When Presdelane Harris started at Alabama Arise as the phone organizer in summer 1994, she had no idea what the next 30 years had in store. She didn’t intend on being at Arise for long.

“Maybe doing this for a little while, maybe one or two years,” she said.

Pres makes it clear that no matter her journey to Arise, this is where she was meant to be.

“God placed me here. This is not where I ever thought I’d be,” she said.

At Auburn University at Montgomery, Pres majored in justice and public safety and later added a master’s degree in management from Troy University. She considered law school before getting plugged into Arise.

Pres has worn lots of hats since starting at Arise, having “just about every job” at the organization. From phone organizer and office manager to organizing director, where she has helped Arise’s membership grow to reach 53 of Alabama’s 67 counties, Pres has seen the evolution of not just Arise, but Alabama politics as a whole.

“The Legislature was actually a little more diverse then,” she said. “It didn’t feel like it does now.”

Alabama can be a trying place to work on Arise’s issues. What is it that’s kept Pres going? 

“The cumulative impact of seeing people get engaged and being excited,” she said. “The biggest lesson I’ve learned is that you really do have to meet people where they are.”

“Our members are diverse in a lot of ways, but we all come together under our mission to advance policies to improve the lives of people marginalized by poverty,” Pres said. “When you’re talking to folks on the ground, people are just people.”

After 30 years at Arise, including 22 as the organizing director, Pres still has big dreams.  

“I would like us to grow our organizing team more,” she said. “The field is wide open.

While growing the number of organizers on staff is always a goal, deepening relationships is critical to Pres’ vision.

“The reason we have organizers on staff is to grow in depth as well as reach,” she said. 

Taking care of ourselves is a priority for many Arise staff, and Pres is no different. Her faith is essential to her work. 

“Living out my values is a way of taking care of myself. I take seriously the idea of being at peace,” she said. That peace grounds me when everything around is in chaos.”

Anyone who knows Pres knows that cruises are also a big part of her self-care practice. She typically takes two cruises a year with her family. Her next one will be to Costa Maya in Mexico in December.

As far as organizing work, Pres keeps her eye on new technology. From implementing our first database years ago to working on a new texting platform now, she’s always seeking out ways to engage new people into our mission.

“In two text banks, we sent 23,000 texts,” she said. “There was genuine interest. We’re always open to innovative ideas about engaging the most directly impacted folks.”

And what would she like to see in the next 30 years? 

“Thirty years from now, I’d like to see our mission having to change because we have fewer people who are marginalized by poverty,” Pres said. “Ideally, we’ll work ourselves out of a job.”