NSTP 2 Community Organization

1.
Community organizing involves mobilizing a group of people to address common

issues and concerns and enabling them to take action. It focuses on collective action;
the power derived from the synchronized actions of people in unity, as opposed to
separate individuals. Quite akin to the common saying, ‘United we stand, divided we fall.’
From fighting social injustice to inequality, community organizing finds its roots in
movements of the past such as the suffragettes and the trade union movements, among
others. To put it simply, community organizing consists of these five steps:
- Listening to people
- Clarifying common goals
- Framing strategies for action
- Helping build leaders
- Mobilizing the community
Listen to People
Clearly, you should first have an issue in mind which affects a community that you want
to help it resolve. This involves talking to people and finding out what their concerns are
and what pain points they’re facing and would like to fight for (or against). Face to face
meetings are the most effective as they show people that you genuinely care about
wanting to help them help themselves (by achieving the collective end goal). By listening
and talking in person, you gain a fair understanding of the people who want to work
towards bettering a situation as opposed to the ones who merely want to vent but not
work. Depending on the size of your outreach, use different ways to contact people: go
door knocking if you’re targeting a neighborhood, or if your community is scattered, use
social media to attract people’s attention and set up meeting spots.
Clarify your Goals
The next step is to pinpoint your mission and its corresponding goals. Whatever it is that
your community is fighting for; reducing the usage of fossil fuels by shifting focus on
renewables or fighting for more/equal pay, make sure to list out what it is you want to
achieve. As the community organizer, you should divide the goals into 2 categories:
Internal goals: these are focused on your community or organization and involves
aspects such as how to increase your community base and how to reach out to more
people.
External goals: these are focused on the change that you’re looking to bring; the bills
you want passed, or the rules you want changed.
Frame Strategies for Action
For this, go about creating a blueprint of actions that your team is going to follow to
effect change. These could include (but aren’t limited to) organizing rallies, emailing and
calling legislators, holding press conferences and contacting local newspapers.
Depending upon the number of people you can mobilize and the sort of impact you wish
to create, choose a strategy which is both manageable and impactful. While strategizing,
you’ll also have to keep in mind who your potential allies are, and who or what your
opposition is. If you’re fighting for equal pay, your allies could be labor unions fighting
the same problem in another factory or company, while your opposition could be upper
management intent on cutting costs by paying less in salaries. Leverage upon your
allies, and figure out ways to tackle opposing parties.
Build Local Leadership
As community organizers, it is impossible to organize every minute aspect of a

campaign. Which is why you need a plan in place to develop community leaders who
can lead local initiatives. After all, if everyone in a group is involved, everyone should be
allowed to take up tasks of importance. Developing leaders is an important step as they
serve as a point of contact for the flow of information among volunteers, other
community heads, and district organizers. When people are passionate about an issue,
they’d be more than happy to take up additional tasks. By being community leaders, they
get to do this.
Mobilize People
This step involves gathering people and taking collective action for achieving your
mission. It could be something like staging a rally, going door to door canvassing,
holding an event, or calling lawmakers to approve a bill. The point is you need to
mobilize your volunteer base for these activities, for which you require the right set of
tools. Use peer to peer texting, phone calls, email, and even social media to keep people
informed about an upcoming event. If there are many members, contact the community
leaders who would then spread the word to their respective groups.
2. One such idea is that of community organization the idea that people can and should
come together to talk about what matters to them, and then work together to
successfully change their communities. As this idea is a common thread woven
throughout our work. In the remainder of this section, we'll give a general overview of
community organization what it is and how you do it. We'll also give brief explanations of
different ways of looking at community organization. Although all of the strategies we will
discuss have quite a bit in common, it may be helpful to separate out and compare
different approaches in order for us to look more clearly at our work.

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1.

Community organizing involves mobilizing a group of people to address common

- Clarifying common goals

- Framing strategies for action

- Helping build leaders

- Mobilizing the community

Clarify your Goals

Frame Strategies for Action

Build Local Leadership

As community organizers, it is impossible to organize every minute aspect of a

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