Just a little disclaimer and some more info about us here...
First, if you think, looking at the picture of me and my horse, that I don't look disabled, think again. That picture is nearly 10 years old, and if you look closely, I was wearing a back brace then. Since then I have had 3 cervical discs replaced with "spacers" (the FDA has not yet approved the actual disc replacements yet - see the next paren), and been diagnosed with 5 herniated lumbar discs (awaiting FDA approval of surgical techniques successfully used in Europe for years), emphysema, arthritis and a myriad of other health problems, including a TBI (traumatic brain injury) that affects my cognitive abilities.
My poor old horse ain't gettin' any younger, either. He was mildly foundered years ago, and has an arthritic shoulder from a fall we took. The last time I was on his back was to ride him to the polls, fully tricked out in banners and flags for our candidate, on Election Day 2006 to vote for Texas Governor. The 5 mile round trip was about all either of us could manage. Both our tails were dragging by the time we got home - but we made our statement!
Second, I am not noted for my tact nor my political correctness. Just to support that statement, I'll say that Jack Nicholson and Bill Mayer are two of my favorite celebrities. That should tell you something! So, if you're easily offended, you can leave - don't go away mad, just go away. Don't complain; I do enough of that all by myself!
On the other hand, if you're serious about helping elders and disabled persons obtain better living conditions, then you'll just have to overlook my abrasive personality, and look at the beauty of this plan. Yes, of course, this is a self-serving enterprise, but if I can help myself AND help others at the same time, I can die peacefully, knowing I have left a legacy of good.
Http://savingtails.blogspot.com only outlines the PAL Community; I have published more details of the plan in other places, but I'll be darned if I can remember where ... I guess I'll have to re-write it. (A mind is a terrible thing to lose.)
Finally, I am in serious need of organizational help for this project! If you have the skills and/or funds necessary to help us obtain 501c3 status, funding, grant writing, advertsing, lobbying, or just want to help by being a supporter, please join my team in groups, blogs, causes, or wherever you find me. I may post on Facebook (see Critter Link), MySpace, Twitter, and wherever else I am.. Meanwhile, you may be able to find PAL by Googling "savingtails" , "critterlink", "Critter Link" or "PAL Community".
Addendum: My keyboard is worn out and sticky, and I'm a lousy typist, so I make lots of typos that i don't always catch. Please pardon me; I do the best I can.
Mitakuye Oyasin (We are all related),
CritterLink
The Recession Survival Fair will take place on 6/6 at the Brooklyn Brownstone School in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. Volunteers are needed now. Details here:
http://signsanssignified.blogspot.com/2009/05/recession-survival-fairvolunteers.html
If you'd like to volunteer in Brooklyn, here's an event where you can provide and/or swap skills/training with people trying to survive in these hard times, courtesy of Brooklyn for Barack.
Hello fellow Obama Supporters: Support the Houston Resource Directory by subscribing and adding your Social Skills Set. MyHoustonTexas.Info - is an INFORMATIONAL website and a RESOURCE directory; developed by a group of Houston campaign workers for President Barack Obama; 2008 Presidential Campaign [www.My.BarackObama.com]. Similar initiatives have been started in other States. Social skills set are similar to interests, hobbies, qualifications and competencies; which highlight marketable skills and work experience.
Examples: (a) Betty listed her Social Skill Set as retired, clerical, and bookkeeping. Shelia is a small business owner who lives in the same neighborhood, and needs assistance managing her business finances so; she contacts Betty about her bookkeeping services. (b) Willie listed his Social Skill Set as painting, yard-work, and mechanic. Jose lives in the same neighborhood, and needs assistance cutting a tree (from a natural disaster) so; he contacts (interviews) Willie about his yard-work services.
This social skills set concept is indicative of community empowerment, community development, and sustainable communities, and representative of President Obama's goal of empowering communities to work together. For information about collaborating or developing a similar community resource mechanism; please contact: Darryl.Riser@MyHoustonTexas.info
Sorry for the totally unrelated topic. This is an appeal to the community.
I run a small non-profit community organizing group that we started after the Presidential election. The project was inspired by our grassroots participation in electing President Obama. Now, we've decided to have our own website that would help us connect more effectively and I specifically desire the social networking features on MyBO (Groups, Friends, Messages, Blog, Events, Fundraising).
There are a number of public social networking websites out there, but I'm not interested in relying entirely on them. This is quite ambitious, considering we're a small group with a small budget. But I've seen enough "impossible" things become possible.
If there are any programmers in the community or if anyone knows any programmers out there that can do a website with the above features and user-friendliness, pease leave a comment on my blog.
Thanks for your help.
As we look ahead, let's all make “connecting, advancing, improving and uplifting the community” one of your top resolutions of 2009. Let’s harness the amazing energy we created to elect the amazing Barack Obama into something amazing for future generations. I believe we are about to witness a period of innovative and unprecedented civic engagement. And why do I believe that?Because Barack Obama is about to expand existing service programs like Peace Corps and AmeriCorps and put in place new service organizations to confront the ever-evolving needs of this country. According to Obama’s CHANGE.GOV site, this includes the creation of “a Classroom Corps to help underserved schools; a Health Corps to serve in the nation's clinics and hospitals; a Clean Energy Corps to achieve the goal of energy independence; and a Veterans Corps to support the Americans who serve by standing in harm's way.”This is awesome! Not only is Obama asking all middle and high school students to perform 50 hours of community service a year, but he is going to reward college students who engage in 100 hours of community service a year to receive a fully-refundable tax credit of $4,000 for their education. Yes, Obama is going to make community service a truly desirous component of our national culture.So encourage your family members, friends, neighbors, and co workers, to participate in some form of service. Before Obama gets started, however, there's a lot we can all do now. You can go to VolunteerMatch.org, which is incredibly effective in matching you to the area you’re passionate about. Or, you can fund classroom projects through DonorsChoose.org, or provide micro-finance loans to entrepreneurs through Kiva.org.Every year since the age of 9, I’ve found some way to have a positive and measurable impact on my community. I’ve volunteered to hold the infants of drug-addicted parents for area hospitals and given food to homeless families living under freeways. Throughout the year, I go around the community to collect old clothes from my neighbors – clothes to be donated to The Salvation Army and area homeless shelters. And, I also build houses with HABITAT for HUMANITY. So the work one can do is truly endless. I love it!Right now, the organization Global Green is building home in the area of New Orleans most devestated by Hurricane Katrina - The Lower 9th Ward. These new homes will be more energy efficient for the low income residents set to reside in them. In this “Age of Obama”, the idea of service will take on something new, something awesome.We must make a loud declaration of love and community. Word warrior Howard Thurman says it best in his book The Centering Moment:We must remember those who are close to us by ties of blood and accommodation, whose needs have been exposed to us in the days that are behind; those who are sick and who are moving slowly into a terminal dimension of their illness; those who have fallen upon hard and difficult times, from whose hands have been snatched those symbols of security by which the tranquility of their lives have been measured; those who are dependent upon us for things which we cannot give and we do not know how to say we cannot give them. We remember those men and those women whose private lives are burdened by the responsibilities of others and who find, because of the problems which surround them, that their private lives are inadequate and they are lonely and frightened and dismayed. We remember all those who stand within the shadow of the radiance that belongs to the healthy mind and the vigorous spirit; those who are wrestling withinner tortures that pull the world out of balance, who find themselves retreating more deeply within in the hope that in the iron-bound security of their inmost privacy they may beprotected from the things that overwhelm and prove unmanageable.As Thurman's moving passage suggests, we all have a solemn duty to lift each other up. And that means not just being nice to each other. That's not enough. To transform our lives and the lives around us, we must also be thoughtful! Let’s make it happen…and make 2009 the best year yet!
2morrowknight is an internet strategist and community organizer who blogs at 2morrowknight.blogspot.com, and is author of a forthcoming children's book. You can follow him at Twitter.com/2morrowknight and friend him at Myspace.com/2morrowknight.
I get tired of hearing myself bitch and moan, but...
I am one of the most non-religious people I know, but I have a family that isn't and they engage in the little yearly affair Christians like to put on called CHRISTMAS. This means family flying in to visit, spending time with family, cooking meals, decorating your elderly parents' house for Christmas the way they like it (and can no longer do themselves), and a general increase in activity in one's personal life.
Even before the election took place and we knew the joyous outcome, I felt strongly about capitalizing on the grassroots movement we've all created. I want nothing more than to continue to be the change, but does it have to be right now? Can't we wait until after the holidays are over?
I want to participate in community meetings but now is just not a good time, and it probably isn't for a lot of people. Will we have similar community organizing meetings after the first of the year? Will people who jump back in at that point be disregarded or left out?
Last night, I was reading Wikinomics, and thinking about the implications of the news that mybarackobama.com is staying up and active, even though the election is over.
How could the tools and concepts used on sites like wikipedia, livejournal, ravelry knitters, ok cupid, gather, youtube and mybarackobama be used to revolutionize the way the government is run?
OK Cupid lets users create quizzes, take each others' quizzes, and keeps track of the results. Couldn't that tool be used for more meaningful purposes than "Which Star Wars character would you be?"? Ravelry lets users set goals, keep track of their progress, and show off their successes. That could be useful for goals that are completely unrelated to yarn. Wikipedia lets users add and edit information, resulting in the largest compilation of human knowledge ever, with a comparable accuracy rate to printed encyclopedias- the difference being that wiki errors can be caught and corrected. Many sites allow user to rate content and post comments in reaction.
Different branches of government don't even share information freely with each other yet, resulting in redundancies that cost tax money. It's a waste to pay someone to sit in a cubicle and enter information into his computer when the same information is already on file in another county or state, or with another government agency. Why does DHS waste time making people provide proof of income when the IRS and Social Security already know how much money that person has made in their whole life? Why can some people manage to get away with collecting food stamps in several different states when all the agencies involved require documentation and have internet connections? So, government bureaucracies need to evolve, connect with each other, and allow more input from citizens.
Here in Iowa, hundreds of our supporters will be meeting at locations across the state to go out knocking on doors and talking with their neighbors about Barack and voting for the change we need.We need to reach out to tens of thousands of voters over the next two days to make sure they know their polling location, and we are going to need your help.
Click here to join your neighborhood team, and help us Get Out the Vote.
Dear Obama-Biden Supporters,
McCain has forgotten he has a link to ACORN as well, while he is accusing Obama to being close to the organization that offers community organizing and housing advocacy efforts that supports low-income people( Acorn has endorsed Barack Obama for president in this presidential election). The Mccain campaign has charged our campaign of serious allegations that we are tied to the allegedly voter registration's fraud. Now lets look at the facts about this Organtization, ACORN.
For more knoledge on what ACORN is and what they have been doing for the low income citizens for many years ( citizens whom by the way are mostly African-americans, Hispanics, Asians and other ethnics and who tend to vote "democrat") click here: www.acorn.org , and you can learn more from an aired video on CSPAN, [ in spite of a recent CNN report that members of ACORN were no where to be found for interviews ].
This is a video of a "Q&A Session" that features questions from the press newsmakers with a high level ACORN's representative. Director Bertha Lewis for NY ACORN was guest for a long interview on CSPAN, last weekend. She responded to questions related to allegations and explain her version of facts from the Interim Organization's stand point. (Video on the following link) http://www.c-spanarchives.org/library/index.php?main_page=product_video_info&products_id=281747-1
... And this week ( today , Oct. 14 2008) directors, representatives, volunteers, and advocates from ACORN responded to questions from a various press corp at the National Press Club in Washington DC, to respond to the McCain Campaign allegations of fraud. (Video on the following Link)
http://www.c-spanarchives.org/library/index.php?main_page=product_video_info&tID=5&src=atom&atom=todays_events.xml&products_id=281772-1
More than just informing the public about the true mission of ACORN, executives from the organization have expressed that ACORN has been attacked for organizing the most successful 2006 elections' voter registration, which operation was done in the bi-partisan way.
They said registrations that show signs of fraud or are illicit are flagged and sent to the Commission of Elections for triage. The report on CNN was just an fact not well explained to the viewers to make Americans believe there was a fraud condonned by the organization. They stressed the organization always in its rules of conduct helps authorities to prosecute those who violate the law, if involved in voter fraud or forgering of documents. The Commission's worker interviewed by CNN in last week newscast was talking about cases of flagged the ACORN has the authority of turning them to the Commissin anyways.
ACORN wrote in their website a letter that clearly shows the organization has bi-partisan goals which both members of major parties always endorsed. Lately senator McCain was one among the to applaude their efforts to help citizens help themselves with issues that affect them: Low income, immigration, voter registration, housing vs. redlining, etc. Letters from the ACORN site tells the public the GOP candidate is being hypocrite, playing a game of accusing ACORN for doing just what it has been asked by the government's elections commission to do in case of irregularities.
Beyond these incidents, they stressed the fact that they have been successful doing what is a challenge, help regular citizens to get involved in the political process by registriing for vote. In a response to the ACORN letter, McCain campaign manager Rick Davis made the challenge in a statement released in response to Tuesday morning's letter. http://www.acorn.org/index.php?id=12439&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=22386&tx_ttnews[backPid]=12387&cHash=5706e23a2f
They are decided (ACORN) to fight back the smears and false allegations they know the GOP has good reason to put out there, because the huge numbers turnout of voters in many states and the awarness most people in the country have shown to prevent vote suppression that happened in both the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections.
" As recently as February 20, 2006, Senator McCain was the keynote speaker at an ACORN-sponsored Immigration Rally in Miami, Florida at Miami Dade College – Wolfson Campus." - tells the ACORN letter ... And they added more as saying: " We expected Senator McCain to support our efforts to give voice to millions of Americans who have never participated in an election before. We are surprised at his efforts to vilify an organization that, until recently, he saw as an ally. Maybe this surprise attack and change of heart is indicative of his state of mind, and the way he would govern."
Well, it just another effort to distract the American voters, especially the independents (who are not aligned with Sarah Palin's Choice for VP); the lack of McCain consistent economic proposals for America; his bad policy as far as foreign affairs and the fate of the War in Iraq. The McCain-Palin ticket is hoping to make "ACORN" what they portrayed "MOVEON" as tied to John Kerry not later than the past recent elections and the Iraq War protests. The McCain Campaign says in a TV ad that Obama worked for ACORN in Chicago which is false according to Director Bertha, and the same added that ACORN has forced banks to give risky loans to low income citizens while ACORN officials argue the organization has fought for the low income from being "red-lining" (when banks shut out some citizens in minority neighborhoods because they are low income or because of their color of skin/ background).
ACORN says it that it has registered 1.3 million new voters this year as a community organizing and housing advocacy group that supports low-income people. Over the previous week the McCain presidential campaign and the Republican National Committee have accused ACORN of voter fraud and pushing banks into making risky home loans. On Thursday, October 9, 2008, Senator McCain called for a federal investigation of ACORN and on Friday Senator McCain's campaign manager, Rick Davis, said that Senator Obama's ties to ACORN should be investigated. After the interview, the reporters discussed her responses with the host.
The Director argued that the deregulation of the financial system, the greed in part of banks have contributed in an allocation of loans to customers who could not afford them; practices her organization has been monitoring and demanded the banks and loaners to make sure citizens are informed before buying decisions. Most of methods used were: First time home buyer's seminars in minority neighborhoods.
What do We Learn from this whole thing?
- ACORN linked to VOTER REGISTRATION FRAUD and possibly to the BANKING CRISIS/MORTGAGE;
- OBAMA mocked for being a COMMUNITY ORGANIZER
The whole allegation shows the GOP's plan to undermine the effort of an organization that bring in more voters to the polls, and an effort from McCain campaign to link "minority" homeowners to the cause of the CRISIS in Wall Street. What an insult to the American people !!!
Obama Friends, (Canvassers, Obama Call-Center Operators, Field Organizers and Precinct Captains) Let stay aware of their tactics!
Please talk about to our friends and relatives. Bring more out there to vote!
I'm Franklin, an Obama Surrogate;
And I approve this message!
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/790/
For most of the election, Sen. John McCain's campaign has been somewhat subtle about trying to tie Sen. Barack Obama to the former '60s radical William Ayers.
No longer. A 90-second Web ad released Oct. 8, 2008, features sinister music, side-by-side photographs of Obama and Ayers, and a series of dubious allegations about their past connections, including this one:
"Ayers and Obama ran a radical education foundation together."
Ayers was a founding member of the militant Vietnam-era anti-war group the Weathermen. He was investigated for his role in a series of domestic bombings, but the charges were dropped in 1974 due to prosecutorial misconduct. He is now an education professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and actively engaged in the city's civic life.
The McCain campaign said the "radical education foundation" to which they were referring is the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, a charity endowed by publishing magnate Walter Annenberg that funded public-school programs in Chicago from 1995 to 2001.
We'll look at whether the foundation was radical. But first we have to grapple with whether Obama and Ayers ran it.
Obama served on the foundation's volunteer board from its inception in 1995 through its dissolution in 2001, and was chair for the first four years. So an argument can be made that he ran it, though an executive director handled day-to-day operations.
Ayers, who received his doctorate in education from Columbia University in 1987 and is now a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, was active in getting the foundation up and running. He and two other activists led the effort to secure the grant from Annenberg, and he worked without pay in the early months of 1995, prior to the board's hiring of an executive director, to help the foundation get incorporated and formulate its bylaws, said Ken Rolling, who was the foundation's only executive director. Ayers went on to become a member of the "collaborative," an advisory group that advised the board of directors and the staff.
However, Ayers "was never on the board of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge," and he "never made a decision programmatically or had a vote," Rolling said.
"He (Ayers) was at board meetings — which, by the way, were open — as a guest," Rolling said. "That is not anything near Bill Ayers and Barack Obama running the Chicago Annenberg Challenge."
Now, was the foundation radical?
The McCain campaign cited several pieces of evidence for that allegation, including a 1995 invitation from the foundation for applications from schools "that want to make radical changes in the way teachers teach and students learn." The campaign appears to have confused two different definitions of the word "radical." Clearly the invitation referred to "a considerable departure from the usual or traditional," rather than "advocating extreme measures to retain or restore a political state of affairs."
The campaign also cited two projects the foundation funded, one having to do with a United Nations-themed Peace School and another that focused on African-American studies.
"That is radical in the eye of this campaign and we imagine in the eyes of most Americans," said Michael Goldfarb, a spokesman for McCain. "It is a subjective thing, and there are going to be people in Berkeley and Chicago who think that is totally legitimate."
Teaching about the United Nations and African-American studies may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it's hardly "radical" in the same way Ayers' Vietnam-era activities were. Moreover, most of the projects the foundation funded (more on that below) were not remotely controversial.
The McCain campaign also cited an opinion piece by conservative commentator Stanley Kurtz in the Sept. 23, 2008, Wall Street Journal as evidence of the foundation's radicalism. Kurtz wrote that Ayers was the "guiding spirit" of the foundation, and it "translated Mr. Ayers's radicalism into practice."
But Ayers' views on education, though certainly reform-oriented and left-of-center, are not considered anywhere near as radical as his Vietnam-era views on war. And even if they were, there was a long list of individuals involved with the Chicago Annenberg Challenge whose positions provided them far more authority over its direction than Ayers' advisory role gave him.
Let's look at a few, starting with the funder. Annenberg was a lifelong Republican and former ambassador to the United Kingdom under President Richard Nixon. His widow, Leonore, has endorsed McCain. Kurtz might just as plausibly have accused Obama and the foundation of "translating Annenberg's conservatism into practice."
Among the other board members who served with Obama were: Stanley Ikenberry, former president of the University of Illinois; Arnold Weber, former president of Northwestern University and assistant secretary of labor in the Nixon administration; Scott Smith, then publisher of the Chicago Tribune; venture capitalist Edward Bottum; John McCarter, president of the Field Museum; Patricia Albjerg Graham, former dean of the Harvard University Graduate School of Education, and a host of other mainstream folks.
"The whole idea of it being radical when it was this tie of blue-chip, white-collar, CEOs and civic leaders is just ridiculous," said the foundation's former development director, Marianne Philbin.
The foundation gave money to groups of public schools – usually three to 10 – who partnered with some sort of outside organization to improve their students' achievement.
In his opinion piece, Kurtz puts a sinister spin on this: "Instead of funding schools directly, it required schools to affiliate with 'external partners,' which actually got the money...CAC disbursed money through various far-left community organizers, such as the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (or ACORN)."
Rollings said the foundation tried to fund the schools directly, but doing so proved to be a "bureaucratic nightmare." But any external group that received money had to have created a program in partnership with a network of public schools.
And though ACORN is considered a liberal organization, the vast majority of the foundation's external partners were not remotely controversial. Here are a few examples: the Chicago Symphony, the University of Chicago, Loyola University, Northwestern University, the Chicago Children's Museum, the Museum of Science and Industry, the Field Museum, the Commercial Club of Chicago, the Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance and the Logan Square Neighborhood Association.
Had Kurtz chosen to accuse Obama of carrying water for the conservative Annenberg, he might have written: "CAC disbursed money to various business-friendly entities, such as the Museum of Science and Industry and the Commercial Club of Chicago."
See how easy it is?
The programs the foundation funded were designed to allow individuals from the "external partners" – whether the musicians in the symphony or the business leaders in the commercial club – to help improve student achievement. They were along the lines of mentoring by artists, literacy instruction, professional development for teachers and administrators, and training for parents in everything from computer skills to helping their children with homework to advocating for their children at school.
This last activity – something suburban parents practice with zeal – is also suspect in Kurtz's view: "CAC records show that board member Arnold Weber was concerned that parents 'organized' by community groups might be viewed by school principals 'as a political threat.'" That is typical of Kurtz's essay – relatively innocuous facts cast in the worst possible light. That's appropriate for an opinion piece, perhaps, but hardly grounds for a purportedly factual political ad accusing the group of radicalism.
We could go on and on with evidence that the Chicago Annenberg Challenge was a rather vanilla charitable group. For example, under the deal with Annenberg every dollar from him had to be matched by two from elsewhere. The co-funders were a host of respected, mainstream institutions, such as the National Science Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Chicago Public Schools.
In short, this was a mainstream foundation funded by a mainstream, Republican business leader and led by an overwhelmingly mainstream, civic-minded group of individuals. Ayers' involvement in its inception and on an advisory committee do not make it radical – nor does the funding of programs involving the United Nations and African-American studies.
This attack is false, but it's more than that – it's malicious. It unfairly tars not just Obama, but all the other prominent, well-respected Chicagoans who also volunteered their time to the foundation. They came from all walks of life and all political backgrounds, and there's ample evidence their mission was nothing more than improving ailing public schools in Chicago. Yet in the heat of a political campaign they have been accused of financing radicalism. That's Pants on Fire wrong.
What it's all about.
ntodd
Creating community events that open people's hearts and minds requires great social imagination. By definition, artists and activists are imaginative creatures, but the "social" part doesn't come with traditional arts training. And let's face it: the usual meet-and-canvass format of social-change activism can bore people to tears (most especially us activists!).
How to nourish the imagination needed to break out of the box and create appealing, eye-opening, consciousness-changing events? If you'd like to get inspired by what other creative social-change artists have done, I've got just the Web resource for you!
http://transpolitical.blogspot.com/2008/09/brace-yourself-white-america-its-going.html
reprint from TransPolitical Blog 9/4/08
As I’d blogged before about a month ago, the GOP strategy this campaign will be one of the ugliest on record. They have discovered that racism can be their friend when it comes to scaring off white voters. And if that’s what it takes to have their nominee in the White House to choose the next Supreme Court Justices and to rid themselves of liberal influence in legislation and law, and throw it into neo-conservative sway for the indefinite future, then stirring up race wars are AOK with them.
Well make no bones about it, they are beginning the process now.
This is how we win.
Approximately 600 organizers, in one room, treated to a detailed manual, a dynamic visual presentation, and a strong voice at the front, all informing them exactly what to do in the next few weeks, to make sure that every single supporter casts their vote for Barack Obama.
That may sound less-than-stimulating to most people, but this crew is proud to call themselves community organizers, and jump at the opportunity to share ideas and absorb knowledge on how to effectively mobilize their area to get them to the polls to make change. To say that they're fired up is putting it mildly. This is their livelihood. This is what they do, and what they've spent every waking hour doing for the last several weeks, months, and for some, even years.
And as is the Obama field team motto, they were respected, empowered, and included. Respected, by being allowed a time for each to tell their story of why they are working for change, and being trusted to take what was learned today and adapting it to each community. Empowered, by being armed with an arsenal of meticulously thought out materials and presented with G.O.T.V. simulations that problem-solve every possible issue that could come up on Election Day. And included, by bringing them into the conversation with the biggest names in the movement. Today they were visited by Governor Ted Strickland, Senator Sherrod Brown... and, oh yeah, this guy:
That's right--Barack Obama himself, after two rallies today in Chillicothe and Columbus, took time off his schedule to meet with six hundred people in Ohio... whose votes he can surely count on. He met with them because these are some of the people working the hardest for him in the whole country, let alone Ohio. He met with them because community organizing and the power of it is fundamental not only to his own personal biography, but also to the philosophy of this campaign. He met with them because even after November 4th, after the votes have been gotten out, change will start from the bottom up.
This is how we win. Get out your own vote, and then you can be a part.
What is Community Organizing?
By Joe Parko
Author's note: The term "community organizing"- has become part of the political discussion because of Barack Obama's past experience as an organizer. However, the role of the community organizer is not well-known to the general public. Just what does a community organizer do? I used to teach a course in community organizing in the Urban Studies department at Georgia State University and I have prepared this article to shed some light on this topic. What I describe below is the classic model of community organizing which is similar to the approach used by Obama in South Chicago.
Community organizing is a long-term approach where the people affected by an issue are supported in identifying problems and taking action to achieve solutions. The organizer challenges those he or she works with to change the way things are--it is a means of achieving social change through collective action by changing the balance of power. The tactics and strategies employed by the organizer are similar to the processes of leadership including timing the issue, deliberate planning, getting the attention of the populace, framing the issue in terms of the desired solution, and shaping the terms of the decision-making process.
Community organizing helps to bring out many voices to add collective power and strength to an issue. Community organizing is a key part of an overall strategy to confront issues that are widely felt in a community, and that reflect the wishes of the people who are directly affected by community problems. This requires the organizer to not only listen and be responsive to the community, but also to help community residents develop the skills necessary to address their own issues in an ongoing way.
Individual vs. Collective Action
Community organizing looks at collective solutions--large numbers of people who engage in solutions that impact even more people. These people usually live in the same neighborhood, town or block.
Many traditional agency responses look at individual solutions. Agencies tend to focus on the individual as a means to solve problems so that the system can be left intact. Community organizing changes the balance of power and creates new power bases.
The skills of a community organizer
The skills of the community organizer are crucial to the organizing process. Community organizers think strategically about their work while always keeping the final goal in mind and continually making contributions to the goal. This is especially important in community organizing campaigns to enact or change policies. Qualities of a good community organizer include:
"- Imagination "- Sense of Humor "- A vision of a better world "- An organized personality "- Strong ego/sense of oneself "- A free, open mind, and political savy "- Ability to create the new out of the old
Principles of Organizing
Experienced organizers know that the process of organizing is seldom "tidy"--it doesn't always happen in neat, predictable steps. It can be thought of as a process guided by principles that repeat in a cyclic, rather than linear, way. Understanding this helps in planning effective organizing for community action.
The six stages of effective community organizing are:
1. Assess the Community
It's extremely important that you get to know the community you will be working in, and the history of the issue you will address. Allow two to three months to become familiar with the community, its history, make-up, demographics, geography and political leadership. Continue to learn about the community by going "doorknocking" and conducting "one-on-ones." This will help you learn about the concerns of the community and develop personal relationships.
One-on-ones are an important part of community organizing, as they lay the foundation for all the work that comes afterwards. The main goal of the one-on-one is to listen and gather information. The organizer must learn what community members' concerns are, and find out what they identify as problems, not tell the community what the problem is. That is why an organizer meets first with people individually, rather than try to meet everyone in a group.
2. Create an Action Team
Review your one-on-ones and invite people to join your community action team (or committee, task force, group). Ideally, teams should have up to 10 to 20 active members so they are big enough to have representation from the community, but not so unwieldy that the team can't make decisions/progress. Try to build an action team of core leaders who have time, energy, passion for the issue, possess a "can-do" attitude and represent a diverse cross-section from many sectors of the community.
3. Develop an action plan
Work with your team to develop an Action Plan.What problems has your group identified? What policies would address that problem? What is the decision-making body you need to impact? What other steps will your team need to take to change policy? Break your work down into manageable steps and tasks. Hold a meeting to discuss your plan of action and include a timeline for when things will happen and identify who is responsible. It should be realistic, feasible, and flexible.
4. Mobilize to action
Building your base of support is a necessary part of your Action Plan. While your leadership group will guide your work, more people are needed to create real change. Tasks you will need to consider:
"- Identify potential supporters by going door-to-door- "- Build a base of support in the community "- Determine constituents and likely allies "- Contact constituents and meet with key members "- Make presentations "- Identify elected officials who you think will be supportive "- Solicit advice of supportive politicians for more political contacts "- Ask people to get involved--give them specific tasks
Once your group has identified its goals, your responsibility as the organizer is to keep the momentum of the group moving forward. To do this you should:
"- Break large jobs into small tasks "- Get and keep your team members engaged, informed, involved, and in the spotlight "- Be responsive and reliable--get people what they need to complete their tasks "- Keep group focused and on track "- Don't let opponents get your group off message or task
5 .Implement
Once you achieve your goal, your group will need to decide how it will maintain the change and ensure that the desired results are achieved. Likewise, your group will have to decide what its future will be once you attain your goal. Once people have experienced some success in creating change themselves, it is essential to build the momentum.
6. Evaluate
As you implement your plan of action, it's important to carefully review your progress during the campaign to ensure you stay on track, as well as to evaluate the campaign after it has ended to see what went right or wrong and learn lessons for the future.
During the campaign , make sure you are continuing to make progress toward your goals. Check up on the process, to make sure your group is effectively working together. Examples of evaluation questions to ask leaders and other stakeholders in your campaign might include:
"- Is the campaign making a difference? How? "- Are we making progress toward our goal? "- What factors are most important in achieving the goals of the campaign? "- What are the biggest challenges or obstacles for the campaign?
After the action plan has been implemented and the campaign is "over," evaluate:
"- What has been accomplished? "- What still needs to be done? "- What was done well? "- What could have been done better?
The community organizer then works with the people to identify new issues and new action campaigns to create change. The community organizer's main task is to develop local leadership and to empower people to work for change themselves. The organizer's job is done when the people can act on their own.
A personal note: It seems to me that working as a community organizer is just the kind of experience one needs to be a president who listens to the people and works on their behalf
Community organizing is critical to anglers who support conservation. Here's a column I wrote on the topic:
http://www.cmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080914/SPORTS/809140337
Founded in 1976, Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI) is dedicated to the simple idea that shelter from rain, wind and sun is a basic human need. Obama Works is a national grassroots organization comprised of volunteers dedicated to implementing Senator Barack Obama's message of positive change through public service. Both organizations rely extensively on unpaid help - people who do the right thing with no expectation of any payback beyond a smile.
This is what COMMUNITY ORGANIZING is all about!
On September 13th, 2008, the Obama Works Twin Cities volunteers partnered with Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity organizers to apply some elbow grease to two projects in Minneapolis. Hearty volunteers under the guidance of Master Gardeners who volunteer with HFHI helped a family beautify their home, and neighborhood.
The family may not be entirely comfortable with operating the lawnmower yet, but they've got curb appeal. They've also got new friends who are invested in their success, new connections to more established residents of their community.
Read the full story at Actualizers, and please pass along this example of how Obama's history inspires acts of community service.
Pictures and video amplify the story of volunteers beautifying a Habitat Home in south Minneapolis on behalf the the new homeowners, immigrants from Somalia who have only been in the house since mid-summer. A cool, rainy September day, but the result was sunshine in the Twin Cities.
The planning was donated. The plants were donated. The labor was donated...Senator Barack Obama's example might not have come to the attention of so many of us if he'd not become a candidate for president -- but community service is ALWAYS a postive action.
Read the whole article | DIGG it!
