Community Organizing

Just read three articles on community organizing. If you're interested in the history of community organizing you need to look up Saul Alinsky. I have heard of him before but didn't realize that he identified Cesar Chavez as a leader and trained him. According to the Community organizing toolbox:

Community Organizers: Who are They?http://www.nfg.org/cotb/12organizers.htm

A Brief History of CO: http://www.nfg.org/cotb/09historyco.htm

What is CO: http://www.nfg.org/cotb/07whatisco.htm

community organizing is "called "bottom-up" change in pursuit of social and economic justice." It's important as an organizer to understand dominant power and how it plays out in society. It's about building community--most recently networking local, state and federal support. The articles focus on the idea of facilitating people's work, but not leading it. I hope to learn about this in depth in class! So far my understanding is: an organizer's role is to be a listener about issues and problems of concern without bringing in preconceived ideas. Also the organizer identifies leaders and empowers them to act on their own behalf. It is also mentioned that "organizers develop new relationships out of old ones- sometimes by linking one person to another and sometimes by linking whole networks of people together" (community organizers: who are they?) I like the mention from this article that organizers are responsible to challenge feelings that stop action like self-doubt , fear and isolation by supporting feelings that support action like "anger, hope, self-worth, urgency and a sense of community." Now the test for me is to see how I as an organizer can facilitate Former Foster Youth (FFY) to develop a program on our campus at Humboldt State University. (HSU): to be revealed as my process develops.