Practices of Engagement: Comparing and Integrating Deliberation and Organizing

The purpose of this article is to provide a comparison of institution-based community organizing and deliberative practices and to demonstrate how these are complementary approaches for civic engagement. In contrast to older typologies describing these two approaches oppositionally, we seek to reveal a shared democratic ethos and propose greater collaboration between action-oriented organizers and deliberative advocates. The article also identifies where deliberative and organizing practices diverge and proposes a model for how the two approaches can be integrated for mutual benefit.     

Organizing for Structural Reform:

Over the course of the past two decades, the New Jersey Tenants Organization (NJTO) has won significant structural reform for tenants. This article examines the history of NJTO's campaigns, organizing strategies, leadership structure, and organizational dynamics. This article also assesses the prospects for the future in today's economic and political climate.     

New strategies in union organizing

The AFL-CIO has called for new and more effective approaches in organizing. This paper reviews the classical organizing model and then identifies four strategic approaches to organizing that have been developed or re-emphasized in recent years including the corporate power strategy, the collective bargaining strategy, community acceptance and integration strategy, and the coordinated/pooled resource strategy. Factors affecting the use and success of these strategies are discussed. It is concluded that while some have promise, their limited use and mixed outcomes will probably minimize their significance in union organizing during the 1980’s.     

Transformative Community Practice

ABSTRACT

The authors examine how well models and concepts of community practice fit their practice in an extremely low income urban African-American community. They describe the evolution of their agency's response to community disinvestment over the past 30 years. That response has been to create indigenous African-centered organizations that can transform how people see themselves, the community, and their futures. Early childhood education, social services, economic development, and leadership training and organizing are core programs. The authors urge model builders and educators to include the concept of transformation as a community change goal, and to strengthen attention to institution building skills, “cultural work,” and capital formation.     

The Use of Dialogue in Community Organization Practice: Using Theory,Values, and Skills to Guide Group Decision-Making

The ability to engage diverse community participants in group dialogue to resolve differences, establish common ground, identify problems, set goals, and plan actions is an essential part of community organization. However, there are limited resources in the social work literature about how social work skills can best be used to facilitate group dialogue in this context. In this article, the theories and values associated with the use of group dialogue are discussed. The manner in which these skills are applied in community organizing is described. The interpersonal skills needed for facilitating group dialogue in community organization practice are also examined.     

Youth-Adult Partnership in Community Organizing

Abstract

This paper presents a case study of a campaign developed around sexuality education policy by a national youth-focused organization, Advocates for Youth, and its network of youth activists. The paper provides an overview of the national sexuality education debate and the specific strategies youth and adults use in partnership to advocate for a comprehensive approach to the education. The case study of the My Voice Counts!Campaign provides insight into the creation and evolution of a youth-adult partnership approach to community organizing, beginning with an online activism campaign and resulting in local youth-led projects to improve sex education policies and curricula. Following an analysis of the Campaign's accomplishments, the paper lays out recommendations for action and research to demonstrate the positive effects of this form of community practice.     

A Wholistic Ethno-Cultural Paradigm: A New Model for Community Organization Teaching and Practice

To prepare workers for effective practice in community organizing and development in emerging communities, schools os social work need to give careful attention to desiging relevant practice teaching and field practicum experiences. This article proposes a new model for community organization teaching and practicing, aimed at increasing the effectiveness of social work interventions in neo-gemienschaft ethnic-minority communities.     

Building Solidarity Through Difference: A Practice Model for Critical Multicultural Organizing

ABSTRACT

Building solidarity is perhaps the most crucial, yet under-theorized, process in organizing for social change. Traditional models of union and neighborhood-based organizing associate solidarity with commonality, as opposed to difference. However, this traditional organizing model is being forced to adapt to an increasingly multicultural context, presenting a need for rethinking past practices and creating new frameworks for multicultural organizing. Theoretical work on the topic has been relatively detached from action on the ground, with few efforts to translate it into community organizing practice. This article develops a practice model for critical multicultural organizing drawing on a five-year qualitative, participatory evaluation of youth participation in grassroots community organizations. As well as offering insight into the efforts of young people to organize around neighborhood issues in largely low-income and racially diverse communities of color, the cases highlight inclusive practices that will help any organization become more sustainable and effective.     

“We been dying,and you got me on a call helping you stay alive”: Black and Latinx youth organizers' experiences of racism in gun violence prevention organizations

This study explored Black and Latinx youth organizers' experiences of racism within national gun violence prevention organizing spaces. Interview data were analyzed from 17 Black and/or Latinx youth (M_age = 20.17, 47% women) across the United States who organized against gun violence. The findings identified three forms of racism that Black and Latinx organizers experienced in national organizations: (1) being tokenized for their racial identities and experiences without having real decision making power; (2) feeling a burden to educate their white peers about the structural causes of gun violence and how to improve organizing spaces for other youth of color; and (3) being silenced in their racially conscious organizing efforts to address the structural causes of gun violence in their communities. This research highlights how Black and Latinx youth gun violence prevention organizers contend both with structural racism in their everyday lives and racism in organizing spaces.     

Theory for Community Practice in Social Work:

The effort is made to revitalize the search for practice theory which will inform and guide the community practitioner. Ecological theory is used to identify a generic model of community practice and analyze member cohesion in the three traditional modalities. The theory of energy in human ecology is developed to set the stage for an energy assessment, and the selection of strategic energy patterns in phases of organizing. Theoretical propositions with practice implications are offered for research on the relationship between strategic energy-patterns of organizing, energy costs, specialization of function, and styles of intervention.     

“We’re Who We’ve Been Waiting For”: Intergenerational Community Organizing for a Healthy Community

This study, guided by principles of community-based participatory research (CBPR), presents the processes, challenges, and effects of intergenerational community organizing practice of a local grassroots organization to promote community health in multiracial and historically marginalized communities. Three major lessons emerged: (1) the central role of experiential communal learning and critical analysis in collective knowledge creation, (2) development of collective efficacy through a genuine sense of connection and mutual affirmation, and 3) the importance of a co-learner stance in fostering intergenerational leadership. The interconnection between process and product is emphasized as the central tenet in both community organizing and CBPR processes.     

Installing Circuit Breakers: Mechanisms to Avoid Sexual Harassment in the Workplace

This paper suggests that a synergy is both possible and necessary between two traditionally distinct management approaches: the Weberian approach, which contends that the bureaucratic structure of a company affects the daily activities of employees, and the human relations model, which holds that small group leadership dynamics at the divisional/department level affects daily activities of employees. The tendency within organizations is to promote one approach over the other. A resolution to the debate is suggested in applying mechanisms to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. Indeed, the courts have inadvertently pointed the way: the reasonable woman standard urges a human relations approach to resolving the problem of sexual harassment, placing the burden of solving the problem on supervisor personnel and their ability to direct their employee's behavior; the hostile environment issues promotes a Weberian structural solution, requiring sound policy be developed at the executive level to ensure workplace compliance to appropriate normative behavior. A one-sided approach is doomed to failure, which may explain why the issue continues to rage in the corporate sphere.     

Lessons for Academics for Grassroots Community Organizing: A Case Study—The Industrial Areas Foundation

This article describes and critically analyzes the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF), the most significant community organizing endeavor in the nation. Examination of the IAF is valuable to academic social work because of the contradiction between social work's commitment to group change efforts and the limited amount of related social work employmeny. Social work can benefit from a fuller understanding of non-academic, community organizing activity. The IAF's strategic model, structure, underlying ideologies and organizing mechanics are detailed. Its training processes as well as transmitted concepts and skills are described. Lastly a critique of the IAF's methodology is presented.     

Blee,K. M., Democracy in the Making: How Activist Groups

Summary

The paper presents a brief history, context, and theory for community organizing, and provides discussion of major concepts of culture, community, and power. It concludes with a presentation of an interactive training process to tap into the creativity of participants. It illustrates a leadership development exercise that confirms experience and provides affirmation and inspiration for continued organizing work. The process validates participatory leadership, verbally and visually illustrates strengths of participants, and liberates energy for the work.     

Collaborative Self-Help Community Development

ABSTRACT

Collaborative self-help as an approach to community development predominated the field for a number of years. This paper revisits the consensus strategy, discusses the contrasts with more recent approaches, delineates the conditions under which it is still an appropriate model for community betterment, and outlines considerations for implementing community development.     

Ethical and Racial Conflicts in Urban-Based Action Research

Abstract

Through the use of a case study of a joint faculty-student research project, this paper discusses how community-based action research, policy analysis, and community organizing can be synthesized in work with low-income communities. It outlines potential implications of this synthesis for both community practice and social work education.     

Youth Organizing,Identity-Support,and Youth Development Agencies as Avenues for Involvement

SUMMARY

What are the differences in outcomes among youth organizing and other efforts to involve young people at the community level?

This paper examines differences in developmental outcomes among youth organizing, identity-support, and traditional youth development agencies, with the finding that there are significant differences in outcomes such as civic activism and identity development. It reports that youth organizing agencies show higher levels of youth leadership, decision making, and community involvement in comparison with other agencies, and concludes that deliberate approaches to staffing and decision-making can influence youth outcomes.     

The We-Lead Model for Bridging the Low-Income Community Leadership Skills-Practice Gap

There are several community leadership development programs that devote tremendous resources to help improve the vitality and wealth of individuals and communities through the development of local leadership capacities. One great challenge is that these programs fail to coordinate existing community resources to create opportunities to engage program graduates. This article interrogates the effectiveness of leadership development programs in creating opportunities for engagement. Expanding on U-Lead model, the article proposes a WE-Lead model that can bridge the skills-practice gap by emphasizing the importance of aligning community leadership development programs with community needs through building community coordinated coalitions.     

Evaluating positive leadership: pilot study on the psychometric properties of a reduced version of the Positive Leadership Assessment Scale / Evaluando el liderazgo positivo: estudio piloto de las propiedades psicométricas de una versión reducida del Positive Leadership Assessment Scale

Positive leadership is considered a fundamental factor which contributes significantly to the development of healthy organizations. Positive leadership has been address via other leadership models, primarily transformational and authentic leadership, with which some affinities have been established. Although there is a large body of literature on positive leadership, especially related to its practical aspects, the construct is not properly delimited and there are only a few relevant contributions on how to measure it. The purpose of this paper is to conduct a pilot study to examine the psychometric properties of a reduced version of the PLAS (Positive Leadership Assessment Scale). Results from a confirmatory factorial analysis show that a five-correlated factors model achieves a good fit with the empirical data (on a sample of Spanish students). Likewise, this study also offers a range of evidence of validity, showing a relationship with the constructs of both transformational and authentic leadership and engagement.     

Money Management Patterns of Dual-Earner Families in Israel

The purpose of the present study is to assess money organizing patterns and banking arrangements in dual-earner families and how they are affected by both the economic and social context. A log linear analysis of data from the International Social Survey Program for working couples in Israel indicates that the combination of money organizing patterns and banking arrangements enables meaningful distinction between traditional, modern and individualistic spousal economic behavior modes. A further comparison of demographic, employment and attitudinal effects suggests that both the economic and social context approaches are necessary to identify the factors associated with different spousal economic behavior modes. Both the spouses' labor force positions and their attitudes regarding family roles contribute to their using a particular mode.