Community organizing
Tuesday, Mar 25, 2008
Harry Boyte: Obama campaign could impact South Africa civic culture
Center for Democracy and Citizenship co-director Harry Boyte co-authored this editorial about the potential of the U.S. presidential election to influence the "customer service" cultures of both the U.S. and South Africa.
The way it is resonating in the build up to the U.S. presidential election suggests that civic agency, the form of politics it has captured, has relevance to South Africa. Civic agency politics views citizenship as active, informed and skilful participation.
March 25, 2008
Monday, Mar 24, 2008
Lessons for My Future Work in Tanzania
I am an American citizen who is very much committed to the progress of Tanzania. My family moved to that country when I was nine years old and I have come to call it home. My career goals are to assist local NGOs in eastern Africa with capacity building and with spatial planning, and as part of my Ph.D. work in geography I recently took a class at the University of Minnesota called “PA 5920 The Role of the Citizen: Organizing for a Public Life.”
Students at Ruaha Secondary School in Iringa, Tanzania
More than any other, this class has given me a new perception of how to enact change in my professional world.
First, I came away with a new conception of what it means to be a citizen – an empowering conception that moves away from thinking of service provision by the state towards recognizing the importance of individual action. This conception closely matches ideas I already had, but the class helped me to clarify and value these ideas to a greater degree.
Wednesday, Mar 19, 2008
Working Together to Support Latino Student Achievement
Chris Commers is a history teacher at Chaska High School in a suburban community southwest of Minneapolis. He has a master's degree in public affairs from the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, and wrote this post about a public work effort he and others are organizing in Chaska, Minnesota.
A group of community members in Chaska - Latino families, educators and other community members - is concerned with increasing student achievement among Latino students with low socio-economic status. We see citizen engagement as a key to increasing academic success while providing all participants with a greater sense of their civic power and the benefits of collaboration in strengthening our community.
We are organizing folks who see their own self-interest in working with others to accomplish the common goal of increasing student achievement. “One to one” meetings with folks who are potential collaborators allow us to communicate ideas and find leaders willing to work on our campaign. Currently, our biggest champions are lay minister Maria Koehn at Guardian Angels Catholic Church, ELL teachers such as Kristin Rodriguez, cultural liaisons like Lupe Pfaff, educators like Kathy McLain, para professionals such as Cynthia Juarez, and community members like Eddie Rodriguez - and many others!
As the result of discussions with Latino community members on Sunday afternoons following mass at Guardian Angels Church, our group has decided to focus on post-secondary educational information. At present, this is an integral part of a larger campaign to include the participation of area businesses, other Latino groups in the community, and more educators. An example would be increasing collaboration between families and teachers working to increase pre-school language literacy. Another example would be librarians in Chaska working with the school district to provide computer training so more community members use library technology and come into the Chaska library. These model activities could then be adapted and reproduced throughout the school district and beyond.
Thursday, Mar 13, 2008
Dear diary, Do people like me have the courage for a new kind of politics?
Dear Diary,
It’s 9 p.m., and I just got home from a town hall meeting convened by the two men and one woman who represent my district in the Minnesota State Legislature. Almost skipped the meeting for a much needed workout at the gym, but if my state legislators are making an effort at dialogue, it’s my duty to show up, right? Plus, I was curious.
The conversation was held in the octagon-shaped chapel of a local college – state legislators lined up in the middle facing mostly-gray haired constituents in rings of pews. Although the first legislator to speak encouraged us to use the space for dialogue with each other as much as with our elected officials, it didn’t take long – approximately 75 seconds – before the blaming/accusing/finger-pointing started. One of the very first “questions” was about property taxes and why You [legislators] keep raising them. This was followed quickly with a question about You People [legislators] raising the gas tax – don’t you know the price of fuel is skyrocketing? And why are You letting higher education tuition go up? And what about my property taxes?
There were a few words of thanks for past support of clean energy initiatives, and a legitimate question or two, but I could see what was going on: the folks who were speaking up thought they had elected These People to Fix Things. And They either weren’t Fixing Things, or They Weren’t Fixing the Right Things, or maybe They were Fixing Things, but They were spending too much of Our money doing it.
I composed comments in my head that went something like this:
Tuesday, Mar 11, 2008
Race between Clinton and Obama surfaces radically different views of politics, citizens’ roles
It is often noted that both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton draw on their experiences as activists and organizers descending from the work of the late Saul Alinsky, an iconoclastic community organizer from Chicago. Clinton wrote her senior thesis at Wellesley College on Saul Alinsky. The Chicago group that employed Obama as a community organizer, the Gamaliel Foundation, is one of several citizen organizing networks descended from Alinsky’s work.
But Alinsky’s final years and the period immediately after his death marked a substantial division in the Alinsky tradition. Citizen action divided into two broad approaches, mobilizing and organizing. This distinction plays itself out in the race for the Democratic nomination for president.
Monday, Feb 25, 2008
A Wake-up Call
The New Eersterus (Hammanskraal) community got a wake-up call several years ago in the form of community organizer and public achievement coach, Nomthandazo Skohosana. Nomthi, a small woman with a large vision, founded Vukani Community Development Organization in the Gauteng Providence of South Africa in 2001. Vukani, another word for "wake up" in a local language, was a call for citizens to actively work on issues surrounding HIV/AIDS in the new South African democracy.
Currently a Millenium Fellowship recipient at the Center for Tolerance Education in New York, Nomthi is focused on learning new approaches for promoting tolerance towards people living with HIV and AIDS and AIDS orphans. Nomthi visited Minnesota last week and the staff at the CDC was happy to host part of her visit.
Wednesday, Feb 20, 2008
"Green" civic organizers achieve success on local project to improve water quality
Jenny Morris, a transplant from Missouri and recent graduate of the University of Minnesota, was looking for ways to connect with and be more involved in her new community, and develop her skills as a leader.
Through the Citizens League, a Minnesota policy organization that aims to promote the common good, she joined a handful of other young adults to form an environmental action group. Dennis Donovan, an organizer at the Center for Democracy and Citizenship, helped connect Jenny's group with high school students at St. Bernard's school in St. Paul who are learning how to make positive change on issues they care about - like water quality - using the Public Achievement organizing model.
In an interview with Ellen Tveit, Jenny talks about her work with the team at St. Bernard's. She describes some of the challenges they faced - from identifying a clear goal to overcoming bureaucratic hurdles - and the skills they learned on the way to achieving success.
Jenny looks forward to putting her new skills to use - along with the many relationships she's built - in a professional capacity: she recently took a job at the state capitol working for a legislator who chairs an important and powerful legislative committee.
Wednesday, Dec 19, 2007
Residents, churches, and city officials develop community response to veterans
Nearly 300 members of the Minnesota National Guard are expected to attend a community event at the Bloomington, Minn., armory, from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, January 12.
Bloomington residents and businesses who want to honor the service of veterans are invited to participate in the "Stand To." The suggested donation by businesses is 20 to 40 hours of time, and areas of need include: painting, plumbing, lawn service, snow removal, resume development and interview coaching, money management, stress management, and family counseling.
Although the event is timed to coincide with a National Guard drill weekend, veterans from all branches of the military are welcome.
Read "Partners to aid returning military members", a guest column in the December 13 Bloomington Sun Current signed by the mayor, a local church leader, and an organizer for the Warrior to Citizen campaign.
Tuesday, Dec 18, 2007
Hastings Democracy Project - next steps
In early November, we published an entry about residents in a Minnesota town who organized a community meeting to talk about how to work together on issues that are important to them. (The Hastings Democracy Project)
Read Democracy Project coming together here in the December 13 Hastings Star Gazette to learn about the group's second meeting, and their ideas for "[spurring] more civic involvement among Hastings residents."
Tuesday, Nov 13, 2007
The Hastings Democracy Project
The Hastings Democracy Project is an example of what is at the heart of the Minnesota Works Together intiative: citizens and government working together to tackle issues in cities and communities.
Located 30 minutes south of St. Paul, Hastings is a small city on the Mississippi River with a historic downtown. The city is experiencing rapid growth on its periphery as more people seek a small-town way of life and housing that is less expensive than in the nearby metropolitan area. Like most people, Hastings residents want to have a say and a role in making their community the best it can be.
Dave Schwinghamer, a participant in the first Hastings Democracy Project meeting, wrote a reflection that illustrates both the importance of community discussion and citizen action.
The global ferment to recreate grassroots democratic institutions has bubbled up in Hastings. On October 24, responding to suggestions from local citizens, Mayor Paul Hicks convoked an informal meeting to launch the Hastings Democracy Project. Thirty-four residents responded to the mayor’s invitation.
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