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Community organizing is a process by which people are brought together to act in common self-interest. While organizing describes any activity involving people interacting with one another in a formal manner, much community organizing is in the pursuit of a common agenda. Many groups seek populist goals and the ideal of participatory democracy. Populism is a discourse which supports "the people" versus "the Elites " Populism may involve either a political philosophy urging social and political Participatory democracy is a process emphasizing the broad Participation (decision making of constituents in the direction and operation of political systems Community organizers create social movements by building a base of concerned people, mobilizing these community members to act, and developing leadership from and relationships among the people involved.

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Common aspects of organized communities

Organized community groups seek accountability from elected officials, corporations and institutions as well as increased direct representation within decision-making bodies and social reform. Where negotiations fail, these organizations seek to inform others outside of the organization of the issues being addressed and expose or pressure the decision-makers through a variety of means, including picketing, boycotting, sit-ins, petitioning, and electoral politics. A boycott is a form of Consumer activism involving the act of voluntarily abstaining from using buying or dealing with someone or some other organization as an expression of

Community organizing is usually focused on more than just resolving specific issues. Organizing is empowering all community members, often with the end goal of distributing power equally throughout the community.

Community organizers generally seek to build groups that are democratic in governance, open and accessible to community members, and concerned with the general health of the community rather than a specific interest group.

There are three basic types of community organizing, grassroots organizing, faith-based and community organizing, and coalition building. For other meanings see Grass roots (disambiguation. A grassroots movement (often referenced in the context of a Political movement The White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives ( OFBCI) is a department under the Office of the President of the United States that was established A coalition is an alliance among individuals during which they cooperate in joint action, each in their own Self-interest. Additionally, political campaigns often claim that their door-to-door operations are in fact an effort to organize the community, often these operations are focused exclusively on voter identification and turn out. A political campaign is an organized effort which seeks to influence the decision making process within a specific group

The ideal of grassroots organizing is to build community groups from scratch, develop new leadership where none existed, and otherwise organize the unorganized. For other meanings see Grass roots (disambiguation. A grassroots movement (often referenced in the context of a Political movement It is a values based process where people are brought together to act in the interest of their communities and the common good. It is a strategy that revitalizes communities and allows the individuals to participate and incite social change. It empowers the people directly involved and impacted by the issues being addressed. A network of community organizations that employ this method is National Peoples Action.

Faith-based community organizing, FBCO, is a deliberate methodology of developing the power and relationships throughout a community of institutions such as congregations, unions, and associations. In the United States of America, the term faith-based is used to describe organizations that are religious in nature and distinguish those organizations from government Built on the work of Saul Alinsky in the mid-1900s, there are now 180 FBCOs in the US as well as in South Africa, England, Germany, and other nations (according to Interfaith Funders' 2001 study Faith Based Community Organizing: State of the Field, by Mark Warren and Richard Wood). Saul David Alinsky ( January 30, 1909, Chicago Illinois - June 12, 1972, Carmel Local organizations are often linked through organizing networks such as the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF), Direct Action and Research Training (DART) Center, and People Improving Communities through Organizing (PICO). For more information view two videos The Power of New Voices and Faith in Action - The PICO Organizing Model.

Coalition building efforts seek instead to unite existing groups, such as churches, civic associations, and social clubs, to more effectively pursue a common agenda. A coalition is an alliance among individuals during which they cooperate in joint action, each in their own Self-interest.

Community organizing is not solely the domain of progressive politics, as dozens of fundamentalist organizations have sprung up, such as the Christian Coalition. Fundamentalism refers to a "deep and totalistic commitment" to a belief in and strict adherence to a set of basic principles (often Religious in nature a reaction For other organizations with a similar name see Christian Coalition.

History of community organizing in the United States

Robert Fisher and Peter Romanofsky have grouped the history of community organizing in the United States into four rough periods:

1880 to 1900

People sought to meet the pressures of rapid immigration and industrialization by organizing immigrant neighborhoods in urban centers. Since the emphasis of the reformers was mostly on building community through settlement houses and other service mechanisms, the dominant approach was what Fisher calls social work. Community Practice is a branch of Social work in the United States that focuses on larger social systems and social change and is tied to the historical roots of United States During this period The Newsboys Strike provided an early model of youth-led organizing. Newsboys Strike of 1899 was a youth-led campaign to force change in the way that Joseph Pulitzer 's and William Randolph Hearst 's newspapers compensated Youth activism is best summarized as Youth voice engaged in Community organizing for Social change.

1900 to 1940

Community organization was established distinct from social work, with much energy coming from those critical of capitalist doctrines. Capitalism is the Economic system in which the Means of production are owned by private Persons and operated for Profit and where Studs Terkel documented community organizing in the depression era, perhaps most notably that of Dorothy Day. Louis "Studs" Terkel (born May 16, 1912) is an American author, historian actor and broadcaster based in Chicago. Dorothy Day ( November 8, 1897 – November 29, 1980) was an American Journalist turned anarchist, social activist Most organizations had a national orientation because the economic problems the nation faced did not seem possible to change at the neighborhood levels.

1940 to 1960

The emergence of the distinctive approach of Saul Alinsky spurred new thought and new blood into community movements. Saul David Alinsky ( January 30, 1909, Chicago Illinois - June 12, 1972, Carmel Those influenced by Alinsky were (and still are) concerned with social justice without having socialist thought as their primary framework. Socialism refers to a broad set of economic theories of social organization advocating state or collective ownership and administration of the Means of production and distribution Alinsky promoted greater awareness of community organizing in academic circles, and those affiliated with Alinsky trained a generation of organizers, including César Chávez. César Estrada Chávez ( March 31, 1927 – April 23, 1993) born in Yuma Arizona, was a Mexican-American farm worker Labor

1960 to present

The American Civil Rights Movement, the anti-war movements, the Chicano movement, the feminist movement, and the gay rights movement all influenced and were influenced by ideas of neighborhood organizing. The American Civil Rights Movement (1955–1968 refers to the reform movements in the United States aimed at abolishing racial discrimination against African The term anti-war usually refers to the opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict unconditional of a maybe-existing just cause. The feminist movement (also known as the Women's Movement or Women's Liberation) is a series of campaigns on issues such as Reproductive rights (sometimes Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender social movements share related goals of social acceptance of Homosexuality, Bisexuality and Transgenderism Lesbian Experience with federal anti-poverty programs and the upheavals in the cities produced a thoughtful response among activists and theorists in the early 1970s that has informed activities, organizations, strategies and movements through the end of the century. Less dramatically, civic associations and neighborhood block clubs were formed all across the country to foster community spirit and civic duty, as well as provide a social outlet.

Many of the most notable leaders in community organizing today emerged from the National Welfare Rights Organization. John Calkins of DART, Ernesto Cortes of the Industrial Areas Foundation, Wade Rathke of ACORN, John Dodds of Philadelphia Unemployment Project and Mark Splain of the AFL-CIO, among others. Wade Rathke is the founder of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN and Service Employees International Union (SEIU Local 100

Community Organizing for International Development

One of Alinsky's associates, a Presbyterian minister called Herbert White became a missionary in South Korea and the Philippines and brought Alinsky’s ideas, books and materials with him. In the Philippines, he helped start a community organization in the Manila slum of Tondo in the 1970s. The concepts of community organizing spread through the many local NGO and activists groups in the Philippines.

Filipino community organizers melded Alinsky's ideas with concepts from liberation theology, a pro-poor theological movement in the developing world, and the philosophy of Brazilian educationalist Paulo Freire. Liberation theology is a school of Theology within Christianity, particularly in the Roman Catholic Paulo Freire ( Recife, Brazil September 19, 1921 – São Paulo, Brazil May 2, 1997) was a Brazilian They found this community organizing a well-suited method to work among the poor during the martial law era of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralín Marcos ( September 11, 1917 &ndash September 28, 1989) was President of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986 Unlike the communist guerrillas, community organizers quietly worked to encourage critical thinking about the status quo, facilitate organization and the support the solving of concrete collective problems. Community organizing was thus able to lay the groundwork for the People Power revolution of 1986, which nonviolently pushed Marcos out of power.

A 1974 manual summarizing some of the Filipino experience of community organizing Organizing People for Power actually became quite popular in the South Africa, among activist groups organizing communities in Soweto. Soweto is an urban area in the City of Johannesburg, in Gauteng, South Africa.

The concepts of community organizing have now filtered into many international organizations as a way of promoting participation of communities in social, economic and political change in developing countries. This is often referred to as participatory development, participatory rural appraisal, participatory action research or local capacity building. Participatory rural appraisal (PRA is an approach used by Non-governmental organizations (NGOs and other agencies involved in International development. Action Research or Participatory action research has emerged in recent years as a significant methodology for intervention development and change within communities and groups Capacity building often refers to assistance which is provided to entities usually Developing country societies which have a need to develop a certain skill or competence Robert Chambers has been a particularly notable advocate of such techniques. Robert Chambers ( 10 July 1802 &ndash 17 March 1871) was a Scottish Author and Publisher, who in partnership

Careers and Training in Community Organizing

A career as a community organizer can be a great option for people who want to make a difference, are concerned about social inequities, and are interested in community solutions and empowering people. People come to careers in community organizing from diverse professions and backgrounds. Many people discover community organizing through participation in some sort of organizing or activist effort in their own communities, and only afterward discover that there are actually jobs and a profession in community organizing. [1] There are graduate and undergraduate programs which focus on community organizing at several colleges and universities in the U. S. , such as the University of Maryland--see[2]and[3],and the University of Vermont. [4]

Some feel that the community organizing field currently is in need of more effective recruitment and training of potential community organizers. They argue that the current situation, which relies primarily on word-of-mouth and some academic programs, is not adequate to meet the need for community organizers. For example, Joe Szakos, in his paper published on the COMM-ORG website, argues that a collective recruitment plan for community organizers is needed. Joe Szakos (b March 8 1954 is a Community organizer and author

Several good community organizing training programs exist for people new to the field. These include the DART Organizers Institute, and the Midwest Academy's Internship program. However many of these programs accept only a small number of applicants. For example, the Midwest Academy states that it hires "10 or more community organizing interns. The Midwest Academy is an educational institution founded in 1973 and based in Chicago Illinois, USA " [5] DART says on its website that in 2006 it received "over 1,100 resumes and interviewed over 500 candidates, and finally selected 20 Organizer Trainees. "[6] The Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) also offers summer internships for college students and paid "90-Day Try Outs" at their affiliate organizations. The Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF is a Chicago -based Community organizing network established in 1940 by Saul Alinsky. [7] This page on the Center for Community Change websitehas a good list of community organizer training and internship opportunities, with descriptions of each opportunity. The Center for Community Change (CCC is one of the larger community building organizations in the United States.

The three training programs mentioned above are paid internship programs. There are also training programs that require participants to pay for the cost of the training, which usually lasts for several days. The Midwest Academy offers such a program. These trainings tend to be geared toward people already involved in community organizing in one way or another, including community leaders (the local people who are constituents of a community organization and lead the efforts).

There are several good resources online with advice and information for people exploring a career in community organizing. These include an info-packed Organizing Guide in the Career Center at idealist.org. Mission From Idealistorg Action Without Borders connects people organizations and resources to help build a world where all people can live free and Additionally, the COMM-ORG website has a "...How to get Started in Community Organizing" page with info provided by people on their list-serv.

Organizations

The following groups are examples of community organizing in the United States and Canada:

The following are examples of community organizing internationally:

Notable community organizers

See also List of organizers Category:Community organizers

Bibliography

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/10533392

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/19556345

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/19815053

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/51848381

See also

External links

David Walls (born October 21 1941 is an Activist and Academic who has made significant contributions to Appalachian studies and to the popular understanding
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