Social justice is something that many people feel strong about, especially in a campus or community setting. Kyle Lambing, senior, Communication student is someone that has a passion for this topic and likes to stay active in any way he can help. This summer Lambing completed a fellowship with the Student Power Network as a community organizer in Erie County. Student Power Network is an organization within One Pennsylvania, also known as OnePA. “OnePA is a progressive political action group that fights for social, racial, economic, and environmental justice,” Lambing explained. According to OnePA.org, “One Pennsylvania unites low income and working class activists with the support of a broad coalition of community, labor, faith and students’ organizations.”

 

Previously, Lambing had a fellowship with Next Gen Climate, where his job was to educate people about climate issues. “After the election, I wanted to gain awareness about local politics since they are very important, but also very unknown to people. I was eventually contacted by James Cersonsky, the director of PA Student Power Network and went to my first Student Power Network training at Chatham University in Pittsburgh,” Lambing stated.

 

Lambing was hired as an organizer specifically for Erie County along with co-worker Alicia Gordon, a student at Slippery Rock University. Lambing said, “We worked a lot with organizations already present in Erie such as Planned Parenthood, Keystone Progress, Pennsylvania Equality Project and Erie County United.” Lambing was working alongside Gordon as they were tasked to help these organizations with something they all have struggle with, which is getting students involved.

 

When Lambing was first hired for the position, he had to attend a weeklong training in Philadelphia where he was apart of some community organizing. “I was also able to visit Harrisburg, for statewide actions at the Capital, and Allentown where I got involved with Make The Road, PA, which is an organization focusing primarily on organizing Latinx communities,” Lambing stated.

 

During this fellowship, Lambing was able to have many cool experiences. He said that there were many “firsts” that he was able to do this summer. Lambing explained, “I had my first in state flight from Erie to Philly, which was also my first flight ever. I went to Harrisburg, Allentown and Philly for the first time, and I talked to people in the communities within those cities for the first time.”

 

Learning is something that is very powerful to take away from any real world experience. Lambing is grateful that he was able to learn so much during his time spent with Student Power Network. “I encountered a diverse and vast variety of people who ranged from fully supporting us, and joining us at events, to being completely against us and giving us death threats. I learned a lot about how to deal with what was the largest group of people, the apathetic. I learned that oftentimes this so called apathy from people was actually just masking their hopelessness, powerlessness, lack of knowledge, or fear,” Lambing stated.

 

Lambing has high hopes for his future and believes that this fellowship is more than just a resume builder.