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| Organizing |
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Community
Organization Today
“Today, no major metropolitan area
is without broadly based community organizing efforts, often affiliated
with one of more of the national organizing networks. Whatever their form,
these organizations seek to provide an effective voice for the powerless.
They are guided by the justice and democratic values, teachings, and
traditions of the religious faiths of their members, or the secular,
small-d democratic origins of the U.S. Declaration of Independence and
Bill of Rights.
The massive organization of large
numbers of people who have been excluded from participation in, and
receipt of the benefits of , society is not only possible, it has occurred
in American history. Visionary leaders have expressed, focused, and
inspired organizing that took place at the base. The leaders and the base
are yin and yang to each other, not either-or.
If
we look at the great steps forward for the marginalized, excluded,
discriminated against, and exploited in the U.S. in the last seventy-five
years, it is impossible not observe that they led by men and women of
vision whose overall objectives went beyond building one particular
organization of winning one specific victory.” (253)
A
COMMUNITY ORGANIZER'S TALE by Mike Miller, Berkeley:Heyday Books, 2009.
CSCO believes this is the best book on organizing. Miller has been with
CSCO for many years.
Difficulties
of Organizing
Successful
Coalitions
Defining Organizing
Myth Control
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CSCO, P.O. Box 60123, Dayton, OH 45406; email: