Paul Marincel is a Senior Advisor to the IRL Program. Paul has worked as a professional community organizer since 1978. In the 1980’s Paul hired a team of organizers who started a set of community organizations in Minnesota. He served as founding director of one of those organizations: the St Paul Ecumenical Alliance for Change (SPEAC) beginning in 1990. SPEAC’s mission was to act as a vehicle for low and moderate income people and people of color in St Paul to build independent power to seek justice for themselves and their communities. SPEAC worked with many partner organizations in St Paul and the Metropolitan Region including Joint Ministry Project/Interfaith Action in Minneapolis and GRIP in St Cloud. In 2000 they united to form ISAIAH and Paul became a founding co-Director of ISAIAH. He helped launch and lead ISAIAH’s (ISAIAHMN.org) Healthy Heartlands Initiative and also PICO’s (now Faith in Action) national Center for Health Organizing. The Healthy Heartlands Initiative and the Center for Health Organizing worked with organizers and public health institutions to build toward health equity and to fight racism. Initially Faith-based and neighborhood community organizations in five Midwestern states partnered to forge community power, build public support for change, and win policy victories for healthier, equitable and anti-racist communities. The states include: Minnesota, Ohio, Missouri, Wisconsin and Michigan. These Midwestern urban areas are experiencing some of the country’s most extreme health inequities based upon race, income and geography. Paul has served as Chair of the Central Staff/Gamaliel Foundation (2000 – 2010). As part of the Gamaliel Foundation Central Staff he provided consultation to organizations in the Midwest (with a Co-Director) and established a Development Department. He also helped to launch Metro Organization for Racial and Economic Equity (MORE2) in Kansas City.
