Quilen's Cues to Community Organizing

Housing Initiatives Passed

2010-05-15T17:43:00.002-05:00

I am happy to announce that the Affordable Housing Task Force of Waukesha County was able to get a 61 unit affordable housing multi unit project through the plan commission in the city of Oconomowoc, WI, as well as allowing a temporary housing unit retain its zoning permit in the city of Waukesha, WI.

Pulling the Cart Before the Horse?

2010-02-12T11:30:00.002-06:00

So, it is looking like our effort to get a housing trust fund passed in Waukesha County might stall due to internal strategy disputes. The problem: Some of us want to focus on pushing through a housing trust fund, but the problem with this strategy is that no one can agree on the policy details and others just want to push for affordable housing and once we have public traction then focus on the policy details. Personally, I favor the latter because to me it doesn't make sense to focus on the details of a housing trust fund policy if we don't even know that we have enough public support for it. Moreover, I think we may never get our grassroots effort underway if we keep constantly bickering over the specifics of a policy (which they have for about a year and a half now) that the politicians/public will eventually alter once we do cultivate the public support. Lesson for activists: Do not pull the cart (policy proposals) before the horse (needed public support) if you want to be successful.

The Poor: An Invisible Social Class

2010-02-10T15:58:00.002-06:00

So, I had a meeting today with our fellow affordable housing task force members to review our strategy after collecting some of our petitions (we received about 500 signatures so far). I was surprised to hear one of our members dismiss the petition results once I told them that we got signatures from people at food pantries. He said that county supervisors won't recognize their signatures because "food pantry people" don't pay taxes so we should try to get signatures from the "representative community". Besides being appalled by his comments, it was even more amazing at the muted reaction from everyone else (considering that these are folks who advocate for affordable housing). The poor has truly become an invisible class in America. With the rich in power and politicians tripping over each other to cater to the middle class, who will speak for the poor?

Spies Among Us?

2010-02-03T23:05:00.004-06:00

Today at our affordable housing task force meeting there was one well dressed guy who seemed to take on the role of an obstructionist. He seemed to try to steer us off of our agenda and he steamrolled over other people's opinions. Later, it was revealed that he worked for the county and that there is strong suspicion amongst our leaders that the county sent him to keep an eye on our meetings. This serves as a reminder to activists everywhere that moles can be sent to infiltrate our ranks with the goal of destroying what we seek to change so be careful!!!!

The A-Student Mentality and How It Kills

2010-02-02T19:31:00.001-06:00

So we had a meeting with the county executive and not so surprisingly he shot down our proposal for a housing trust fund. However, the surprising part was how quick our task force members went into "A-student" mode:

Task Force Member: "Well, what can we do to improve our proposal?"
County Executive: "You need to find better funding sources."
TFM: "OK, we will find more funding sources and then schedule a follow up meeting with you."

Although this conversation might seem OK, when you consider that the task force has been working on this issue for over two years and had several meetings with both the county executive as well as other county supervisors, this reaction is inexcusable. Unfortunately, too many people were brought up in a school system that says, "if you work hard enough on your homework then you will get the results you want from your teacher" which is not necessarily true (and at times can be debilitating) in the real world. In this case, we could bring a perfect proposal to him and he still would reject it because of his politics. So, we have to seek to change something outside of the classic "teacher-student" dynamic in order to change his behavior. But our task force seems a little cool to the idea of mounting an aggressive and serious grassroots campaign to place external pressure on our elected officials.

Proper Partnership Etiquette

2010-01-28T12:50:00.003-06:00

I'm kinda peeved today. We had a meeting with a key county supervisor for the housing trust fund scheduled and our non-profit partner (who shall remain nameless) decided to unilaterally cancel the meeting literally a couple hours before the meeting via email!!!

I think it is time to review proper partnership etiquette:

1. DO NOT unilaterally make critical decisions to a grassroots campaign without FIRST discussing it with your other stakeholders.

2. DO NOT notify the other attendees of a cancellation only hours before the meeting takes place.

3. DO NOT inform other attendees of a cancellation via EMAIL....always give a courtesy call.

Housing Trust Funds

2010-01-27T11:58:00.009-06:00

Affordable housing activists might find the concept of a housing trust fund interesting. A county sponsored housing trust fund provides county monies for the following:

1. Construction of new affordable housing

2. Rehabilitation of existing housing

3. Land acquisition for new construction

4. Accessibility modifications (for people with disabilities)

5. Housing related supportive services (i.e. housing counseling, case management, etc.)

The county would have an oversight committee to administer the fund and grant monies based on a competitive application process. Possible funding sources include the following:

1. A small increase in the real estate transfer tax

2. A county sales tax of .1 percent

3. Two cents per $1,000 of property taxes

4. Employer tax deductible contributions

When most people think of affordable housing they instantly conjure up images of huge projects. Nowadays, this isn't the case. These places are all affordable housing complexes:

The Silvernail, Waukesha, WI

Deer Creek Village, New Berlin, WI

Breezewood Village, Hartland, WI

New Online Petition Tool

2010-01-26T08:55:00.003-06:00

Change.org continues to create internet tools to advance grassroots work. You can now create an online petition for netizens to sign and it will automatically be sent to the email inbox of your targeted elected official. The petition is at http://www.change.org/petition.

A couple of things you should know before jumping into it:

* Currently there is no way to limit who can sign the petition. This isn't good for local efforts dealing with local officials who may not be interested in the opinion of someone from Italy on a local matter.

* This tool is probably most effective for issues related to multinational businesses or global organizational leaders such as the UN or World Bank.

* It enables for quick and nimble mass organization on issues impacting nations across a broad spectrum.

Organizing in a Conservative County II

2010-01-25T13:36:00.007-06:00

So we decided to pursue a low key grassroots strategy that entails getting petitions out to churches, calling county supervisors, and meeting with supervisors one on one. Waukesha County is pretty cool to the idea of "in your face" activism so we are adjusting our strategy and tactics to fit within this framework. I drove around Waukesha County today dropping off petitions and found that mostly Catholic churches and some food pantries were receptive while most politely denied to pass the petition. The greatest challenges we will face will be finding a suitable funding source for the housing trust to provide monies for affordable housing (the good people of Waukesha do not enjoy tax increases) and convincing elected officials that affordable housing is a problem.

An interesting aspect of organizing around affordable housing in Waukesha County are the people who are behind the effort as well as the people who are most affected by it. The face of people struggling with housing is not single mothers, minorities, and working class people, but rather teachers, daycare workers, pastors, middle management people, etc. Also, the people driving the change are mostly non profit folks (many of whom do not even live in the county such as myself). One of our goals is to increase the participation of the actual county residents who are being affected by housing, but due to Waukesha's subdued political climate, most people do not want to "ruffle any feathers." So, it will be interesting to see how this campaign unfolds. We also have a website for our campaign at http://www.affordablehousingtaskforce.org.

Email Quilen with your questions, comments, or random outbursts about your organizing or activism work at cuestocommunityorganizing@gmail.com

Organizing in a Conservative County

2010-01-24T19:33:00.005-06:00

I recently got a new job as a community organizer with Community Action Coalition is Madison, WI (I've taken a bit of an organizing hiatus). It is a stimulus funded position and I am responsible for organizing a grassroots campaign in Waukesha County to establish a housing trust fund to provide county monies for affordable housing initiatives such as starter homes, apartments, senior housing etc. This effort is unique because Waukesha is the wealthiest county in Wisconsin. The median home value is $250,000 which clearly prices out many service level professionals such as teachers, daycare workers, church pastors, etc. Because of this high bar for housing, 40 percent of the workforce live outside of the county primarily in Milwaukee and Jefferson counties. This drains potential monies that could be spent on local businesses in Waukesha but are spent in neighboring counties since housing is more affordable there. I will track my progress in my new job in this blog.

Email Quilen with your questions, comments, or random outbursts about your organizing or activism work at cuestocommunityorganizing@gmail.com.

When Will Wealth Meet Organizing?

2009-05-15T12:59:00.003-05:00

My friends know that my biggest gripe about organizing is the stigma against business. I feel that organizing will not fulfill its total potential until organizers take business and entrepreneurism more seriously. It is a well known fact that power can be obtained two ways: by having the money, guns, and lawyers or by having the people. We've been focusing on the people for far too long and I think it is high time that we at least get some money and lawyers.

Membership Retention

2009-05-08T15:48:00.001-05:00

I met with a bunch of student leaders and one of the reoccurring themes is the problem of membership retention. I believe the key to membership retention is membership selection. The ability to select willing and committed members will naturally increase your retention rate.

The Three Models of Youth Organizing

2009-04-23T23:03:00.005-05:00

1) Independent Groups
These are groups that are organized exclusively by youth for youth with little to no adult supervision. They tend to be organic and grassroots in nature.

2) Multi-Generational Groups
These are youth groups that are apart of larger multi-generational groups where youth may be mixed in with young adults, middle aged adults, or the elderly.

3) Youth Groups Apart of Larger Institutions
These are groups such as the YMCA or Girl Scouts of America where adults are largely responsible for the operations of the group and act as service providers for the youth recipients.

National Service Bill to Become Law

2009-04-21T15:16:00.002-05:00

Today President Obama will sign into law the National Service Bill. This bill will triple the size of the AmeriCorps over the next 8 years and provide college money credits for people who volunteer. This bill also includes up to $1,000 school credits that people over 55 can earn and transfer to a child, grandchild, or even someone who he/she mentors.

You can find out more about this bill at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30322060/.

Meet a Commuity Organization: the Center for Third World Organizing

2009-04-09T21:56:00.003-05:00

Today we will take a look at the Center for Third World Organizing. You can find them in the cyber world at http://www.ctwo.org/.

The Center for Third World Organizing (CTWO) is "a racial-justice organization dedicated to building a social-justice movement led by people of color. CTWO is a 25-year-old training and resource center that promotes and sustains direct-action organizing in communities of color in the United States." They have programs including the training of new and experienced organizers, creating model multi-racial communities, and aggressively building networks activists of color to achieve racial justice.

Some of their formal programs include Community Action Trainings (CAT), Movement Activist Apprenticeship Program (MAAP), California Lead Organizers Institute (CLOI), and they provide custom consultation services.

You can contact CTWO by calling (510) 533-7583.

National People's Action and the Fight Against Redlining

2009-04-07T22:12:00.003-05:00

Today we remember a great moment in organizing history: the National People's Action's victory against redlining.

Before the NPA came into existence, it was influenced by Saul Alinsky in Chicago through the Northwest Community Organization. Tom Gaudette and Shel Trapp worked on the organizing efforts that addressed issues such as panic peddling by real estate companies, and FHA abuse of new homeowners, who were mostly minorities. This grew into a larger campaign against redlining of low income areas by banks and insurance companies.

In 1972, this fledging organizing effort decided to attempt the incredible: cajole Congress into passing federal anti-redlining legislation. So before the 1972 presidential election, they called a national meeting on the issue and formed what is now the National People's Action. They held their first convention and invited the presidential candidates to come (only the democrats showed up). This served as a critical action to gain more support within organizing circles.

As momentum grew, the NPA and other groups planned a strategy to pass CRA (the Community Re-investment Act) and FHA Payback (reimburse homeowners who had been sold substandard homes). This effort led to the passing of the CRA in 1977 (At the end of 2006, $1.2 trillion had been invested in low income communities throughout the country) and in the process FHA passed as well.

This remarkable moment in community organizing history illustrates the impact a few determined and well organized groups can do to bring substantial change at the national level.

Community Organizing's Moment?

2009-04-05T22:29:00.003-05:00

This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for community organizing. Organizing has entered the national spotlight in a big way led by the new President himself. The question is whether we will capitalize on this rare opportunity.

Unfortunately for organizing, we are fragmented and rarely collaborate on larger issues. Organizing groups generally work in small bubbles around the country although their may be dozens of other organizing groups addressing the same issues in the same city. This can be due to turf battles over funding from foundations, media attention, low profiles, etc.

We will need to overcome these petty turf battles and stubborn isolationist thinking if we are going to fully seize the moment. Opportunities to galvanize a generation around organizing do not come around often. Therefore, we have to act now!

A Good Inside Outside Game

2009-04-04T13:54:00.003-05:00

I'm a huge basketball fan, and in basketball one of the most important facets of a winning team is a strong inside outside game. I also believe the same is true in winning community organizing campaigns.

A strong inside outside game in basketball translates to having a good pivot player who is a threat to score near the basket while having good sharpshooters who can put it in the hole on the perimeter. In organizing, a strong inside game is having key legislators and important officials lobby hard in favor of your issues while allowing the strong outside game of protests, civil disobedience, rallies, etc. galvanize the public and place pressure on officials.

It is in mastering this key aspect of the game that an organizing effort can truly wreak havoc on the opposition.

Meet a Commuity Organization: the DART Center

2009-04-03T09:58:00.002-05:00

Today we continue Meet a Community Organization with a look at the DART Center. You can find out more about the DART Center at http://www.thedartcenter.org/.

Based in Miami, Florida, the Direct Action and Research Training Center is "committed to building powerful, diverse, congregation-based, and democratically run organizations capable of winning justice on issues facing the community. Since 1982, DART has built and strengthened over twenty local affiliated organizations in six states and trained over 10,000 community leaders and 150 professional community organizers."

This proud organization has won powerful victories in the areas of reading instruction and fair school suspension policies in public schools, new pre-school programming for children from at-risk families, clean-up of drugs and crime, multi-million dollar investments in an affordable housing, reinvestment by banks in previously redlined communities, expansion of effective community-oriented policing, massive multi-million dollar expansions of public transportation, accessible health care reform in several major metropolitan cities, investment in job training for those coming off public assistance, fair immigration policies, and dozens of other issues important to low-income communities.

You can contact the DART Center at 305-576-8020 or DARTCENTER@aol.com

Don't Forget the Church!

2009-04-01T21:51:00.002-05:00

As community organizing continues to develop and become a greater fixture in American public life, many groups are drifting from the church as a base. I think that community organizing ignores religious communities at its peril.

The church has been the cornerstone of organizing efforts dating back to the Catholics support of labor unions and the Christian and Jewish communities support of the Civil Rights movement. The church provides several key elements essential to the well being of good organizing: a readily available constituency for turn out purposes, strong foundation of many communities, and a moral imperative to do good works above self interest.

When organizing groups leave this critical group on the sidelines, they expose themselves to potentially fickle coalitions of groups seeking to only address their narrow interests. This can make long organizing campaigns especially difficult since some of the toughest issues requires enduring long suffering. Although non religious groups can do this, religious organizations are uniquely positioned to carry out the role of being the soul of a campaign.

Therefore, I encourage community organizations to re-engage the church as a primary partner in the fight to improve communities through organizing.

Meet a Community Organization: Family Support Network

2009-03-16T20:25:00.003-05:00

Today we will examine the Family Support Network as we continue out Meet a Community Organization series. You can find out more about the Family Support Network at www.familynetwork.org.

The Family Support Network, founded in 1993, seeks to connect caring neighbors with one another through community weaving projects, acting as a catalyst to manifest a culture of living democracy, and connecting people to one another and to resources in order to promote healthy, joyous, prosperous and fear-free communities in which individuals may thrive and empower one another. This group does a great job of fostering a spirit of community organizing with continuous family and community building activities.

You can contact the Family Support Network at fsninquiries@familynetwork.org or you can call at 206-240-2241 or 425-820-2224.

Looking for Jobs in Wisconsin!?!?

2009-03-12T12:29:00.002-05:00

In light of the massive job layoffs, and with my home state of Wisconsin being one of the hardest hit in the nation, I asked around for any employment opportunities in Wisconsin.

As it turns out, the Urban League of Madison, WI, holds an 8 week free training program. This program trains people to become medical document staffers. They told me that graduates of the program easily find jobs within the health care industry with pay starting at $10-$12 an hour. If you are interested send me an email at qdblackwell@gmail.com.

Meet a Commuity Organization: The Gamaliel Foundation

2009-03-09T11:45:00.002-05:00

In today's segment of Meet a Community Organization we will examine a community group recently thrust to center stage: the Gamaliel Foundation. You can contact the Gamaliel Foundation at http://www.gamaliel.org/default.htm.

The Gamaliel Foundation was swept up by the presidential campaign since one of their former organizers, Barack Obama, was on his way to winning a historic election. Gamaliel Foundation is a national community based organizing network. They organize around issues such as health care reform, jobs, immigration, and transportation. This is a well known and very credible organization operating in several states.

You can contact the Gamaliel Foundation at info@gamaliel.org

Reassessing Measuring Social Sector Success

2009-03-07T11:35:00.002-06:00

I've been reading Jim Collin's distinguished book, Good to Great, and the accompanying monograph Good to Great and the Social Sectors.

He makes an important point for all of us involved in any social sector organization: knowing how to assess and separate our inputs from out outputs. Too many of us make the mistake of assessing our performance by assuming our inputs are the same as our outputs. For example, most people analyzing a non-profit with a high percentage of its budget allocated for administrative, fund raising, and salary costs would think that this group is performing poorly since not enough money is not going to its "mission". The problem with this analysis is that for social sector groups money is an input not an output. Therefore, it is possible for an organization, such as a community's orchestra group, to have relatively high admin costs, but to produce stellar musical shows, attract large audiences, change the morale of a community, be invited to exclusive festivals, etc.

In this case, the outputs for the orchestra group would be measured by the quality of music, show attendance, impact on community feeling, etc. Therefore, according to these measures they would be fulfilling their mission. If each community group could develop a set of quantitative and/or qualitative output measurements to assess their ability to fulfill their mission, then this would be a better gauge of whether high input costs such as money for administrative purposes are justified.

Meet a Commuity Organization: Grassroots Global Justice

2009-03-02T13:23:00.002-06:00

We continue our examination of community organizing groups by taking a look at the Grassroots Global Justice organization. You can find GGJ online at http://www.ggjalliance.org/.

Grassroots Global Justice is organizing to push an agenda for poor and working people. They see themselves as part of a larger global movement for justice and actively seek to build relationships with other like minded groups in the US and abroad. Recently, they have focused on job and economic issues in light of the economic downturn.

You can reach Grassroots Global Justice at http://www.ggjalliance.org/contact.

Meet a Commuity Organization: The Industrial Areas Foundation

2009-02-23T03:30:00.002-06:00

Sorry for the delay. I've been spending the last several days preparing for my return back to the States as I wrap up my Peace Corps service. Today, we continue our exploration into the world of community organizing groups with a look at one of the oldest and most storied groups around: the Industrial Areas Foundation. You can look them up at www.industrialareasfoundation.org.

Based in Chicago and founded by the legendary Saul Alinsky, the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) organizes neighborhoods using broad based organizing techniques in order to empower and improve the lives of everyday people. They have over 54 affiliates throughout the United States, Canada, Germany, and England.

The IAF has been around since 1940 and has won major victories to insure affordable housing, jobs, living wage, civil rights, environmental protection, business accountability, education reforms, etc. The IAF is very much the foundation of just about every other organizing organization in the country since many of them use some variation of Saul Alinsky's principles.

If you are interested in getting to the roots of traditional community organizing, the IAF is the first place you should look into. You can contact them at iaf@iafil.org

Meet a Community Organization: Institute for Global Communications

2009-02-15T22:47:00.002-06:00

After a brief break from my blog due to meetings here in Bangkok for my job, we will continue with the next installment of Meet a Community Organization. Today, we will examine the Institute for Global Communications. You can locate them at www.igc.apc.org

Based in San Francisco, IGC dedicates itself to bringing advanced communication technologies to grasroots organizations. They maintain four flagship computer networks: PeaceNet, EcoNet, WomensNet, and AntiRacismNet. Over 250 non-profits use their hosting services currently.

IGC continues to provide first class information technology service to help community groups advance their work. You can contact IGC at support@igc.apc.org

Meet a Commuity Organization: Jewish Organizing Initiative

2009-02-10T05:05:00.003-06:00

We will take a look at a more ethnically focused style of organizing today: the Jewish Organizing Initiative. You can find more information about JOI at http://www.jewishorganizing.org/.

The Jewish Organizing Initiative, based in Boston, has been around for ten years and seeks to train young Jewish leaders. They have a fellowship program which recruits young Jewish adults from all over the world to promote this effort. This program consists of a broad network of trainers, mentors, community organizers, and supporters and trains them in Jewish values of dignity and justice for all people. These people work to insure social and economic justice, Jewish learning, training in community organizing skills, and Jewish community building.

JOI focuses on community organizing as a strategy for community building and social change. They believe that community organizing fosters a spirit of shared public responsibility and creates grassroots leaders. Their community organizing program is immersed in Jewish tradition and religion as fellows study Jewish texts and make the connection between Jewish identity and social change.

You can contact the Jewish Organizing Initiative at joi@jewishorganizing.org

Meet a Community Organization: Labor/Community Strategy Center

2009-02-09T01:47:00.004-06:00

Quilen's Disclaimer: I do not hold, share, or promote any of the views of the Labor/Community Strategy Center. I am simply introducing you to the community organizations that exist in America.

In today's Meet a Community Organization segment we will look at the Labor/Community Strategy Center. Their home page is http://www.thestrategycenter.org/

Based in Los Angeles, the Labor/Community Strategy Center is a multiracial think tank/act tank dedicated to bringing international socialist movements to challenge the domination of transnational capital. They promote class based labor organizing, environmental protection, immigrant rights, first class transportation, as well as combating poverty. They also produce multilingual publications about organizing and issues.

Some of the current projects they have include the bus riders union, Ahoranow, clean air, and their radio program Voices from the Frontlines. You can contact Labor/Community Strategy Center at info@thestrategycenter.org

Meet a Community Organization: National Organizers Alliance

2009-02-06T08:58:00.000-06:00

Today we will continue the saga known as Meet a Community Organization with our fifth installment. This time, we will get to know the National Organizers Alliance. NOA can be found at http://noacentral.org/page.php?id=1.

The National Organizers Alliance, based in Washington D.C., is job central in the community organizing world. They maintain an updated jab bank of community organizing jobs and recently launched the Organizers for America program which is a jobs marketplace for people looking to enter organizing, veteran organizers seeking new challenges, and established community organizations looking to hire new organizers. NOA also activley promotes community organizer employment benefits, pension plan, and other ways to help compensate us.

NOA also runs the presitigious awards program known as the Organizer Respite Awards. These awards honors two of the most outstanding community organizers for the past year. The 2008-2009 recipients were Dorothy Cunningham with Irvington Community Association in Baltimore, and Mary Kay Harris with Direct Action for Rights and Equality (DARE) in Providence, Rhode Island.

You can contact NOA at 301-270-0640

Meet a Commuity Organization: National People's Action

2009-02-04T03:34:00.005-06:00

Today, we continue our Meet a Community Organization series by taking a look at another storied and dynamic community organizing network: National People's Action. You can go their main website by typing in http://www.npa-us.org/.

Based in Chicago, National People's Action is a diverse community organizing network of 24 community organizations from around the nation attempting to bring social and economic justice to Washington through a proactive agenda. They push national issues such as housing, immigration, worker and tenant rights, healthcare, the environment, and education reform. Some recent victories include helping to get about 80 percent of applied citizenship applications processed before the election and scoring meetings with key officials such as Federal Reserve Chief Ben Bernanke.

They post several videos on their site detailing their work both successes and failures. This is a no frills, bare bones community organizing effort 100 percent focused on the results of their work.

You can reach NPA at 312.243.3035

The Great Plateau: eBay Losing Its Edge

2009-02-03T09:49:00.004-06:00

In an effort to help my local high school in Thailand earn a little cash and expose students to e-commerce concepts, we started a small eBay business. However, we quickly realized the major limitations of selling on eBay.

There was a time when you could sell just about anything on eBay and turn a decent profit. Nowadays, however, increased competition and eBay fees, the perception of eBay as a discount market, and international shipping costs has made it very difficult for newbies to sell profitably. Our business never took off because of the language barrier, banking issues, and the flood of Thai style products already being sold on eBay.

It seems that eBay has plateaued and may even be in decline. The big businesses seem to be the ones turning consistent profits as the little merchants who do not have the high positive feedback or the advanced management systems gets pushed aside. In my opinion, all of the effort that now goes into being successful on eBay nowadays is better spent on your own original website. At least then you won't have to pay those excessive eBay fees.

Meet a Commuity Organization: Neighborhoods USA

2009-02-03T09:26:00.003-06:00

In our fourth installment of Meet a Community Organization we will take a look at Neighborhoods USA. This national organization can be located online at www.nusa.org/.

Neighborhoods USA is a national organization that seeks to strengthen the neighborhood organizations of America. Founded in 1975, they work to help non-profits, government, and the private sector to share information and resources. Currently, NUSA has over 1,000 member organizations with an annual conference with about 600 to 900 participants. The organization is overseen by a board of 27 directors, headed by Elton Gatewood.

They sponsor awards to honor neighborhood achievements. They give out the Neighborhood of the Year, Best Neighborhood Program, and NUSA Notables awards. In 2008, North Long Beach Community Action Group (Long Beach, CA) won the Neighborhood of the Year award for creating a permanent cultural assets archives within a community redevelopment project. They also have links to neighborhood association development.

In 2008, they made $55,794.42 in total income and their current balance on hand as of October, 2008, is $39,096.99. You can contact NUSA at kharber1@woh.rr.com.

Meet a Commuity Organization: PICO National Network

2009-02-02T06:05:00.006-06:00

In day three of our Meet a Community Organization series, we will take a look at the PICO National Network. They can be found at www.piconetwork.org.

Based in Oakland, CA, PICO is a national community organizing network of faith based organizations working to create innovative solutions to problems facing America's communities. Founded in 1972, PICO has successfully increased access to health care, improve public schools, make neighborhoods safer, build affordable housing, redevelop communities, and keep the wheels of democracy churning. They engage common people through community organizing that has created a leadership legacy of thousands of people throughout the country. PICO allows faith organizations to translate their faith into action by working with over 50 different faith traditions. They have over 1,000 member institutions representing 1 million families across 150 different cities and 17 different states. (They are in AK, AL, CA, CO, FL, KS, LA, MO, NJ, NM, NY, PA, VA, VT, and WY). They also assist 6 organizations in community organizing development in Central America and Rwanda.

Among their issues and campaigns is the New Voices Campaign. This campaign, started in 2004, seeks to bring the voices and values of American families into the national public policy debate. Its an attempt to take the local to the national on issues such as education, immigration, housing, jobs, and health care.

They maintain daily news reports of the media covering their member institutions. Some recent victories include congregations winning $4 million dollars for safety and green job creation and the Queens, NY, congregations winning affordable housing for people who make between $23,000 and $38,000. They also maintain research and training resources on their web page.

PICO also is very candid about their funding sources for a community organizing network. They publish a full list of all their funders on their site (http://www.piconetwork.org/ab_funders.html). Some of the notable funders are Ben and Jerry's, the Cititgroup Foundation, and the William Randolf Hearst Foundation.

You can contact PICO at 886-550-7426.

Meet a Commuity Organization: Tenant Net

2009-02-01T05:34:00.003-06:00

I continue our journey into the world of community organizations in the US with part two of my daily blog series. Today, we will examine the New York based Tenant Net which can be found online at http://tenant.net/.

Tenant Net is an online resource for tenants who have been evicted. It is made up by a collection of individual tenants and leaders of tenant community organizations. They provide a wide variety of resources mainly for New York state residents, but they also have information on other states as well. It is a one stop shop to learn about tenant's rights, available apartments, rental statistics, attorney's who represent tenants, and provides updates on news that effects tenants.

Tenant Net is not funded by any outside interests. They make money through Google Adsense ads and other sponsored advertisements on their site, but also keep their costs low by having volunteers post material.

You can contact Tenant Net at this web address: http://www.tenant.net/contact/contact.html

Meet a Commuity Organization: USAction

2009-01-31T02:04:00.005-06:00

Today I will start my daily review of all the major national and regional community organizations in America to present a more complete picture of the scope of the on the ground organizing work that goes on everyday. This will span well over 81 organizations in all 50 states. The first organization is USAction which can be found in the cyber world by punching in http://www.usaction.org/ into your web browser.

Based in Washington, D.C., USAction is a national organization of 23 local community organizing affiliates dedicated to advancing a progressive agenda around issues such as better health care, green jobs, lower dependence on oil, relief for struggling families, etc. They achieve these objectives by building power through uniting people around issue and election campaigns both locally and nationally. William McNary is currently the president of USAction, and he has a background in labor organizing, legislative lobbying, and journalism (he graduated from Iowa with a degree in journalism). Some of USAction recent local victories include passage of quality and affordable health care for all in Wisconsin and Oregon in 2007, and they are currently working on the economic stimulus package that is moving through Congress.

Th organization holds an annual Progressive Leadership Awards event in Washington D.C. to honor various outstanding progressive leaders. Past honorees included Eli Pariser (executive director of Moveon.org), Senator Richard Durbin, Leo Gerard (president, United Steel Workers of America), and then Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

You can contact USAction by phone at 202-263-4520 or email at usaction@usaction.org.

The Little Engine Who Could: How a Small Village is Creating Green Jobs

2009-01-30T19:45:00.012-06:00

I just got back from visiting another province, Chiang Mai, here in Thailand. I went to observe an organic farming project that my friend Mike worked on and came away very impressed.

Mike's Thai counterpart, Pe Chai, effectively "greened" his community's entire economy by finding a way to make organic farming profitable and then organize all of his neighbors to do it too. As a result, he was able to create a organic farmer's union that represented 83 families and with enough farm product bulk to export their goods directly to Europe and Asia without the help of a middleman, which increased the average family's profits by over 50 percent.

Also, the profits from the organic farming business has increased the tax base of the community. Therefore, more money has also flowed into daycares, school, local health clinics, elderly groups, and other community assistance programs.

Moreover, just about every job in his village is based on organic farming. There are the actual farmers who grow and harvest the corn, rice, peanuts, etc. and then they have a bunch of small food manufacturers that make banana chips, peanut snacks, and other small packaged goods. They also invested in their infrastructure by building a brand new storage facility and rice mill. His village's local economy is booming and he is doing his part to help the environment.

This is an example of the power of using community organizing to create value, and not simply extract something or redistribute the same resources. Pe Chai took a community strength (farming) and applied it in a new way to meet a specific need in the marketplace (organic foodstuffs) to create even more value (essentially grow the pie) for his community to export to the world.

Oh! I have pictures this time too!!

Organic lettuce heads in the field

Pe Chai outside of the banana chip manufacturing
plant.

Mike outside of the new storage facility

The brand new rice mill

It's Better to Die on Your Feet Than Live on Your Knees!

2009-01-29T20:39:00.003-06:00

Today I read a report on the current state of community organizing by the Loka Institute. This report was dated a bit (1998), but one aspect of the report peeved me.

The report outlined the great results that community organizing produces everyday, and that the only thing that the field needed is a bigger investment of resources. The next several pages should've been tissue paper for all the tears I had from its sad sob story about how government and businesses have 50 million dollars for Doritos chip research but can only muster 10 million dollars to fund all of the research endeavors within community organizing.

You know, for a field that is so proud of getting communities to stand up for themselves, we sure don't mind begging for pennies to help pay for our work. I think instead of always complaining about what other people aren't giving us, we should spend that time and energy devising ways to get the money that we feel is much needed. When it comes to funding, I think every organizer should take the advice of the great Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata,"It's better to die upon your feet than live upon your knees!"

Community Based Research: Stepping Down From the Ivory Tower

2009-01-28T23:22:00.003-06:00

An interesting development is taking place within community organizing: well intentioned and knowledgeable academics constructively participating in community organizations. This concept is known as Community Based Research (CBR).

In this model, academics help community members in the planning and evaluating process to help them better perform their duties and serve their communities. From experience I can tell you that most community members involved in these organizations are too close to the action to be able to step back and objectively assess their performance and the larger dynamics of the situation. Moreover, many community organizations lack channels to fresh knowledge and thinking that could positively impact the group.

Organizations such as the Centre for Community Based Research (http://www.communitybasedresearch.ca/), the Loka Institute (http://www.loka.org/), and a throng of universities and colleges dedicate their much needed resources to advancing community empowerment. I think this is a good way for people who may not enjoy the day to day street battles of organizing to effectively engage in their communities.

Why I Love Organizers

2009-01-28T09:25:00.003-06:00

I do not apologize. I love community organizers. They are my most favorite people on this planet and they are the ones I love to help the most.

Why do I have such a man crush on community organizers? Because these are the people who do two things: 1) they protect and serve the poor, needy, and vulnerable and 2) they insure that our participatory democracy remains participatory. Therefore, by helping community organizers do their work I can also help the millions of people they impact everyday. I can't think of a better and more enjoyable way to forcefully advance the good of mankind!

Whites Electoral Influence Wanning?

2009-01-27T20:50:00.003-06:00

In a year that witnessed record turnout amongst voters of all backgrounds, one of the most striking yet under reported story lines is how Obama managed to crush McCain (365 to 173 in the electoral college), but substantially lose the white vote by a count of 43 to 55 (http://edition.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/results/polls/#USP00p1). He did this by running up huge margins with ethnic minority groups, but since when did such a strategy lead to certain victory for the presidency?

In every other US presidential race going back to 1980, the victor for the White House also won a substantial amount of the white vote, but never lost it by more than 2 points. Bush won 58 and 54 percent of the white vote in 2004 and 2000 respectively. Clinton only loss the white vote by 2 points in tough three way races in 1996 and 1992. Bush Sr. won the white vote by 20 points in 1988. Reagan won by 32 and 20 points in 1984 and 1980 respectively.

The 2008 race could've been more than the first time an African American won the White House. It could also be the first flash point in what one futurist calls America's cultural singularity, which is a theory that due to the rapid growth amongst racial ethnic groups American society will change so fast that in 20 or 30 years it will be completely unrecognizable to today's society.

If this is the case, then we better get used to more elections of all kinds where more ethnic minorities and women win. Some believe that Obama's victory is an anomaly, I believe that if demographics continue to rapidly change and electoral participation remains steady, then elected minority and women presidents may soon become standard practice.

History 101 Top Ten Style

2009-01-27T01:39:00.017-06:00

Community organizing’s bold attempt to address some of the biggest challenges of the last several generations (poverty, equality, ect.) has forged a significant impact on the course of history. This top ten list takes a look at some of the men and women who successfully dedicated their life’s work to a higher cause.

First some rules.

1) This countdown will only be limited to community organizing in America. So, people such as Ghandi and Mother Teresa will be left off.

2) To make my list the organizer had to have made a positive impact on humanity (sorry, Klu Klux Klan).

3) He/She must have made a unique contribution to the field that revolutionized community organizing methodology or solved an outstanding problem for his/her generation

4) Finally, he/she must have dedicated a significant portion of his/her professional career to the field of community organizing

Ok, now that we have our ground rules let’s jump into the much anticipated list starting at number ten.

10.

Wade Rathke
Association of Community Organizations for ReformNow (ACORN)

Rathke founded ACORN in Arkansas in the early 1970s to unite poor and working class families around a common public agenda. ACORN is currently the largest organization of poor and working class people in the United States with a dues paying membership of 175,000 families and 82 offices throughout the US. ACORN has expanded globally with operations in Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Dominican Republic, and Peru. Rathke is also a union organizer as he founded SEIU Local 100 labor union, which organizes public sector workers including school employees, Head Start, and health care workers. Rathke is successful at merging the labor union, community organizing, and traditional political aspects of public life to leverage power for lower income people.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hpi1-Yrp668

Dolores Huerta (1930-present)

National Farm Workers Association

Co-founder of the United Farm Workers with Cesar Chavez. She was pivotal to the civil rights movement and labor movement as she helped to score victories for voter’s right to vote in Spanish, and the right of individuals to take the driver’s license examination in their native language. She also complemented her organizing efforts by lobbying politicians for unemployment benefits and disability insurance in California. In 1966, Dolores negotiated the first UFW contract with the Schenley Wine Company. This was the first time in the history of the United States that a negotiating committee comprised of farm workers negotiated a collective bargaining agreement with an agricultural corporation. Huerta has received many honors including the Outstanding Labor Leader Award from the California Senate, induction into the National Women’s Hall of Fame, Roger Baldwin Medal of Liberty Award from the ACLU, the Eugene V. Debs Foundation Outstanding American Award, the Ellis Island Medal of Freedom Award, the Consumers’ Union Trumpeter’s Award, and she was one of three Ms. Magazine’s, "Women of the Year", and the Ladies Home Journal’s, "100 Most Important Women of the 2oth Century".

Ed Chambers (1927-present)

Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF)

An Alinsky and Day disciple, “Big Ed” is credited with two major contributions to the field of organizing: 1) He successfully took over as the head of the Industrial Areas Foundation after Alinsky’s death and built it into a powerhouse (it has over 57 affiliates in the US, Germany, Canada, and England) in which several other organizing networks now mimic. 2) He is credited with revolutionizing organizing strategy when dealing with “Big Business”. In 1968, he successfully organized a power group in Rochester, New York, to hold Eastman-Kodak accountable for its hiring practices (at the time, they hired a disproportionate amount of whites compared to blacks). The strategy he used, the “stock proxy” campaign, was the first time that a community group won an issue against a multinational corporation by encouraging key investors to divest stock. This gave birth to a new strand of community organizing known today as “shareholder activism”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKiLCDaCAOU

Dorothy Day (1897-1980)

Catholic Workers Movement

Day’s efforts showed the power of religious organizing in America. She founded the Catholic worker’s movement in 1933 amid the great depression. Originally a journalist, she first started the Catholic Worker newspaper, and this led to her organizing a “house of hospitality” campaign in the slums of New York City. This movement soon spread to other cities in the United States, and to Canada and the United Kingdom; more than 30 independent but affiliated CW communities had been founded by 1941. Today, over 100 communities exist in Australia, the UK, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, the Netherlands, and Sweden.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rj4ya_Gyq80

Cesar Chavez (1927-1993)

National Farm Workers Association

Another Alinsky disciple, Chavez went on to score major gains for both the labor and Mexican-American civil rights movements. He co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (presently the United Farm Workers) with Dolores Huerta. The organization achieved several major policy victories including ending the Bracero Program in 1964 (this helped to restrict immigration and increase farm workers’ wages) and helped to get the 1986 federal immigration act passed. Chavez helped to spark the Mexican-American movement, which was responsible for creating Chicano study programs in universities and raising the overall awareness of Mexican-American struggles. He is honored in several places and his birthday is a holiday in four states.

Edith Terry Bremer (1885-1964)

Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA)

Bremer took the community center movement of the early 1900s to the next level when she became the first to exclusively dedicate her work to organizing immigrants. The nearly sixty international institutes in America during the early twentieth century wanted to support immigrant services and programs. The Young Women’s Christian Association hired Edith Terry Bremer in 1909 to lead this effort and, inspired by her leadership, by the mid 1920s they achieved many of their initial social goals, gave up considerable control of local agencies to the immigrant communities, and even pioneered the concept of cultural pluralism. She helped international institutes to better organize immigrant communities so that they could more effectively organize for themselves. These institutes were largely funded by their own members and the YWCA. International institutes had organizations in urban centers such as Boston, Providence, Baltimore, Buffalo, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, St. Louis, Milwaukee, and San Antonio.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Tta-K_dfeA

Jane Addams (1860-1935)

Hull House

Addams became the mother who birthed community organizing in America in the 1880s when she founded the settlement house movement. Settlement houses were an early attempt to address the fundamental social and economic disparities created by the industrial revolution. The Hull House, one of the first settlement houses in America, served upwards of two thousand people in Chicago and had a night school for adults, kindergarten classes, clubs for older children, a public kitchen, an art gallery, a coffeehouse, a gymnasium, a girls club, a swimming pool, a book bindery, a music school, a drama group, a library, and labor-related divisions. She is probably most remembered today for her adult night school, a forerunner of the continuing education classes offered by many community colleges today. She also worked with George H. Mead on social reform issues including promoting women's rights, ending child-labor, and helped to mediate during the 1910 Garment Workers' Strike. She was the first American woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her contributions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkzf13m15lw

Barack Obama (1961-present)

44th President of the United States of America

Community organizing methods helped to fuel Obama's remarkable rise to the top. He effectively brought community organizing into both campaighning and governance. His masterful use of combining old school organizing strategy with the latest technological tools will be a model used by politicians for decades to come. Moreover, unlike previous campaighns, he uses the millions of people who organized to help govern the country. Obama's contribution to community organizing is simply bringing community organizing tools to national politics and governance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-66NsZCqfk

Dr. Martin Luther King (1929-1968)

Southern Christian LeadershipCommittee (SCLC)

Although King’s methods weren’t original (he borrowed heavily from Mohandas Gandhi and Saul Alinsky), he was as good as it gets when it came to planning and executing organizing strategy to exploit an enemy’s weakness for the maximum gain. King’s most famous example of this was the infamous confrontation with then police chief Eugene “Bull” Conner in Birmingham, Alabama, when Connor decided to unleash droves of dogs on peaceful protestors. This spectacle shocked America when it was broadcasted on national television, which led to the creation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and forever crystallized Connor as a symbol of racial bigotry. In addition to his brilliant tactical mind, King’s single most significant contribution to the field was capturing the elusive goal of civil rights in America. This led to several major policy changes such as voter’s rights, affirmative action, and title IX. King’s accomplishments cemented his place amongst the greatest Americans of all time.

1.

Saul David Alinsky (1909-1972)
Industrial Areas Foundation

A Chicago native, Saul David Alinsky is affectionately known as the father of modern community organizing. He was a brash and gruff organizer who revolutionized the field (Alinsky once declared that the “war on poverty” was “a prize piece of political pornography” because it was a “huge political pork barrel, and a feeding trough for the welfare industry”). He was the first to bring institutionalized structure to organizing with his development of “people’s organizations”. This new method involved “broad-based organizing” which transformed churches, block clubs, labor unions, ect. into a formidable power broker in the community. He founded the first modern community organizing network in the Industrial Areas Foundation in 1940, which is still running strong today. However, his biggest achievement was to turn a field full of rag-tag do-gooders and reformers into a collection of professionals with only one ideology: to systematically change the power dynamics in any given community. He was also a noted scholar who contributed to intellectualizing community organizing within academic circles. This was crucial since at the time community organizing was seen as a subset of social work instead of independent of it. His books, Rules for Radicals and Reveille for Radicals, are considered must reads for anyone looking to get involved
in the field of community organizing.

Newsweek Captures Obama's Organizing Spirit In His Inaugrual Address

2009-01-26T01:06:00.005-06:00

Newsweek did a fine job describing community organizing's echoes in Obama's speech. Read it here:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/181293

The New Politics: Organizing as a Tool for Governance

2009-01-26T00:37:00.002-06:00

President Obama says that his will be the most transparent administration in American history. Many see this action as a benevolent gesture by a magnanimous ruler. Through the eyes of a community organizer, however, this move also helps President Obama to strategically leverage great power in Washington.

Obama is using websites such as www.whitehouse.gov and www.recovery.gov as instruments to fulfill his transparency and accountability promise. He encourages visitors to leave feedback by filling out a contact card with their name and email address when they submit their comments. The sites also track every move of the Obama Administration and in the case of www.recovery.gov, you can track every tax dollar once the new economic stimulus package is passed.

The flip side of encouraging such public participation is that it gives Obama an ace in the hole with law makers on capitol hill. By collecting the names and email addresses of the people who leave feedback on his website, he will have a huge and powerful registry of active citizens who he can tap at any moment. Therefore, if stubborn law makers try to slow down legislative progress, Obama simply needs to send an email to hundreds of thousands (or possibly millions) of voters explaining the situation and asking them to harrass their local congressman or senator.

This is another example of Barack Obama bringing traditional organizing strategy to Washington in order to fashion a new politics.

Time for a Change in Tactics?

2009-01-25T04:15:00.002-06:00

As the economy continues to plunge and as big businesses (i.e. General Motors, Citibank, Ford, Circuit City, etc.) continue to shed thousands of jobs or go out of business altogether, is it time for community organizers to assess their tactics?

Many community organizers follow some variation of Saul Alinsky organizing philosophy. This philosophy seeks to identify and isolate an "enemy" and then to combat that enemy until it concedes defeat by giving in to your demands. This way of doing things has served organizers well for decades, but with the changing times these tactics may soon be rendered obsolete.

Firstly, Alinsky theory assumes that the isolated "enemy" has the ability to give you what you want. In the case of General Motors, for example, labor organizers seeking to maintain current hourly wages and other benefits by targeting and attacking GM's top management are very misguided. In this economic environment, there is no way GM's top brass could concede these demands even if they wanted to. The company is losing billions of dollars in the face of rapidly declining sales. Therefore, GM's executives do not have the power to give in without risking the entire company going under, which would be bad for everybody.

Secondly, in an increasingly globalized and interconnected world, local actions such as strikes, protests, sit ins, etc. on big businesses are not only losing their desired effect, but may even backfire. Nowadays, a company can quickly shut down a factory or retail outlet if management deems that the costs of dealing with disgruntled workers outweighs the benefits (profits). Community organizations are not fit to respond to such a move because we lack the agile global reach of mega corporations and the needed capital to force a company's hand through their public shares.

I suggest community organizers carve out a new path for a new century. I believe our focus should be less on "struggle" issues (issues where we struggle to extract something from some authority) and more on building common value. If labor organizers focus were to help GM build value over the decades, then GM could've been in a much more competitive position (like Honda or Toyota) although the economy tanked. That would've helped everyone. Secondly, I suggest that community organizations begin to take business and entreprenurship as a primary community building strategy seriously. I believe that if community organizations can become the engines to creating jobs by helping to launch small businesses, then the community's collective power will rise since we wouldn't always have to beg some employer to stay in town. Finally, I think it is time that the community organizing networks of the world unite by creating an organization dedicated to building wealth for community organizations all over the world. This would give us the tools needed to challenge the big boys on their playing field while increasing organizing's worldwide promience.

The Future of Community Development: Organizing?

2009-01-24T00:45:00.002-06:00

For decades, the professions of community development and community organizing have been seen as strictly separate endeavors. Like two brothers jostling for the love and affection of their parents, these fields have bickered over who helps more people and who is more effective. But I dare to ask, “what if we were to combine the two?”

Community organizing carved its niche as the courageous fighter of traditional “struggle” issues by taking on such grappling issues as civil rights, labor rights, and women rights. Community organizing has earned the reputation as the more combative and confrontational of the two brothers versus the rather conciliatory tone of community development. From time to time, it has belittled its brother as being too soft to be effective and as a glory hound that’s unwilling to rock the boat.

Community development bathes in the limelight that its brother rarely receives. Its well known work covers health, poverty, education, amongst other issues through well known organizations such as the Red Cross, United Nations, and USAID. It paints its brother as being too irrational and compulsive to make any substantive long lasting change especially in nations with short leashes on political freedoms.

Like any two brothers whose relationship devolved to perpetual spats and spurts, they fail to see the vast potential of combining their collective and complementary strengths. It is true that community development generally lacks the hard nose that’s sometimes needed to redistribute power more equitably. It’s also true that community organizing lacks the diplomatic finesse that’s sometimes needed to successfully move forward in weak democratic states. This begs the inevitable question, what if the best of community organizing were combined with the best of community development?

This is what my work is all about. Trained in Saul Alinsky style community organizing, I have the expertise to apply organizing just about anywhere. However, I needed to adapt this skill set to fit the unique rigors of community development. For months I tried to develop a model that would capture just the right blend of organizing and development so that it could catapult my community (and potentially my field) to new heights.

My search for the Holy Grail proved to be long and arduous, but nothing worthwhile comes easily. I began with only a prayer and vague vision powerful enough to will me through the difficulties of the early months. Hot and sweaty days laboring in the fields with farmers, logging several kilometers on my bicycle riding between villages everyday, and struggling to understand my surroundings through limited language ability all in the hope of one day finding a working model that would lift the lives of the humble people I live with.

After the first few months, such a model began to take shape as leaders began to complain of the lack of a structure that would enable more villagers to participate in village development. It seemed that the lion’s share of this responsibility was on the shoulders of village leaders, leading to burn out among many.

These conversations got me thinking: Is it possible to develop such a structure that would enable more villagers to actively participate in development? The long term implications of such a group are profound: less dependence upon government and NGOs, more empowerment of the local villager, a greater sense of communal responsibility in all areas of life, ect. As I sat down and hashed this out with some local buddies, it became clear that the objective would be to make the village more like a family. Every villager should have a defined role in helping to build up the village, just like every member of a family plays a role in the betterment of the family. Hence, the name of the group should be One Village One Family since the goal is to have one village act more like one family.

This concept also seemed to fit conveniently within the framework of the King’s vision for his nation. He has stressed building up a self sufficient economy as well as greater local control within Thailand’s democracy. This model could help in potentially achieving both objectives. The long term implications of this model tantalized my imagination, but we had to build it first.

Now my vague vision seemed a bit clearer, but I still needed to work out the details. How would such a group look like? This burning question would become my preoccupation for the next several weeks. I asked friends involved in community organizing back home, but they did not understand the operational context of Thailand. I felt alone in this pursuit and voiced my frustrations to God deep in the forest (didn’t want anyone to think I was crazy). After the tears of tribulation stopped flowing, I realized that I looked everywhere except one major resource: the internet.

I hastily returned to the SAO and strapped into an open desktop. Yahoo was the destination and after a couple of key words, sure enough, everything I needed to know was just a click away. Now I was able to draft an outline of the group as well as write a twelve page training manual (I used a training manual I wrote in college as a guide). Fortunately, a friend of mine in the church decided to translate my materials for an affordable fee.

The structure of the group seemed simple. Have a steering team of between 7-9 villagers overseeing several sub-project teams of between 3-5 villagers. The villagers would identify, develop, and implement these projects themselves. This would create an apparatus that lessens the load on the elected village leaders and increases villager engagement and project completion efficiency. In the bigger picture, this would be one great step forward towards Thailand fulfilling the promise of higher local participation in its democracy. After all, a truly vibrant democracy has citizens who are engaged on a daily basis, not simply at the voter’s box. I now assumed we were ready, but I didn’t foresee the practical problems that lay ahead in actually implementing it.

I held meetings with every village chief and surveyed the villages in my area in order to get it started. The village chiefs and villagers said that they loved the idea, but that proved to be only lip service. They had real concerns about the project such as funding and, even bigger, a fear of failure. No one wanted to try a new model because they didn’t want to fail. This led to me creating a sister project for OneVillage One Family at the school called Project Hope. Project Hope had the same structure as OVOF, but the goal was to increase student participation in the school and village while providing real leadership experiences and opportunities, not just token leadership games where there’s nothing at stake.

This finally began a series of successful events for our work. Project Hope flowed together seamlessly. We had both a senior team (ages 16-18) and junior team (ages 13-15) within the group. The junior group just stayed within the confines of the school and learned basic development tools such as surveying and building relationships with leaders. The senior group had the responsibility of working with villages and the SAO to develop and implement real projects.

The senior team held their training first, and at the training were 4 girls and 2 boys (the 2 boys later dropped out and were replaced by another girl). They then conducted the training of the junior team with little guidance from me. Once the senior team learned the basic organizing concepts they were ready to act.

The first issue they wanted to address was providing clothing for the poorer hill tribe village families. At first, my girls were timid and didn’t believe that they could do it. We arranged a meeting with the balat of the SAO to discuss possibilities of implementing this project. My girls were fearful because this was the first time they had a meeting on a level playing field with a high ranking SAO officer. To my understanding, a group of teenage girls approaching SAO leaders about collaborating on a project rarely, if ever, happens in Thailand. I gave my girls a little pep talk and told them there is power in numbers, so they shouldn’t be afraid.

The meeting went well. The balat, a little taken back by my girls’ requests, agreed to work with them in completing the project. The next step involved my girls organizing a week long donation rally, which netted well over 800 articles of clothing stuffed into 25 boxes and garbage bags. It was a stunning display of community generosity and sheer organizing talent by my girls to raise so much from students and villagers considering the modest economic means of my area. This clothing drive surprised the teachers and administrative staff of the school because this was the first time they saw their students achieve such a feat without direct teacher supervision and direction.

The school truck drove my girls and the clothing donations to the hill tribes, about a 30 km and 45 minute trek. My girls were excited since this was the first time they traveled to the hill tribes. Fellow students wished them well on their journey and teachers proudly stood by to witness the accomplishment. Upon arriving at the hill tribe villages, the impact of this project struck them as they saw firsthand the dilapidated housing and impoverished families. The village chief warmly welcomed us and the village treated us to a special lunch. The chief and local people were amazed at the large amount of clothing my girls were giving them. The village chief even choked up a bit as he continually repeated, “dee mak, dee mak mak”.

Once this project was completed, my girls had just enough time to turn their attention to OVOF before the close of the semester. Since villagers wanted their fears eased and a model to follow, we decided to hold a village training where my girls taught the basic principles of the organizing model as well as showed them that such a model could be very successful. As I observed the training, the wider impact of this work dawned on me: a group of five 17 year old girls is training villagers in their 40s and 50s as well as a couple of SAO representatives how to do development. It was literally the young leading the old. For this moment, the rigid Thai social hierarchy was flipped upside down. I caught myself smirking at this very thought.

I later treated my girls to a day at Big C on me. We went shopping, ate at KFC, and watched a Thai movie together. For the first time in my life I felt like a proud parent (I don’t have kids). The thing is, I truly do love my girls and I sincerely want them to be more successful than me. I genuinely enjoy their company and find myself deeply invested in their lives. Over school vacation I will teach my girls English four times a week and I purchased them books on scholarships and college entrance exam preparations. A scary thought is that my girls are just beginning to scratch the surface of their potential, and an even scarier thought is that they now are realizing the vast potential within them. That is priceless.

My village team held a meeting with the villagers to announce that we were launching One Village One Family in the village. They discussed amongst each other what our first project should be and we concluded that launching a fertilizer group would be it. The villagers’ top concern is improving the village economy, so starting off with a group that would provide some jobs and money to families would be a great way to build initial credibility within the village.

About a week later, the pastor of my church approached me about helping me to replicate this model throughout the province. My church is part of a national network of churches and the headquarters is in Bangkok. My local pastor informed me that the head pastor in Bangkok started a social and community development initiative where he wants every church in Thailand to take an active role in helping the community. My local pastor continued by saying that my projects appealed to him because it is grassroots based and it doesn’t call for a budget in order to do it. Apparently, Thailand doesn’t yet have a model similar to this so he is excited by the possibility of helping to replicate this project.

There are 13 districts in my province. We have churches and relationships in all 13 districts. My local pastor wants to first help me finish setting up the model before implementing it in the other 12 districts. He met with both my school and village teams and he currently comes up once a week and helps out.

What started off as a vague vision of welding the best of community development and organizing has transpired into a compelling tale of girl power as a group of teenage girls empowered and, in some regards, revolutionized their entire community. This model has unlocked the promise in everyday students and villagers just by giving them what America is all about: opportunity. The intestinal fortitude of organizing exemplified by the courage of my girls standing shoulder to shoulder with the most powerful people in the area combined with the conciliatory nature of development proves to be a potent mix going a long way towards community empowerment. I now openly wonder what Thailand would be like if OVOF and Project Hope existed in every village and every school throughout the country. That for now remains an open question, but one thing is for sure: wherever this model goes in the future, Thailand, and the greater world, will be thanking five little 17 year old female pioneers who got it all started.

Where is the Love?

2009-01-23T06:04:00.000-06:00

Where is the love?

“How hard is it to dish out soup at food shelters?” As a devout community organizer, I’m sick and tired of my profession being disrespected. Comments like these are all too common whenever I attempt to assert my community organizing credentials to people from more “prestigious” fields. I can admit, community organizing is arguably one of the most misunderstood fields today. As a matter of fact, many people probably do not realize it’s a field. Unlike more prominent professions such as medicine, law, business, education, and athletics to name a few, community organizers humbly labor away in the dark unknowns of the world.

My professional passion combined with persistently being dissed leads me to write this column. Do I have a chip on my shoulder? Heck yeah I have a chip on my shoulder! Many community organizers are underpaid, overworked, and still manage to win impressive victories for the little man, not to mention keeping the wheels of democracy turning. Is a thank you too much to ask for? Apparently yes. Let’s just stop for a moment and think about all of the different ways that community organizers make both your life and democracy better: You like having a living wage? How about affordable housing? As a minority, I LOVE having civil rights. Oh, and who doesn’t like holding powerful figures accountable? Well, if you like all of that stuff, the lions’ share of the credit goes to those community organizers who apparently enjoy spending their time dishing out soup at the local homeless shelter (although there is nothing wrong with that).

How did I get involved in this field? Well, it was in my blood. My father is very active in community affairs and he is the one who introduced me to the field. At first, I shrugged of his efforts to convert me to be a community organizer because I was interested in more scholarly pursuits at the time, like studying the ladies. However, one day my dad gave me the famous community organizer Saul Alinky’s book Rules for Radicals. This book opened my eyes to the potential of community organizing, but the most appealing aspect of organizing is the ability to have an immediate impact to help people. Unlike pursuing a career in law, government, or business I wouldn’t have to work several years before I would be in a position to make a real difference. Not only that, but I was good at it, really good at it.

In high school, I decided to try my hand at this craft by founding and organizing a group called Others’ First. Others’ First sought to organize students for volunteering in nursing homes, hospitals, Ronald McDonald House, food shelters, ect. Within two years we had about 50 students involved in volunteering in the local community. Then in college, I founded and organized a group called People Opposing Prejudice. This group sought to minimize campus prejudice’s through relationship building across ethnic, religious, and gender lines. This effort had about 20 student organizations with POP who worked together in an effort to fight prejudice. Moreover, as a result of these works I won throngs of awards and scholarships that confirmed to me that I had a gift for organizing.

Looking back, it is befitting I chose an underdog field in which to invest my life’s work. As a native Wisconsinite, I am used to being dissed. From our sports (how many straight college football bowl games have the Badgers won again?) to our culture (you haven’t lived until you tossed a cow chip or two) to our beer (it’s Milwaukee’s BEST not Milwaukee’s BEAST) to our people (fat is beautiful too!) to our politicians (I still contend that Fighting Bob Lafollette is the best U.S. senator of all time) we have habitually been insulted, teased, overlooked, mocked, underestimated, and virtually the butt of every rural, redneck joke.

So what is community organizing anyway? Let’s begin with a quote from the father of modern community organizing, Saul David Alinsky, to better appreciate our clout: “It is not the fault of the legislators that they must listen to the twenty million who are organized, for those are the loudest and, with minor exceptions, the only voices in America.” Community organizing in the broadest sense is changing the world by engaging diverse swaths of people who share common values, interests, and goals so that they can have a powerful voice in shaping the future of their community. On a day to day level, community organizers are charged with building relationships with local leaders in order to bring together community institutions such as churches, block clubs, labor unions, youth groups, neighborhood associations, and parent groups to address common issues such as improving schools, lowering crime, establishing affordable housing, having better land use, ect. Organizers bring these community institutions together by building local power groups called citizen’s organizations. These citizen’s organizations systematically build their power up by winning the issues that concern their community. Sometimes issues are won through relationship building with elected officials, but usually issues are won by force.

Where do these community organizers work? Believe it or not, there are actually many job opportunities in the field of community organizing. The largest community organizing networks in America are the Industrial Areas Foundation (www.industrialareasfoundation.org), Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (www.acorn.org), Direct Action and Research Training Center (www.thedartcenter.org), the National Organizers Alliance (www.noacentral.org), the Center for Third World Organizing (www.ctwo.org) and the Gamaliel Foundation (www.gamaliel.org), this last organization is where Sen. Barack Obama made his mark as a community organizer. These are just a few of the employment opportunities in the field, but as you can see, like any reputable profession, there are serious career opportunities in well established organizations.

Over the course of the coming months I will show community organizing its long overdue love. The field of community organizing is filled with significant contributions towards the advancement of democracy, freedom, and human rights. Some of our achievements are well known (Gandhi and Marin Luther King Jr. ring a bell anybody) and some are not so well known (thank you, Kodak, for being the case study of how to beat big business). Well, there is a lot to cover, but I’m honored to be your guide into this mysterious and marvelous world.

Obama's Community Organizing Assist

2009-01-23T03:06:00.003-06:00

This week we saw the inauguration of America's first black president, Barack Obama. In light of this grand event, I would like to quickly illustrate community organizing's historic role in making this possible.

The seeds of the movement that culminated in Obama's presidency arguably started in the days of Harriet Tubman. Tubman created what is today known as the Underground Railroad. This was a vast network of secret housing stops spanning from the Deep South all the way through Canada in an effort to free slaves. In order to create such a network, Tubman had to organize a system of trusted caretakers and small teams of escaped slaves to pass through the dangerous South. Abolitionists and free blacks greatly aided in this process as their well organized system of "stops" and "conductors" eventually helped to free at least some 30,000 slaves.

The broader abolitionist movement that the Underground Railroad was apart of eventually led to the nation fighting a fierce civil war in order to end slavery for good in the South. This led to the formation of Jim Crow's "separate but equal" policy that would relegate blacks to second class citizenship. However, through the combined organizing efforts led by figures such as Philip A. Randolf to Martin Luther King Jr., blacks and their allies overcame Jim Crow in the 1960s through a multitude of civil rights legislation ranging from the Voting Rights Act to affirmative action.

Everyday people did not let these victories be an excuse to ease up off the pedal. Various groups stayed organized and engaged to push for further equality measures that would open up vast opportunities for minorities and women in business, education, politics, etc. These organizing efforts laid the groundwork to make Barack Obama's presidential run possible by insuring minority rights and the generation of young people who grew up in a post-civil rights era. Obama's well ran campaign took advantage of a what decades of community organizing made possible: a more equitable and diverse American society.

Where Did the Day Go?

2008-08-11T09:17:00.003-05:00

It seems as though time management is not a high priority in the villages. It amazes me how much time is wasted throughout the day as farmers, government staffers, and teachers all take several snack breaks throughout the day. This kills productivity and makes attempting to accomplish tasks much more difficult.

Where Did the Day Go?

2008-08-11T09:17:00.000-05:00

A Question of Ownership

2008-08-08T01:30:00.002-05:00

It's becoming all too apparent that one of the biggest problems everday Thais face is lack of ownership. Everywhere I go and with everyone I speak with it seems that either villagers work for the profit of another or are working for the profit of the bank.

Most villagers are under heavy debts. People owe money to the bank for motorcycles, educational exspenses, property, etc. while others may owe smaller "gentleman's agreement" style loans for seed, farming equiptment, or even a new car stereo. The heavy debts people face make it virtually impossible to build wealth. Combine this with an ignorance of basic financial management and you have a wicked brew called generational poverty.

Interestingly, villagers do have a strong entrepreneurial spirit. It seems like every other day someone is opening a new noodle stand, restaurant, or shop. Unfortnately, lack of planning and other basic business skills leads to a higher than usual business failure rate. If villagers could learn to manage their debts and implement good business practice I believe many villagers could turn their financial fortunes around.

Only In Thailand Can The Customer Be Wrong

2008-08-05T01:37:00.003-05:00

"I would like fried rice with beef, please," I politely ask the local restaurant cook. "I'll give you fried rice with pork," she sternly responds as I look at the fresh beef sitting on her counter. Since I've been in country for awhile, I stopped standing up for my customer right to great service (even something as simple as giving me what I ordered).

Apparently, in business in Thailand the customer is not always right. Unfortantely for Thai businesses seeking to grab a share of the lucrative world market, just about every customer globally demands to be treated as if they are right all the time, and will swiftly refuse parting with their hard earned cash with any business who does not agree.

I see this lackluster attitude towards customer service severely handicapping Thai companies looking to business on eBay. I notice whenever negative feedback is posted on their profile they tend to post argumentative replies instead of trying to delicately negotiate with the unhappy customer in private (some customers will remove negative feedback if you cordially offer them alternatives such as discounts, money back, or a free exchange of product).

In a hyper competitive and globalized economy, excellent customer service can be the life blood of a successful business and brand. I'm not sure why some Thai business people prefer to haggle with their customers instead of exhaust every diplomatic possibility to insure a satisfied customer even if it means taking a loss on the deal. Maybe it's cultural. Are there different expectations of customers in Thailand or is good customer service simply not valued? Maybe it's personal character. Are some business people too lazy to provide good service? Maybe it's a poor understanding of the English language. Do business people here want to provide good customer service, but do not know how to express gratitude compentently in English? Maybe it's cross cultural misunderstanding. Does a lack of sufficient knowledge about other people's cultures hinder providing good service the way customers want it?

A Creativity Problem?

2008-08-04T01:35:00.003-05:00

Today, I was doing some market research for handmade purses, handbags, and other Thai crafts and soon discovered a copy cat pattern in terms of product development. Just about everyone manufactured these crafts according to similar specifications and designs. From the craft specs to the marketing approachs, there wasn't a big difference between one company's products and another's products.

Moreover, I noticed that this unsurprisingly drove the market prices down for all of these goods. A combination of competition, similar goods, rising shipping costs, and a shrinking customer pool created a lose-lose situation for everyone involved (except for the customers who partake in a great buyer's market).

This made me wonder why there was less creative spunk. In most highly competitive markets such as electronics, autos, and software, innovation will be key in seperating the winners from the losers. I wonder why this spirit of innovation hasn't hit the Thai manufactoring sector yet. The good news is that this creates great opportunity for someone with creativity to enter the market and quickly eat up market share if they do it right.

A Future Rice Crisis?

2008-08-03T04:54:00.004-05:00

I tend to pick up on interesting tid bits in my daily routine in the villages. One of the growing concerns I'm hearing from everyday farmers is the lack of rain during this rainy season. I didn't think too much of it at first, but the more I thought about it the more I think the farmers have a legitament worry.

The rainy season has been unusually light in my area compared to last year, and I called around to some of my Peace Corps friends and they noticed less rainfall as well. This made me wonder if we are either undergoing a transition in weather patterns due to global waarming or if this is just a brief bump in an otherwise stable and predictable weather pattern.

I pray it is the latter becaus if it is the former that could mean some real trouble ahead. Many of the farmers are worried about harvesting either lower quality or completely ruined rice this year. If this is the case, that would mean a poor earnings year for farmers at a time of ever rising input costs. If the problem is widespread enough, this could result in the rising of rice prices throughout Thailand, which wouldn't be good for anyone.

The Language Barrier to Trade

2008-08-03T04:29:00.005-05:00

I've been working on an eBay business at my school for a couple of months now and I think my school is not as supportive anymore. My students don't seem as engaged and the teachers and staff are too busy with their other responsibilities.

It's becoming clear to me that the reasons for this are two-fold: 1) the English language barrier in dealing with eBay policies, e-commerce, and customers is too much to handle, and 2) the school has their own program to work through, which leaves very little time for any other commitments. Therefore, I'm adjusting my strategy to work with interested students on an individual basis where they can learn at their own pace.

However, my test run with the eBay business at the school does spark larger questions within my mind. I openly wonder, how much does the language barrier contribute to opportunity costs within the real Thai economy? Seeing as though the economy is largely dependent upon exports, this makes me think there are probably some real missed chances at increased earnings for people.

It's All About Trade

2008-07-31T08:48:00.000-05:00

As an American Peace Corps Volunteer serving in Thailand, I spend my days sharing life with common villagers in humble surroundings. Harvesting rice patties, biking up and down rocky mountain roads, eating sticky rice with fried pork with neighbors, and navigating cultural and language differences are just a few of my daily tasks.

I am charged with the duty of organizing my community so that they can better empower themselves. So far, I have been pretty successful with my job. I created a community organizing model named Project Hope that allows a team of student leaders to organize their classmates to help develop real projects in the larger community. We’ve done clothing drives for poor families, trainings for villagers, and launched clubs within the school. Other volunteers throughout Thailand have begun replicating this model with success as well. One volunteer was able to raise 10,000 baht through local business, school, and government support in order to do an HIV/AIDS and English training for hill tribe kids.

However, though these efforts to improve civic life, I kept noticing one of the fundamental problems we faced was a lackluster local economy. The production is there. People will constantly create and manufacture various products from purses to furniture to leather belts. The entrepreneurial spirit is there. It seems everyone wants to own their own shop. People are always opening new noodle stands or jewelry shops or small bamboo production plants. The only thing that seemed missing was trade. Local businesses had everything except for a market that could sustain them. As a matter of fact, the local market is oversaturated with locally made products that it drives prices down and squeezes profit margins.

This leads me to openly wonder about how the village can successfully meet the marketplace? The best bet would seem to be to find other markets that would support these products more profitably, but how can one engage these markets? Also, the level of education in the village is alarmingly low. So, even if there is the opportunity, how can they enter and stay in these markets without being in over their heads? Although I yet to come up with answers to these questions, my experience as a Peace Corps Volunteer showed me that it’s all about trade if poorer communities are to ever sustain any economic growth that will spill over to other civic benefits.

Quilen Blackwell