Community organizing
Community organizing is a process where people who live in proximity to each other or share some common problem[1] come together into an organization that acts in their shared self-interest.
Unlike those who promote more-consensual community building, community organizers generally assume that social change necessarily involves conflict and social struggle in order to generate collective power for the powerless. Community organizing has as a core goal the generation of durable power for an organization representing the community, allowing it to influence key decision-makers on a range of issues over time. In the ideal, for example, this can get community-organizing groups a place at the table before important decisions are made.[2] Community organizers work with and develop new local leaders, facilitating coalitions and assisting in the development of campaigns. A central goal of organizing is the development of a robust, organized, local democracy bringing community members together across differences to fight together for the interests of the community.[3]
Understanding what community organizing is can be aided by understanding what it is not from the perspective of community organizers.[40]
History in the United Kingdom[edit]
TCC (Trefnu Cymunedol Cymru / Together Creating Communities)[edit]
TCC (Trefnu Cymunedol Cymru / Together Creating Communities) is the oldest community organising group in the UK, founded in 1995. TCC is an institutional membership organisation; members include community groups, faith groups, and schools, from across North East Wales (Wrexham, Flintshire, and Denbighshire). As a broad-based alliance, TCC brings communities together for action on local, regional, and national issues.
TCC is remarkable in community organising in that its area of operation includes a diverse geographical region, including many rural areas, and is notably not based in a city.
TCC has had success with a number of campaigns over the last 25 years. This includes getting several employers (including the Welsh Assembly) to pay the Living Wage, improving Muslim women's access to leisure facilities, making Wales the world's first Fairtrade nation, improving British Sign Language provision for Deaf young people, getting a Parkinson's nurse to be based in North East Wales, getting a local authority to recycle instead of building an incinerator, and getting a homeless shelter for Wrexham.
In 2019 TCC's Stop School Hunger / Dysgu Nid Llwgu campaign led to the Welsh Government committing funding so that the poorest pupils in Wales will be able to afford breakfast as well as lunch at school.
TCC runs an ongoing programme of community organising training for adults and young people. Community leaders from TCC's diverse membership work together to actively engage in democracy and decision making, holding regular accountability meetings ahead of elections and building ongoing relationships with power holders.
The Community Organisers (CO) programme 2011–2015[edit]
In 2010 the Conservative/Liberal Democrat Coalition Government pledged as part of its commitment to the Big Society to train a new generation of Community Organisers (CO) programme.[64] This policy aim sat alongside a number of other policy objectives including The Localism Act[65] all of which were designed to give new powers to communities to take great control over their neighbourhoods, services and assets.
The Cabinet Office commissioned Ipsos MORI and NEF Consulting to conduct the evaluation of the CO programme.[66] Evaluation work began in October 2012 and the main report, published in December 2015, summarises the final assessment of the programme.[67]
The Community Organisers Expansion Programme (COEP) 2017–2020[edit]
In March 2017, Community Organisers secured a major £4.2m contract from the Office for Civil Society, part of the Department of Culture Media and Sport (DCMS), to expand its movement of Community Organisers from 6,500 to 10,000 by 2020.
The programme embeds community organising as part of the fabric of neighbourhoods across England and equips local people with the skills to transform their communities for good. It expands the community organising movement to include young people from the National Citizen Service (NCS) and ambassadors for the #iwill social action campaign for 10 to 20-year-olds. The programme has also established the National Academy of Community Organising to sustain the ongoing training of Community Organisers.
Community Organisers[edit]
A key commitment of the Community Organisers (CO) programme, was to build an independent legacy body that would sustain and develop Community Organising in England. Established in 2015, Community Organisers (originally known as COLtd[68]) is the National Training and Membership body for Community Organisers in England, delivering accredited training. Community Organisers has also established he National Academy of Community Organising to provide training and support to people in community organising in the UK.
The National Academy of Community Organising[edit]
The National Academy of Community Organising (NACO) provides quality assured training and Qualification courses in community organising. It is a network of affiliated local hubs of community organising known as Social Action Hubs. These organisations deliver our courses.
There are currently 22 Social Action Hubs across England. They are locally rooted organisations committed to community organising who train and support people to develop their understanding and practice of community organising and to get involved in social action.
Each Social Action Hub is unique and works in its own way to ignite social change through community organising, However, all of the Social Acton Hubs are quality assured by Community Organisers to offer our training courses
London Citizens[edit]
London Citizens began life in East London in 1996 as TELCO (the East London Communities Organisation) subsequently expanding to South London, West London and by 2011 into North London. London Citizens has a dues paying institutional membership of over 160 schools, churches, mosques, trade unions, synagogues and voluntary organisations. In the beginning, small actions were undertaken to prevent a factory from contaminating the area with noxious smells and prevent drug dealing in school neighbourhoods. Over time larger campaigns were undertaken. Before Mayoral elections for the Greater London Authority in 2000, 2004 and 2008 major Accountability Assemblies were held with the main mayoral candidates. They were asked to support London Citizens and work with them on issues such as London Living wage; an amnesty for undocumented migrants; safer cities initiatives and development of community land trust housing. South London Citizens held a citizens enquiry into the working of the Home Office department at Lunar House and its impact on the lives of refugees and migrants. This resulted in the building of a visitor centre.
Citizens UK[edit]
Citizens UK has been promoting community organising in the UK since 1989 and has established the profession of Community Organiser through the Guild of Community Organisers teaching the disciplines of strategy and politics. Neil Jameson, the executive director of Citizens UK, founded the organisation after training with the Industrial Areas Foundation in the USA. Citizens UK (formerly the Citizens Organising Foundation) established citizens groups in Liverpool, North Wales, the Black Country, Sheffield, Bristol, Milton Keynes and London. London Citizens' forerunner TELCO was formed in 1996. Milton Keynes Citizens began in 2010. The others had a brief and glorious start lasting roughly 3 years when COF was unable to finance them any longer.
Manchester Changemakers was formed in 2007 and is independent of Citizens UK.
Community Organizing in Hong Kong[edit]
The emergence of community organizing in the 1970s[edit]
After the 1966 Star Ferry Riots and 1967 Riots, the British colonial government launched a series of policies to pacify the discontent and strengthen its rule. One of the measures was the subvention of "Neighbourhood Level Community Development Project" (NLCDP) in 1978, which is interpreted as an act to manage the pressure groups.[75][76] Social workers were hired to provide activities and promote engagement in areas in shortage of welfare services.[75] According to some scholars' view, in contrast with the government's intention, NLCDP then became a site of "radical community organizing movements" that used protest actions.[76]
The 1970s saw the rise of social and pressure group movements in Hong Kong.[76] Many social organizations and pressure groups were formed without the government's subsidy, in turn having more freedom to organize different activities. Some organizations were formed by progressive Christians. For instance, the Society for Society for Community Organization (SoCO) was formed in 1971.[75] Pastors working in the district Tsuen Wan from six denominations formed a fellowship to discuss local issues, and decided to obtain funding from the World Council of Churches to form the Tsuen Wan Ecumenical Social Service Centre (TWESSC) to serve the low-income people in 1973.[77]
Residents were organized in housing-related movements with demands ranging from improvement of facilities to housing policy.[76] One of the examples is the protest of Yau Ma Tei boat people.
Influence of Saul Alinsky in Hong Kong in the 1970s[edit]
The Asia Committee for People's Organisation (ACPO), influenced by Liberation Theology and Saul Alinsky's concepts, provided both financial support and training to church groups in different parts of Asia such as Hong Kong, Korea, Indonesia and the Philippines.[75] They invited Alinsky-trained consultants to organize training programmes and also Alinsky himself to Hong Kong in 1971.[75] Alinsky's two works, Reveille for Radicals and Rules for Radicals were widely read by university students and social workers.[78] Due to Alinsky's influence, the social workers adopted a more aggressive confrontational mode to force the government into actions.[76]
Community organizing in the 1990s[edit]
A few social movements that adopted community organizing to demand housing rights in the 1990s caused much controversy especially in the social work sector, challenging the mode of "community organizing".
In 1993, the TWESSC organized some residents of public housing estates to protest, demanding the British colonial government to retract the "Well-off Tenants Policies" that increased the rent for higher-income residents in public housing estates. They planned to march towards the Governor's House but were blocked in the way. They then sat in at the Upper Albert Road, blocking three lanes of the road, and demanded the Governor to take the petition letter. As a result, 23 people were arrested.[79]
In 1994, the Buildings Department took a large-scale action to demolish rooftop houses, which were considered as unauthorized building works. On 17 October, the social workers of TWESSC organized the residents that lived in rooftop structures in Tak Yan House and Cheuk Ming House of Tsuen Wan to protest against the demolition and ask for resettlement and relocation. After camping overnight outside the Murray Building, which accommodated the Buildings, Lands and Planning departments. The protestors staged a sit-in at the lobby and kept all the lifts open, demanding to meet Director of Buildings, Helen Yu Lai Ching-ping.[80] On 14 December, the social workers organized the residents to sit-in on the Garden Road outside the Murray Building. Residents brought their daily life instruments such as empty liquid petroleum gas pots and cooking utensils with the aim to stage a street theatre about losing their home. The liquid petroleum gas pots became the justification of police to clear the protest and caused much controversy. Twenty-two people, including social workers, were arrested under the charge of causing obstruction to traffic in Garden Road and attended court hearings.[81][79]
In 1995, the rooftop dwellers in Kingland Apartments in Mong Kok protested against the Buildings Department' plan to demolish their rooftop homes. The NGO SoCO, a university students organization Social Movement Resource Centre and some other citizens joined to form the "Kingland's friends" to support the residents. In March, around 20 residents and social workers demonstrated outside the government office. Three were alleged to have clashed with police and security guards and were arrested. In late April, the SoCo decided to withdraw from the "Kingland's friend" and close the case, claiming that "residents were swayed by students associations to plan illegal and violent ways for protest".[82] In May, nearly 300 riot police cleared the Kingland Apartments.
The aftermath of the series of events had an impact on the mode of community organizing in the social work sector. SoCo complained to TWESSC that some of their social workers joined "Kingland's Friends" and intervened in SoCo's work. The executive member and staff of TWESS had disagreement about social workers' position in joining social movements, leading to the dismissal of six workers. The TWESSC was disbanded in January 1997.[79]
In 1995, the government announced a plan to eventually abolish NLCDPs.[76] On 1 July 1997, the sovereignty of Hong Kong was handed over to mainland China. The SAR government changed the subvention model to giving a "lump sum grant", which is seen as a measure to depoliticize social work by some scholars.[83] As a result, "radical community organizing" by social workers became less common.
ISBN 978-0-313-21427-1
Earl, J. & Kimport, K. (2011) ‘Taking Action on the Cheap: Costs and Participation’, in
Digitally Enabled Social Change. [Online]. The MIT Press.