Hello and Welcome Organizing is about building community for power. For this to happen there needs to be people and demands. Getting people together, the developing of leadership skills, the broadening of personal horizons, the creation of trust, these are all elements in creating community. The analysis of problems, the development of solutions based on collective values, and the push to implement these solutions is the process of building power. Today organizing is a loose term tossed around for a variety of activities, political or otherwise. You organize a conference. You organize a dinner party. You organize a fundraiser or benefit auction. You organize a demonstration meaning you mobilize people, identify roles, bring media, and decide goals and next steps. You build an organization by organizing a neighborhood or constituency. You organize a workplace so that a unified voice can demand changes. Are these all the same? Does organizing a dinner party need the same steps as building a union? What elements are necessary for your efforts to build on the momentum of a larger movement that aims to transform the world? When a group builds a practice to hold itself accountable to a larger population within a context of social & economic transformation this is building community for power. That practice is organizing.
MORE ABOUT THIS SITE I've launched this website, and the accompanying blog, as a way of thinking about the craft of organizing. For organizations interested in direct help I am available for hire as an organizational and campaign consultant. Other sections of the site links to interesting campaigns, organizations, and other resources on organizing. Each area of the site is defined below. Services & Pricing: I offer a list of the kinds of work I can do with organizations and a framework for how much these services cost. Please note there isn't a price list since no two organizations need the same thing. For more detailed information please contact me. Workshops: A list of basic workshops I do with descriptions. Organize the South Blog: An outside link to my ongoing blog about organizing as a craft. Resources: A collection of papers, exercises, and other tools I've created, copied, or stolen you may find helpful in your organizing. If you have questions about anything, I'm happy to respond to questions. Comments or other potential tools are also welcomed. Links: Organizations, sites, or individuals that kick butt.
Dan Bio Dan has been a human rights advocate, activist, and organizer for almost all of his adult life. He has been a labor union organizer, community organizer, human rights educator, freelance writer, anti-racism facilitator, and popular educator. At 19 he was the State Death Penalty Abolition Coordinator with Amnesty International in Florida and pioneered a method of pre-emption organizing which pressured prosecutors to avoid seeking death sentences. As program director for Project South he authored six (6) publications including The Prison-Industrial Complex: Social Control in the Era of Globalization. Most recently Dan worked as an organizer with Communities United for Action, Power & Justice, a Georgia coalition working to change the criminal justice system by keeping those most affected as the focus of the movement.
Contact Information daniel at seremoslibre dot com