Community Organizing

9-28-99

History- Provides a framework. Eg. American Revolution first organization effort.

The first organizing effort was elite based

Stages of Organizing Change

1. Slavery (1890's)

2. Civil War

3. Industrial Revolution-(1895-1920)-This change city and neighborhood. People moving from agriculture into city, eg.new immigrants from south to North.(This is economic transformation).

In cities crime increased. City is a place where which is associated with wealth.

New kinds of neighborhood arrived from Industrial Revolution.

4. 1960s - 1980s - Civil rights movement, free speech, SNCC

- This is the conservative time period. In the 1960s organizing was about changing the law.

- Organizing around identity and issues 1989

Community organization- was based on immigrant assimilation.

Building a sense of community - which could be created by identifying services and lobbing to fill the gap, so it was advocacy based and service based.

The role of organizing- enabling-make things happen

To create services missing

Organizers were women. Why?

Settlement Houses - began in the 1800s and they began to flourish. In settlement houses the professional has to live in the neighborhood (locally)

organizers were non-political

Cincinnati social plan

The radical organizing phase 1930 - 194-0

1920- Depression-global and economic assault

Political/Economic = Community Organizing.

Alinsky - the key to organizing, he provides the model for organization. Initially organizing in Chicago.

Power change social institution

Militant - violent was a about of bringing out change.

Conflict & confrontation are effective method of bringing about change.

Consensus organizing - getting people to agree

Alinsky states that community should identify the problem, not the organizer. He believes

• that power should not be given - those who have it won=t give it up, so to achieve it you have to fight for it. This is the political activist model
• conflict yield the greatest change
• small victories are more easily won - look for concrete victories {small issues}
• meet power with power
• emphasis non-ideological - ideology divides people
• organizer should not be leaders, but catalyst, they should educate the community.

Alinsky organized organization not individuals. Prior models organized individuals.

Alinsky & Social Welfare Model are two models of organizing.

Conservative Organizing (40s & 50s)- 1924-1950,1960 - this tend to maintain the status quo. Organizing was about keeping things together.

Urban renewals - tearing down and building up, and in the same time dividing people.

Nimbyism - organizing to prevent people from coming in.