The old school grassroots organizers with the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition have found an energetic new ally in the growing number of demonstrators with the nascent Occupy the Bronx movement.

The two groups, who share a “power to the people” message, joined forces on a recent Saturday afternoon to collectively call out big banks for what they say is the banks’ role in creating the country’s economic crisis.

But first, each group held their own separate assemblies on opposite ends of Fordham Road.

Occupy the Bronx, born out of the now several-week-old Occupy Wall Street movement, had returned to Fordham Plaza for the second week in a row. While their demands remain unclear, the movement is focused on a fostering a new economic system that would more equitably distribute wealth and resources.

The crowd, which included Assemblyman Jose Rivera with his video camera, gave a warm welcome to New York-based attorney William F. Pepper, who was friends with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the height of the Civil Rights movement and, at the request of Dr. King’s family, would later represent James Earl Ray, King’s alleged assassin.

Because the Occupy movement has no official leader, Pepper said “neither the government or the media can focus on an individual leader.” For this reason, Pepper predicted that the movement would not be silenced.

As “Occupy Fordham” broke up into smaller working groups, more than 300 Bronxites gathered at St. Nicholas of Tolentine Church on University Avenue and Fordham Road, where the Coalition held its annual public meeting. It was attended by several elected officials, including Comptroller John Liu, Assemblywoman Carmen Arroyo, Assemblyman Jeff Dinowitz, Councilman Oliver Koppell and State Senator Gustavo Rivera.

Talk at the meeting focused on a lack of institutional support for under-performing public schools, the contamination problems at PS 51’s former Bedford Park building (and the DOE’s lack of response to parents’ concerns), the need to redevelop and get good jobs out of the vacant Kingsbridge Armory and their support for the so-called “Living Wage bill” in the City Council.

“It’s more than just saving our schools,” Dinowitz said about dealing with under-performing schools. “Saving our schools suggests that we want to keep what we have and make sure they don’t go completely down. [But] we want to make sure we have schools of excellence in our communities.”

Rivera talked about the Occupy movement in general. “I agree with their basic point, that there has been nobody found responsible — the people that helped destroy our economic system — and that the rest of us are paying for it,” he said.

Following the Coalition’s meeting, a diverse crowd of about 100 demonstrators marched east across Fordham Road and met up with a crowd of about 100 occupiers, protesting outside of three banks on Fordham Road.

Many in the crowd would later board two charter buses and head to a larger rally at Union Square. Others took the train.