The third edition of the manual for community organizers tells readers how to most effectively implement community action for social change, clearly laying out grassroots organizing principles, methods, and best practices.
Written for those who want to improve their own lives or the lives of others, this thoroughly revised how-to manual presents techniques groups can use to organize successfully in pursuit of their dreams. The book combines time-tested, universal principles and methods with cutting-edge material addressing new opportunities and challenges. It covers basic concepts and best practices and offers step-by-step guidelines on things an organizer needs to know, such as how to identify issues, formulate strategies, set goals, recruit participants, and much more.
The work focuses on six organizing arenas: turf/geography, failth-based, issue, identity, shared experience, and work-related. It offers new or expanded material addressing community development, use of social media, internal organizational dynamics, electoral organizing, evaluation/assessment, and prevention of burnout for key leaders. There are also nuts-and-bolts articles by experts who address topics such as action research, lobbying, legal tactics, and grassroots fundraising. Numerous case examples, charts, worksheets, and small group exercises enrich the discussion and bring the material to life.
Table of Contents:
Foreword
Richard A. Cloward and Frances Fox Piven
Preface: From Roots to Tips
Acknowledgments: With a Lot of Help from My Friends
1 "Power to the People" Basic Organizing Philosophy and Goals
Six Arenas and Two Approaches
Elemental Elements: Turf, Faith-Based, Issue, Identity, Shared Experience, and Work-Related
Two Routes to Power: Community Development and Social Action
Community Development: Green Team Gains New Ground:
Patricia Alvarez and Lee Staples
Social Action: Green Space Defends Its Turf:
Roseann Bongiovanni and Lee Staples
Limits and Possibilities
Organizing for Power
Ten Tools for Taking Power
Building a Power Base
Introductory Exercise
2 "Locate and Relate. Motivate and Integrate. Facilitate and Educate. Activate!" The Role of the Organizer
An Overview of Underlying Principles
Insider/Outsider Upsides and Downsides
Community Organizing Goals Exercise
Role of the Organizer Exercise
3 "Can't You Hear Me Knockin'?" Organizing Models and Methods
Guidelines for Action
Who
What
From Whom
How
Lessons from the 2013–2014 Raise UP Massachusetts (RUM) Campaign:
Debra Fastino, Lew Finfer, and Harris Gruman
The Organizing Process
Four Formative Phases
Groundwork
The Organizing Committee
General Recruitment Drive
Formation Meeting
Planning a Youth-Led Organizing Project Exercise
Recruitment and Participation Exercise
Recruiting Role-Play Exercise
One-on-One Exercise
Coalitions: Some Pluses, Minuses, and Guidelines
Building Effective Coalitions Exercise
4 "Analyze, Strategize, and Catalyze" Issues and Strategy
Choosing Issues
Organizational Mileage Considerations
Consistency
Unity
Capacity
Growth
Education
Credit
Resources
Allies
Tactics
Victory
Developing a Winning Strategy
Cutting and Framing the Issue: Action Group, Goals and Objectives, Targets, and Handles
Conducting a Strategic Analysis: Opposition, Support, Objective Conditions, and SWOT Assessment
Parents Unite for Full-Day Kindergarten:
Jamie Pear
Strategy and Tactics Exercise
5 "Moving into Action" Making and Carrying Out Action Plans
Tactics
Countertactics and the Seven D's of Defense
Deflecting
Delaying
Deceiving
Dividing
Denying
Discrediting and Destroying
Timetable
A Multiphase Action Plan
Recruitment, Preparation, and Assessment
Recruitment
Preparation
Assessment
Acorn's Campaign against Household Finance:
Maude Hurd and Lisa Donner
Background
Household Finance
Building and Engaging the Base
Building the Case
Direct Action
Media
Shareholder Strategy
Legal Action
Wall Street
Legislation
Regulatory Strategy
Legal Settlement
Conclusion
Direct Action Exercise
Direct Action Role-Play Exercise
Negotiating Exercise
6 "Keeping It All Together" Organizational Development and Maintenance
Broadening the Base
Leadership Development
Characteristics and Qualities
Developmental Methods
Group Products and Processes
Composition, Contracting, and Culture
Decision-Making
Membership and Leader Roles
Conflict
Conducting Successful Meetings
Grab Those Details by the Tail
Organizing Events That Build Your Organization:
Reva Stein
Making Change with Coins
Decision-Making Structures
Operating Policies and Procedures
Programming
Staffing
Leadership Development Exercise
Group Decision-Making Exercise
Preventing and Resolving Problems in Meetings Exercise
7 "Nuts and Bolts, Some Do's and Don'ts" A Short Collection
Introduction
Sponsoring Committees
Judy Donovan
One-on-One Meetings to Find and Develop Leaders
Lew Finfer
The Movement Will Be Social: How Social Media Can Be Used to Organize People
Mike Leyba
Coalitions: Essential Tools for Organizing
Beth B. Rosenthal, Jessica Greenawalt, Jan M. Ivery, and Terry Mizrahi
Popular Education and Participatory Action Research
Isabel Vinent and Reca Fernandez
Research for Organizing
Will Collette
Using the Law for Leverage
Mac McCreight
Real Clout: Rules and Tools for Winning Public Policy Campaigns
Judith C. Meredith and Catherine M. Dunham
Media Relations
Eric Weltman
Community-Labor Partnerships and Coalitions
Louise Simmons
Negotiations: Using a Weapon as a Way Out
Mark J. Splain
Crafting an Effective Fundraising Strategy for Community-Based Organizations (CBOs)
Sarah Lange
GCOs and Voting: How to Do Voter Registration, Education, and Mobilization for 501(C)(3) Organizations and Related Nonprofits
George Pillsbury
Afterword: After Words, Take Action
Toward a Glossary of Grassroots Community Organizing Jargon
Community Organizing Resources
References
Bibliography: Organizing and Progressive Social Change
Index
About the Author and Contributors
