Mountain Justice Summer: MOP Up Mountaintop Removal!

Community organizers with the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, the South-East Energy Network and Mountain Justice are currently seeking eight individuals to live and work in Mingo County, WV, from late May to late August of 2006. The group will form MOP – the Mingo Organizing Project.

Community organizing is a process of building and utilizing a community’s power to make change.

MOP aims to accomplish this through outreach, leadership development, strategic planning and community-led and organized actions and events.

MOP organizers will be provided with home and office space, food, compensation for gas and other resources associated with fulfilling the objectives of MOP. Successful applicants will be officially considered interns of the OVEC.

Much of the interns’ time, especially early on in the summer, will be spent doing listening projects. Fund-raising is another key task for program participants.

Each intern will be expected to raise money in his or her hometown/college community to help finance the MOP before moving to Mingo.

Living in the coalfields and doing this work can be exhausting – physically, socially, emotionally. You will need time off. Going away for a couple of days at a time is fine – not only is it “permitted,” it’s encouraged. Moderate your work load. You will be a happier, healthier person and a more effective organizer if you do.

For more information or to apply, send a cover letter and resume to: Appalachian-always@riseup.net and abe@ohvec.org with “MOP application” in the subject line.

We will review them and schedule a telephone interview. Please include phone numbers for a professional and a personal reference. For more information you may also call Abe at (304) 522-0246.

We are in need of funding for this venture, so please consider making a contribution to OVEC earmarked for “MOP.”