Community organizing is a process by which disempowered people - most often low- and moderate-income people - are brought together to act in their common self-interest. Most often these organizations seek populist goals and the ideal of participatory democracy. Community organizers create popular movements by building a large base of concerned folks, mobilizing these community members to act, and developing leadership from and relationships among the people involved.
Common Aspects of Organized Communities
Organized communities groups seek accountability from elected officials and increased direct representation within decision-making bodies. Where good-faith negotiations fail, these constituency-led organizations seek to pressure the decision-makers through a variety of means, including picketing, boycotting, sit-ins, petitioning, and electoral politics.
Community organizing is usually focused on more than just resolving specific issues. Organizing is the business of building a power structure that involves all community members, often with the end goal of distributing power equally throughout the community.
Community organizers 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.
The new millenium has shown that community organizing is no the elite domain of liberalism, as dozens of conservative organizations have sprung up to support a vast array of topics. A growing diversity among constituents has also led to changing demographics among community organizers, as seniors, youth, and a growing number of middle class citizens become engaged in struggles for justice and rights.
There are two basic types of community organizing, grassroots organizing and coalition building. Additionally, political campaigns often claim that their door-to-door operations are in fact an effort to organize the community, but most often these operations are focused exclusively on voter identification and turn out.
The ideal of grassroots organizing is to build community groups from scratch, develop new leadership where none existed, and otherwise organize the unorganized. Coalition building efforts seek instead to unite existing groups, such as churches, civic associations, and social clubs, to more effectively pursue a common agenda. This organizing model looks more toward existing leadership, and because of this is sometimes referred to, somewhat derisively, as grass tips organizing.
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 social work.
1900 to 1940
Community organization was established distinct from social work, with much energy coming from those critical of capitalist doctrines. Studs Terkel documented community organizing in the depression era, perhaps most notably that of Dorothy Day. Most organizations had a national orientation because the economic problems the nation faced did not seem possible to change at the neighborhood level.
1940 to 1960
The emergence of the distinctive approach of Saul Alinsky spurs new thought and new blood into community movements. Those influenced by Alinsky are concerned with social justice without having socialist thought as their primary framework. Alinsky promoted greater awareness of community organizing in academic circles, and those affiliated with Alinsky trained a generation of organizers, including Cesar Chavez.
1960 to Present
The civil rights movement, the anti-war movements, the feminist movement, and the gay rights movement all influenced and were influenced by ideas of neighborhood organizing. 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.
Organizations
The following groups are examples of community organizing:
