There is nothing essentially wrong with power. Dr King  once said it best:

Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice. Justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love. Martin Luther King, Jr., Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?, 1967.

Community Organizing  at its core is about justice. Community Organizing  brings the talents, resources, skills and knowledge of a community together to increase  their collective power.  When used correctly this  collective power is used to transform lives, not just the lives of  of a few but the lives of many. Organizing is different than advocacy . Its different than service work and its definitely different than mobilizing. It is using power to correct everything that stands against love.

So lets get started . If you can not honestly answer YES  the following questions do not pass go, do not collect $200 and DO NOT start a project where organizing is critical to its success:

  • Are you courageous? Are you able to work through your fear?
  • Are you willing to take risk to achieve your goal?
  • Do you value new voices? Do you create space for emerging leaders?
  • Are you committed to change? Do you walk your talk?
  • Do you believe in the people  in your community?

At the heart of community organizing are inclusion, ownership, relationship building and leadership development.

 

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The Things You Need

July 24, 2010 · 5 comments

 

We spend money we don’t have on things we don’t need to create impressions that won’t last on people we don’t care about. ~Anonymous

 

Did you buy the  house you currently have  because you felt pressure to live in a certain neighborhood?

Did you ever buy  clothes or a vacation that you knew was too exspensive  but you did it because you did not want people to think less of you?

Did you buy the wrong car because you felt pressure to make an impression on your brother-in-law of your old college roommate?

Have you ever spent money on items because you did not want people to think less of you?

 I have.

And I felt weak and ashamed that I could not stand up for myself and admit  that I just  did not have the money or even worst, I did really did not want what I purchased.

A few  weeks back I wrote  a blog post asking  when is enough really  enough….how much “stuff” do we as humans really need?  The other side of that coin is how much stuff do we purchase  and KNOW we can do without?  Know that we did not need it, but  buy it nevertheless.  How many things  do we have in our homes that as we were purchasing them they made  our stomachs flop and our mouths dry up? It’s an interesting place to be in when you are with friends or family  and you first notice that you  have VERY different  ideas on  the definition of expensive . Even more importantly that you have very different definitions of  what  really adds value to your lives.

It’s hard to wake up and realize that you are different.  That you have very different  priorities from your loved ones.  Very different wants and needs.

No one wants anyone they love to think less of them. And sadly many of of us in this country  equate worth with income  and things. The more stuff you have the more popular you are and well liked  you may be.  Some where along the line money and self-esteem  made some kind of unholy pact that the majority of  modern society took to be true. So how did I find myself  in these horrible situations?

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We are all Neighbors.

July 21, 2010

This country was built on the premise of neighbors helping neighbors. They would gather and work together to build a house or help clear a field , often in a single day. Neighbors lent a hand when they became aware of neighbors they could help. Nobody expected pay. No one knew if they would be helped when they needed it. They took responsibility for one another. More than crops were planted in the process.

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Rebuilding with equity

July 5, 2010

Bone deep inequalities based on race and class — along with massive institutional failure — and with a country as poor as Haiti- turned natural disasters into a man-made catastrophe.

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The Transformative Power of Service

June 24, 2010

Seeing is hard. Its painful and sometimes its riddled with guilt and shame. You feel bad for what you have, the stuff you own and shame because you do not give more. I am here to tell you to let it go because Service is transformational.

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The Despair of Displacement

June 20, 2010

We must not forget them or the despair of their displacement. Whether you are a Honduran teenager fleeing homophobia or Congolese elder desperately trying to start a new life all alone in a strange land after escaping conflict or a woman from Afghanistan who has walked the long journey into exile having to engage in “survival sex” to feed her children – even after reaching an apparent place of safety.

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More than an empty stomach.

June 5, 2010

Eliminating malnutrition involves sustaining the quality and quantity of food a person eats, as well as adequate health care and a healthy environment. The best way to fight malnutrition is by treating it — giving malnourished people the food and nutrients they need — but also by preventing it. Many families simply cannot afford more expensive nutritious food. They need access to energy-dense, nutrient-rich foods and those can be hard to come whether you are in Harlem or the Horn of Africa.

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Theology of Enough

May 31, 2010

We consume and consume and consume more stuff everyday. I want to say that the real issue is not consumption itself but its patterns and effects. Yet, I think that would be a lie. The real issue is consumption and what does it take for us as humans to feel full…satiated…satisfied….whole.

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Ignoring The Voice of Dependency

May 15, 2010

The vision has to be driven by the people. True movements do not have CEOS or benefits. They happen when thousands of people discover their power and in doing so discover their possibilities. Movements take courage. It takes courage to discover your own way and own your destiny.

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You have to KNOW me before you can help me

May 1, 2010

Meaning well and doing well are really two different things

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