Paul Engler

Short bio

Paul Engler is founding director of the Center for the Working Poor, based in Los Angeles. He has worked as an organizer in the immigrant rights, global justice, and labor movements. Paul is one of the founders of the Momentum Training, which educates hundreds of activists each year in the principles of momentum-driven mobilization. For more information about the trainings, visit www.momentumcommunity.org.

Long bio

Paul Engler is a co-founder of Momentum, which instructs hundreds of activists each year in the principles of effective protest. He is co-author, along with Mark Engler, of the influential book on the craft of mass mobilization, This Is an Uprising: How Nonviolent Revolt Is Shaping the Twenty-First Century (Nation Books). Paul is the founder of The Center for the Working Poor in Los Angeles, California, an intentional community with core principles of Strategic Nonviolence, Voluntary Simplicity, Intentional Community, Hospitality, Community Building, and Spirituality and Faith in Action. Paul worked as a community organizer for low-wage workers in the 2000’s, and was involved in multiple social movements including the global justice movement, the anti-war movement, the immigrant rights uprising in 2006, and Occupy Wall Street.

Paul is a certified teacher of Centering Prayer under the auspices of Contemplative Outreach, and founded and has been a leader of one of the youngest Centering Prayer groups in the country for over a decade. He has a daily contemplative practice, and spends an average of 10-20 days each year in monastic and contemplative retreat. He has a LMFT, and is a Licensed Psychotherapist No. 115707.

A higher-resolution photo of Paul is available here.



We will All Become Pilgrims: 2022 Newsletter Summary

December 19th, 2022

By Paul Engler Whenever I write my newsletter, I am afraid a subtle or not-so-subtle repetition will be noticed—I fear I write the same thing over and over again! Generally the theme has something to do with change, uncertainty, and … Continue reading

Liminality is a Recipe for Navigating Winter: Becoming a Pilgrim on the Camino de Santiago

December 19th, 2022

Whether you’re in a midlife, quarter life, or general life crisis, the proverbial crap hits the wall. You break up with your girlfriend, your community starts falling apart, your movement dies, your organization goes bankrupt, you lose the political campaign. … Continue reading

2022 House Journal

December 19th, 2022

I’m happy to report that our community has stabilized at the Center for the Working Poor house. We haven’t had one person leave in the past year! A welcome contrast to 2021, when we had so many people come and … Continue reading

2021 CWP Newsletter Summary

December 15th, 2021

There is a big debate among economists about a curious phenomenon unfolding right now called “The Great Resignation”. We have an immense labor shortage because people are not returning to work as the experts expected (common after a recession). There … Continue reading

2021 Center Update: Ring the Bell of Hope… Again, and Again

December 15th, 2021

This fall, in one of my first trips to visit my coworkers from the Ayni Institute in Boston, I stopped by New York City to visit one of my closest friends, Eric Stoner. And I was sitting on his couch, … Continue reading

2021 House Journal

December 15th, 2021

The Center for the Working Poor was founded in 2006, but we didn’t move into our large Victorian house until 2007. Therefore, we have been in the house for 14 years now; and throughout this time, only Paul Engler has … Continue reading

The Story of Community Counseling

December 15th, 2021

Over the last year, we have started beta groups for a new model of mutual aid counseling, called Community Counseling that has engaged dozens in weekly small group counseling practice and training. In November, I went to Boston to lead … Continue reading

2020 Center Update: Surrender and Become Attentive

December 17th, 2020

“To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven: A time to be born, And a time to die …” — Ecclesiastes 3:1 “Surrender to what is dying, and become attentive to what is emerging.”  — … Continue reading