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Community Organizing: Building Power and Making Change

Community Organizing: Building Power and Making Change. Wednesday, April 4, 2007 -- 9 PM EST Facilitated by Willie Dodson, from the Southern Energy Network http://www.climateaction.net Mattie Reitman, from the Energy Justice Network and the Student Environmental Action Coalition

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Community Organizing: Building Power and Making Change

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  1. Community Organizing: Building Power and Making Change Wednesday, April 4, 2007 -- 9 PM EST Facilitated by Willie Dodson, from the Southern Energy Network http://www.climateaction.net Mattie Reitman, from the Energy Justice Network and the Student Environmental Action Coalition http://www.energyjustice.net http://www.seac.org

  2. Introductions Hello! -Go Around 10 minutes

  3. Advocacy Vs. Organizing Grassroots Organizing – organizing the people Grasstops Organizing – organizing power holders, other organizers Advocacy – advocating for something – flyering, lobbying, etc. -all are important and useful, but we're just talking about grassroots organizing here 3 minutes

  4. The Importance of Self-Interest -Selfishness vs. Selflessness vs. Self-Interest -The central motivating force that gets people involved is self-interest – this isn't good or bad, it's just something we have to remember when organizing Picking Your Issue is a Privilege -communities don't choose to get polluted! -need to find and recognize our own self-interest: why do I care? 2 minutes

  5. What do Grassroots Groups Work On? Two types – offense and defense -offense: community gardens, service programs (i.e. Black Panther free breakfast program), Cool Cities, etc. -defense: landfills, incinerators, power plants (coal, nukes, natural gas…), refineries (oil, ethanol…), sewage sludge dumping (as fertilizer on farm fields or in strip mines), fluoridation of drinking water, toxic waste site cleanup, waste transfer stations, ash dumps, medical waste facilities, nuclear facilities (waste storage/disposal, nuclear fuel processing facilities…), roads/highways, power lines, pipelines, liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals, mining/quarries (coal, limestone, aggregate, etc.), development/sprawl (housing developments, box stores, etc.), paper mills, cement kilns, logging, water extraction (bottled water or for energy or other industries), factory farms, chemical plants... 3 minutes

  6. Research Talk to people! to find out: 1) Social, political, economic, and cultural past and present. 2) Past and present status of organizing and activism around community issues. 3) Groups and individuals already working on similar issues. 5 minutes

  7. Initial Contact methods: tabling at community events, organizing your own events, creation and distribution of literature, telephone calls, media, actions, door to door (listening projects) -be brief -engage in a familiar and comfortable setting -gauge people's interest, get contact info 2 minutes

  8. One On One Follow-Ups They're important! Some tips: - keep an open mind – listen to what people have to say - talking should be 70% community member 30% organizer - drive at self-interest & action: what's the problem? who's responsible? how can it be resolved? what do you want to do? - say things others have done in similar situations - develop your strategy and next steps (based on community members ideas, self-interest, etc.) and know this when talking to people. they will probably have ideas that work well with yours. - gain trust before offering ideas and asking things of people. 5 minutes

  9. Community Meetings -Connecting people with similar interests, get them talking to each other -Remember – it's about generating ACTION! -After people are comfortable, get them talking about next steps -Try and keep it comfortable/familiar 2 minutes

  10. Recipes For Winning and Losing Losing Step 1: Group forms. People get involved. Step 2: Group does advocacy, with tables and flyers about their issue, etc. Step 3: People in the group sit back, assume that they're doing good, and it's up to their target to start caring and do something about the issue. Step 4: Instead of gaining public support, the group alienates its target audience and decision-makers – people start to feel hopeless and tired. Step 5: Time passes, nobody is recruited, and the effort dwindles away. Winning! Offense – target makes the right decision Defense – the company gives up or some level of government says No -work backwards from your goal, and make a plan! -useful tactics - getting local ordinances, going after project funding 5 minutes

  11. Action Building power leads to action, otherwise it's all for nothing. - can be internal action, but must be campaign-related - action sustains involvement - once trust is established, you can ask specific things (call the regulator responsible, come to the hearing, come to the nearby university to tell the students about your situation etc.) 3 minutes

  12. Roadblocks? What are some problems and difficulties you can foresee in doing this kind of work? 5 minutes

  13. Examples of Campus-Community Collaboration 5 minutes

  14. Closing, Next Steps, Assessment -How did it go? Can you use this? -A note on solidarity -Upcoming things to plug into – Step It Up!, Energy Justice Summer, etc. sorry there weren't more pictures! 10 minutes

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