At age 21, George Goehl walked into a soup kitchen to eat. Over time, he became an employee, and over time was struck by seeing the same people in line for food as when he first arrived. George decided that he needed to address the root causes that kept people coming back, so he began to organize.  

Today, George is the director of People’s Action, one of the largest multiracial low-income and working-class people’s organizations in the country. People’s Action consists of 40 state and local, grassroots, power-building organizations united in fighting for justice.

Today, George is credited with elevating the field of community organizing to increase emphasis on shaping worldview, building independent political power, and on long-term vision and strategy.

In the wake of the financial crisis, George and National People’s Action mobilized more people into the streets to demand accountability than any other organization, helping win Dodd-Frank Financial Reform, creating the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and securing mortgage relief for hundreds of thousands of families.

Under George’s leadership, the organization leads the most robust, race-conscious, rural organizing effort in the United States. No other organizer has put more into making the case that progressives need a strategy that includes low-income white people in rural communities.

Originally from southern Indiana, he is a husband, father, and banjo player. He is the host of two podcasts, The Next Move, and To See Each Other, which tells the story of why writing rural communities off as Trump country hurts us all. 

His organizing has been covered by The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, Rolling Stone, The Guardian, The Nation, and more. 

George produced and directed the documentary film, King of Bluegrass: The Life and Times of Jimmy Martin.