Our Founders
Mr. Ronald Chisom
Co-Founder
Ronald Chisom is co-founder of The People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond. In 2006, he was selected as a senior fellow and inducted into Ashoka’s Global Academy. Ashoka’s Global Academy is a program for men and women seeking solutions for the world’s most urgent social problems. Ron has organized workers and disadvantaged people throughout the South for over thirty-five years. In the 1990s, he co-founded and served as Associate Director of Treme Community Improvement Association. Treme Community Improvement Association won several significant Louisiana victories in New Orleans. His legal suit, Ronald Chisom v. Charles E. Roemer, Governor of Louisiana et al., challenged the Louisiana Supreme Court to achieve equal representation for the predominantly Black city of New Orleans.
Ron has served as an organizer, advisor, lecturer and consultant to a wide variety of community, legal, and church groups. He has led numerous workshops around the country on Undoing Racism®, community organizing, and leadership/strategy development. His networking and community organizing extends throughout the United States and South Africa. His many prestigious awards include: the Bannerman Fellowship, the Petra Foundation Award, the Pax Christi Bread & Roses, and the Tenant Resource Center Achievement Award.
Ron is married to Jerolie Encalade Chisom. They have one daughter, Tiphanie Chisom-Eugene. Ron is the father-in-law of Cory Eugene, Sr., and is the proud grandfather of Jessica Eugene and Cory Eugene Jr. (C. J.).
Dr. Jim Dunn
(1935 – 1989)
Co-Founder
Dr. Jim Dunn co-founded The People’s Institute for Survival with Ron Chisom in 1980. He was born in Urbana, Ohio in 1935. He was an educator, human rights activist, musician and author. He received a Masters degree in Social Work from Columbia University. Jim went on to receive a doctorate degree in Sociology from Union Institute in Cincinnati, OH. He taught Sociology and Black Studies at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio from 1971 – 1978. Dunn was also one of the founders of HUMAN (Help Us Make A Nation).
To all that knew him, Jim Dunn was known as a very passionate community organizer. He was very passionate about helping poor and disadvantaged communities. He wholeheartedly believed in the Civil Rights Movement. However, he felt the issues around racism, its root causes and how it affected the underserved, were not openly addressed. He wanted issues to be addressed in an open and honest way to evoke systemic change.
Jim eventually met and married Diana Dunn who also shared a passion for organizing and training. Together, Jim, Diana, and Ron worked side by side to develop the foundation for The People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond. The Institute is now recognized and internationally known as PISAB. Dr. and Mrs. Dunn have one daughter, Myisha Dunn. Diana continues to work with The Institute.