A role for citizens and other stakeholders

Government

Business

Citizens

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb deciding what to have for dinner. Benjamin Franklin one of the Founding Fathers of the United States

Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote

...and community organizers add Organizing is the arms of the lamb

What is Community Organizing?

The purpose of community organizing is to actively engage large

numbers of people to powerfully solve neighborhood and city-wide problems. Community organizing involves building power through involving a constituency in identifying problems and visions they share and the solutions to those problems and visions that they desire.

Community organizing builds long-term, democratically controlled

organizations capable of solving numerous problems important to the organizations membership and allies.

Community organizing can be done in a large number of contexts

and with a variety of constituents: individual members, organization of organizations, neighborhood or issue based, with religious congregations and/or secular groups, tenants, seniors, youth, etc.

Steps in Community Organizing

a. Systematically listening to residents and citizens in order to select

and prioritize problems and visions, (Personal interviews, surveys, initial meetings)

b. Research to identify potential solutions, and

c. Act to solve these problems and achieve these visions through self-

help approaches and/or engaging key government and other institutions through negotiation, using confrontation and pressure when necessary.

d. Build powerful organization of citizens group

ECON definition
Community organizing is a

democratically-governed long-term process by which people are brought together to act in their common selfinterest to identify community problems and solutions, and to take action by engaging existing power structures to make those solutions a reality.

What is community organizing?

A form of LEADERSHIP that enables a CONSTITUENCY to create an ORGANIZATION that turns its RESOURCES into the POWER to make CHANGE.

Stories

SHELL CAMPAIGN in Radvan neighborhood of Banska Bystrica

SHELL CAMPAIGN in Radvan neighborhood of Banska Bystrica

Pre and Post Election Activities in Banska Bystrica

Citizens Agenda

Get out the Vote

Candidate Forums

Holding officials accountable

Sidewalk campaign Listening

Research

Action

Celebration

Build Organization

European Community Organizing Network