Rev. David Billings has been an anti-racist trainer and organizer with The People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond since 1983. He is a part of The People’s Institute’s national staff and a member of its Community Organizing Strategy Team (C.O.S.T.) In 1986, he co-founded European Dissent, a collective of white anti-racist activists that continues its work today.
Billings is an historian with an expertise in the history of race and racism. He expertly weaves history into the strategies of effective community organizing and institutional change work.
After 35 years in New Orleans, LA, he moved to New York City in the fall of 2004 to work with The People’s Institute Northeast office. Billings works closely with the tri-state region AntiRacist Alliance, a collective of social work educators and human service practitioners who seek to transform their field so that it is better prepared to understand and address issues of racial disparities. Since 2006, he has served as the Pauline Falk Chair on Community, Race, and Mental Health with the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services.
Billings also works with other anti-racist organizing groups throughout the Northeast, including the New York Education Equity Alliance. In 2007, he was selected by the Black Equity Alliance and the Urban League of NYC to write a forward to their State of Black New York City.
David is also an ordained United Methodist minister and recent advisor to Fordham University’s Beck Institute on Religion and Poverty in New York City.
Over the years, Billings’ organizing work has been cited for many awards such as the New Orleans Pax Christi "Bread and Roses" award; the Loyola University of New Orleans "Homeless and Hunger Award"; and the National Alliance against Racist Oppression's Angela Davis Award for community service.
He is a native of McComb, Mississippi. He has a B.A. from the University of Mississippi, a Masters of Divinity degree from New York Theological Seminary, and a Doctor of Ministry from the University of Creation Spirituality. He is married to Margery Freeman, also a CORE trainer with The People’s Institute and has three children, Nathan and Noah Shroyer, and Stella Billings, and three grandchildren.
Contact information:
David Billings
1045 Harrison Drive
McComb, Mississippi 39648
H: 601-680-0014; cell: 504-722-3212