place through collecting testimonies via interviews framed as “The Jubilee Campaign of GSOP,” which I started,” Martin said.

The G.S.O.P and the G.I.A.F. (Granite State Interfaith Action Fund) helped facilitate this mission. During this project, Martin sat down with individuals from New Hampshire, both renters and landlords, young and old, and found out how the pandemic has affected them.

Those stories ran the spectrum from job losses to families being split up, to landlords selling their buildings out of fear. The hope of the Jubilee campaign was a call for widespread forgiveness of housing debt.

Back in 2016, he started Change for Concord via A.F.S.C(American Friends Services Committee). Martin was born on the Ivory Coast, but his family moved to Concord, N.H in 2003 as the Ivory Coast was experiencing civil war. Martin faced adversities and experienced both sides of N.H. He noticed the void in networking opportunities for young people of color.

“I wanted to help create a space where we could get young professionals together. We want them to maximize their transformative potential. The majority of which are from the African community,” said Martin.

This event primarily consisted of young adult professionals and leaders in the community.  Some are young college grads, business owners, and those working towards being impactful in their neighborhoods.

Martin is very passionate about this work, and he feels that it’s important because it cultivates young African leaders and brings them together outside of the structural context of school.

Martin organized one of the biggest protests in N.H after the George Floyd murder, and this is where he felt that those young marginalized voices were being empowered. They began to see the power of organizing as a way to get things done.

Martin is well versed in organizing and making changes and has the body of work to prove it.

The next Network Leadership Training will focus on debate and dialogue on immigration, guns, and racism. They intend to have a healthy conversation on those different views while still respecting one another.

“Our goal is to build a base to support young leaders who want to make an impact in their community and their own lives.” Martin Toe