Community organizing describes a wide variety of efforts to empower residents in a local area to participate in civic life or governmental affairs. Most efforts that claim this label operate in low-income or middle-income areas, and have adopted at least some of the tactics and organizing techniques pioneered by
Saul Alinsky
Saul David Alinsky (January 30, 1909 – June 12, 1972) was an American community activist and political theorist. His work through the Chicago-based Industrial Areas Foundation helping poor communities organize to press demands upon landlords ...
and his
Industrial Areas Foundation
The Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) is a national community organizing network established in 1940 by Saul Alinsky, Roman Catholic Bishop Bernard James Sheil and businessman and founder of the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' Marshall Field III. The IAF p ...
. Other organizations in this tradition include
PICO National Network
Faith in Action, formerly known as PICO National Network, is a national network of faith-based community organizations in the United States. The organization is headquartered in Oakland, California, with additional offices in San Diego and Washi ...
,
Gamaliel Foundation
Gamaliel Foundation provides training and consultation and develops national strategy for its affiliated congregation-based community organizations. As of 2013, Gamaliel has 45 affiliates in 17 U.S. states, the United Kingdom, and South Africa, ...
, and
Direct Action and Research Training Center The Direct Action and Research Training Center (DART) is a national network of 23 local faith-based community organizing groups across nine states. DART provides training and consultation for local leaders and professional organizers, giving local ...
(DART).
They focus on building political power in the hands of an organization of local residents, and using that power to influence issues the organization defines as important. Congregation-based Community Organizing (CBCO) works through local
synagogues
A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of wors ...
,
churches, and
mosques as the primary institutional sponsors of this work. Common characteristics:
*Faith-based: They ground their organizing in the moral values and traditions that stem from religious faith, to varying degrees and often quite powerfully. See
religion and peacebuilding
Religion and peacebuilding refer to the study of religion's role in the development of peace.
Nathan C. Funk and Christina J. Woolner categorize these approaches into three models. The first is “peace through religion alone”. This proposes ...
.
*Broad-based: They are typically
ecumenical or
interfaith
Interfaith dialogue refers to cooperative, constructive, and positive interaction between people of different religious traditions (i.e. "faiths") and/or spiritual or humanistic beliefs, at both the individual and institutional levels. It is ...
, and many include schools, unions, or a variety of other community-based institutions like neighborhood associations.
*Locally constituted: They organize in areas that range from large neighborhoods to entire cities. Although linked into the national and regional networks discussed above, they emphasize local grassroots organizing.
*Multi-issue: Their purpose is to instruct local congregational authorities about how to effectively address a variety of pressing issues facing their communities.
*Professionally staffed: CBCO groups hire professionals to recruit and train leaders to work with their religious communities on a personal and regular basis.
References
*
Chambers, Edward T. and Michael A. Cowan, ''Roots for Radicals: Organizing for Power, Action, and Justice'' (New York: Continuum, 2003). {{ISBN, 0-8264-1499-0
*Jacobsen, Dennis A. 2001. ''Doing Justice: Congregations and Community Organizing''. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.
*Wood, Richard
and Mark R. Warren. 2002. "A Different Face of Faith-Based Politics: Social Capital and Community Organizing in the Public Arena," ''International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy'', 22:11/12, 6-54 (Fall 2002).
External links
Congregation Based Community OrganizingJewish Fund for Justice video (7:33). Rabbis and lay leaders share reflections on this justice work.
4200 People at PICO Rally for Children's Healthcoverage for the more than 800,000 children in California who are uninsured. Video (5:01)(April 2005).
Community organizing