INTRODUCTION

How can people organize for social change? How can they rebuild both social bonds of community and the physical infrastructure necessary to sustain community? This course is focused on these two topics, building on the past decade of community organizing and development activities I have been involved with. The first issue, community organizing, revives a long tradition of political activism in this country and attempts to restore an increasingly lost art. The second issue, community development, explores the more recent phenomena of "ordinary" citizens taking responsibility for their own housing and commercial building development in urban and rural communities.

GOALS

I have two goals for this course. First, I want you to understand the history and issues in community organizing and development. Second, I want you to learn some of the skills necessary to engage in community organizing and development activities.

SHOULD YOU TAKE THIS COURSE?

This course is designed for people who are involved or plan to get involved in community organizing and/or development activities. This course will serve you best if you are truly interested in learning about the issues and developing skills that can be used to further progressive social change. This is also a course emphasizing participatory education, and thus will not be as tightly organized as what you may be used to. You will have to take responsibility for helping to organize the course, realizing that some things won't make sense or won't work, and accepting that you are part of a work in progress. I am not responsible for your learning. I am responsible for creating a safe, accessible, and information-resourced context in which you can take responsibility for your own learning.

SPECIAL LEARNING NEEDS

Please inform me if you have special learning needs so I can adjust the course to meet those needs.

MY PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION

When teachers realize they still have things to learn and students realize they have things to teach, and when everyone is in an atmosphere where teachers are encouraged to learn and students are encouraged to teach, everyone benefits.

STUDENT AND INSTRUCTOR RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS

As a student, you have the right to criticize and question what you are hearing and reading, without fear of ridicule or threat of retribution. You have the right to be treated equally and with respect. You have the right to be fully informed of course requirements and grading procedures. You have the right to receive prompt and plentiful feedback on your writing assignments. You have the right to receive your tuition and tax dollar's worth of learning from this course.

Your first obligation, as a student, is to give me, your classmates, and our guests, the same respect you have a right to expect. I expect you at all times to be respectful of others in discussion. I will not tolerate abuse or insult of any individuals or groups. I expect you to show up for class regularly, on time, and prepared. I expect you to be focused on the issues of the classroom and not talking or giggling while others are speaking.

As the instructor, it is my obligation to respect your rights and act in accordance with them. I will treat criticisms and questions with the full respect they deserve, apply rules equally, inform you fully of course requirements and grading procedures, return graded work promptly, and provide a quality classroom experience. If I do not know the answer to a question I will try to find it or refer you to someone who does. When I find out I am not being clear, I will try to better explain myself.

It is my right and responsibility, as the instructor, to tell you when you are violating the rights of others to a respectful, focused, classroom environment.

PROFESSOR CONSULTATIONS

You should consult with me whenever you have a question about course assignments, lectures, discussions, or readings. I will gladly discuss questions you have about the course material. You should also consult with me whenever you may find yourself interested in the issues raised in the course and you want to discuss further or get more information.

COURSE ORGANIZATION

The course is organized into four sections. The first three weeks we will explore the basic history and approach of community organizing, looking at the work of the infamous Saul Alinsky and moving on to other types of community organizing. After that we will begin training workshops.  You will need to download and print out the workshop handouts.  You can download the workshops in two modules at:  http://comm-org.wisc.edu/syllabi/workshops1.htm and http://comm-org.wisc.edu/syllabi/workshops2.htm.The training workshops will cover things such as how to recruit members, build organizations, engage in tactics, etc. As the course progresses further we will begin looking at the relationship between community development and community organizing.

CLASS PROCESS

At some points I will lecture, in order to provide you with historical background or theoretical concepts that I think are absolutely essential for you to develop effective knowledge of community organizing and development. Most of the time, however, we will be engaged in small group or large group discussion and workshops. These discussions will require you to provide information you obtained from the readings, so if you don't do the required readings each week, it will effect your grade. We will also be doing a number of workshops during the course that will involve discussion and action. I always welcome your participation, comments, and questions since I think student participation contributes to a much more interesting class.

READINGS

You will be choosing what to read--the idea is to share your learnings with each other.  Thus, you will also be responsible for reporting on what you read and helping to teach it to others.  Take it seriously.

Because I emphasize students choosing readings, rather than me assigning them, and because many of the readings are available for free on the Internet, you are not required to purchase specific books or packets for this course.  However, you are required to have copies of the readings you choose and to bring them to class.  I am the editor of COMM-ORG, the On-Line Conference on Community Organizing and Development, which contains or has links to many important readings on community organizing and development (see http://comm-org.wisc.edu/). You can obtain these readings for free using the university computer centers or your home computer. You will need to learn how to print out the papers, so give yourself some extra time if you do not already know how to use the World Wide Web.  By doing this, you can save $100 or more.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Below are the course requirements. You are responsible for reading, understanding, and following these requirements.

NOTE: anyone taking this course pass-no credit must do "C" work.

1. "This week I learned…" papers. People doing community organizing and development rarely get the opportunity to really reflect on their work--they are too busy doing it to think about it. That comes with some risks, however, because they don't get the chance to innovate. These papers give you the opportunity to reflect on the practice of community organizing and development in the hopes that by writing about what you personally are learning, you can come up with new ideas and/or evaluate your own practice. I am not looking for you to learn anything in particular, so please treat these papers as opportunities to make the course relevant to your needs.

• You can only write one paper per week.
• Each paper is due at class time the Wednesday of the week you are writing about (except for the first week, which is optional). The first paper is due, for example, Wednesday, January 12. If they're late, they don't pass. In community organizing and development, if you miss a grant deadline, or a reporting deadline, or are unprepared for a meeting with the mayor, it's all over. I am happy to look at drafts of papers if I receive them by Monday noon before they are due. Each paper must talk about what you learned in relation to the required readings.
• Feel free to work collectively on your papers.
• Each paper will be graded pass-no credit. To pass, it must carefully discuss at least two readings and will probably be over a page long (about 300 words) until you get the hang of how to focus your writing.  Workshop handouts do not count as readings for your papers.
• You can write more than 12 papers in the event some of your papers don't pass (some people don't pass their first paper because they do a superficial summary of the whole reading rather than an in-depth discussion of some part of the reading).  You can also write fewer than 12 papers, depending on what grade you want.
• you can e-mail papers to me, but save a copy and also send it to yourself in case it is lost.  If you send it to yourself you have evidence of the day/time that you sent it.  You can also fax it to 530-8406, but make sure you save the fax printout receipt and bring a hard copy the following Monday, just in case.
• Papers are added up as follows:

2. Final Project. To raise your final grade by one full letter (from a 'B' to an 'A,' for undergrads, for example) you will need to complete a final project. Some of you are already actively involved in community organizing and development activities. Some of you like to write papers (it's true, really). Some of you have other relevant skills. You can propose to me anything relevant to the overall topic of community organizing and development for your final project, based on these broad requirements. I welcome and encourage collective work, so feel free to organize yourselves and develop a collaborative project. You can design your own, but there are two projects ready and waiting for the truly committed:

• You can make a contribution to the COMM-ORG web site (see http://comm-org.wisc.edu/), which could include an annotated bibliography on some specialized topic in community organizing and development, a resource list, a list of organizations, etc. I am also conducting an on-line evaluation of COMM-ORG this spring.  If you would like to be involved in that, please let me know.  Your contribution will be posted on COMM-ORG and credited to you.
• There is one strong community organizing project in Toledo that is always looking for people to help with doorknocking, setting up for meetings, membership maintenance, and other activities.

• You must present a written proposal no later than the fourth week of class. I reserve the right to not count final projects submitted without a proposal meeting that deadline. We will jointly negotiate the details of your project after I see your proposal.
• Your final project must involve a minimum of 10 hours of work.
• Your final project, if it's not a paper, must include some kind of "reflection component" where you discuss your thoughts about the project in relation to the course material.
• Your final project will be graded as adding a 1/3 grade increase (from a B to a B+ for example), a 2/3 grade increase, or a full grade increase depending on the quality of the project.  If you submit a rough draft or progress report by April 16, I can give you an indication of what more you will need to get the grade you want.
• Your final project is due no later than the scheduled finals period.

3.  There is an attendance requirement. You can miss three classes. Regardless of whether you start the course late, get sick, have to work, etc., you only get three absences. After the third absence your grade drops by one letter. There are no excused absences, nor do you need permission from me to be absent. It's just like a job (except that this is more important)--after you use up your sick time, it comes out of your check. If you chronically arrive late or leave early I reserve the right to mark you absent. If you chronically come to class not having done the readings, I also reserve the right to mark you absent. I will send a sign-up sheet around each class period to check attendance. If you run into severe personal difficulties that impact your attendance I may allow completion of extra work to make up one absence.

Note:  If you are not able to commit to doing the course work or meeting the attendance requirement, I strongly recommend you do not take this course.  Also, if you run into problems getting to class or doing the work, see me so you can try to figure out how to accomplish those objectives.  Whatever you do, please do not try to cheat on attendance or plagiarize (copy) your papers--it can get you kicked out of school.

COURSE CALENDAR

Note: You will be choosing from a long list of readings. You may not find some of them because other people are already using them or the link is broken. If you don't find a reading, go to another one. Please think about each other, though, and make photocopies of readings from the library rather than checking them out.

 Note: Readings must be read by the Monday of each week. Readings are listed more or less in my order of preference.

Week 1, Jan. 10-12: Introduction to Community Organizing

OPTIONAL: "This week I Learned…" paper by Wednesday, Jan. 12.

(no class Jan. 17 due to Martin Luther King Jr. holiday)

DUE: "This week I Learned…" paper by Wednesday, Jan. 19.

DUE: "This week I Learned…" paper by Wednesday, Jan. 26.

DUE: "This week I Learned…" paper by Wednesday, Feb 2.

DUE:  Final Project proposals.  I reserve the right to not count your final project unless you submit a proposal by Feb 2.
 

DUE: "This week I Learned…" paper by Wednesday, Feb. 9.

READ: at least one of the following and be prepared to report on what you have read in class on Monday:

Developing Leadership, author unknown.  http://www.tenant.net/Organize/devlead.html

Shel Trapp, Basics Of Organizing, http://www.tenant.net/Organize/orgbas.html links to:  Identifying Leaders, Leadership Development, Leadership/Staff Roles

The Community Toolbox, by the Community Toolbox Team.  Developing a Plan for Building Leadership http://ctb.lsi.ukans.edu/tools/EN/sub_section_main_1119.htm , or other sections from http://ctb.lsi.ukans.edu/tools/EN/chapter_1013.htm or http://ctb.lsi.ukans.edu/tools/EN/chapter_1014.htm

Kim Bobo, Jackie Kendall, Steve Max. Organizing for social change: a manual for activists in the 1990's. Washington: Seven Locks Press.  Chapter on Developing leadership

READ: at least one of the following and be prepared to report on what you have read in class on Wednesday:

Week 6, Feb. 14-16: Community Organizing and the Internet

(this week class will meet on the Internet rather than face to face--details will be forthcoming).

DUE: "This week I Learned…" paper by Wednesday, Feb. 16.

 Week 7, Feb. 21-23: Workshops--Organization-Building.

DUE: "This week I Learned…" paper by Wednesday, Feb 23.
 

The Community Toolbox, by the Community Toolbox Team.  Organizational Structure: An Overview http://ctb.lsi.ukans.edu/tools/EN/sub_section_main_1092.htm , or other sections from http://ctb.lsi.ukans.edu/tools/EN/chapter_1008.htm

Nonviolent Action Handbook, Group Process,  http://www.san.beck.org/NAH3-Group.html

Checklist for an Action Planning Meeting, Dave Beckwith, http://comm-org.wisc.edu/syllabi/comeeting.htm

Planning and Facilitating Meetings.  author unknown.  http://www.tenant.net/Organize/meetings.html

Road Raging - Top Tips for Wrecking Roadbuilding, http://www.eco-action.org/rr/index.html See link to: Chapter 2

Lesbian Avengers' Civil Rights Organizing Project. Out Against The Right:  An Organizing Handbook. http://www.octobertech.com/october/handbook.nsf/contents?OpenView&count=100  See link to:  Running Core Group Meetings

Kim Bobo, Jackie Kendall, Steve Max. Organizing for social change: a manual for activists in the 1990's. Washington: Seven Locks Press.  Chapter on Organizing models: the underlying structure of organizations; or chapter on Planning and facilitating meetings

Week 8, Feb 28-Mar 2:  Diversity in Community Organizing--popular education.

DUE: "This week I Learned…" paper by Wednesday, Mar. 2.

Week10, Mar 14-16: Workshops--community research and education.

DUE: "This week I Learned…" paper by Wednesday, Mar 16.
 

The Community Toolbox, by the Community Toolbox Team. How to Conduct Research:  An Overview, http://ctb.lsi.ukans.edu/tools/EN/sub_section_main_1210.htm or other sections from http://ctb.lsi.ukans.edu/tools/EN/chapter_1031.htm

Kim Bobo, Jackie Kendall, Steve Max. Organizing for social change: a manual for activists in the 1990's. Washington: Seven Locks Press.  Chapter on Tactical investigations.

Randy Stoecker, Are Academics Irrelevant? Roles for Scholars in Participatory Research" at  http://comm-org.wisc.edu/papers98/pr.htm

Road Raging - Top Tips for Wrecking Roadbuilding, http://www.eco-action.org/rr/index.html. See links to Chapter 6: Getting information

Lesbian Avengers' Civil Rights Organizing Project. Out Against The Right:  An Organizing Handbook. http://www.octobertech.com/october/handbook.nsf/contents?OpenView&count=100  See links to:  Community Research and Know Your Enemy:  Researching the Christian Right

Week 11, Mar 21-23: Diversity in Community Organizing--non-conflict models.

(no class Mar 21 due to academic conference)

DUE: "This week I Learned…" paper by Wednesday, Mar 23.

Week 12, Mar 28-30: Workshops--campaign design (issues and tactics).

DUE: "This week I Learned…" paper by Wednesday, Mar. 30.
 

Shel Trapp, Basics Of Organizing, http://www.tenant.net/Organize/orgbas.html links to: Identifying Issues, Leadership Meeting, Public Meeting, Check List for the Public Meeting, Organizing a Demonstration.

The Community Toolbox, by the Community Toolbox Team. Organizing Public Demonstrations, http://ctb.lsi.ukans.edu/tools/EN/sub_section_main_1258.htm or other sections from http://ctb.lsi.ukans.edu/tools/EN/chapter_1033.htm

Lesbian Avengers' Civil Rights Organizing Project. Out Against The Right:  An Organizing Handbook. http://www.octobertech.com/october/handbook.nsf/contents?OpenView&count=100  See link to: What's Wrong With This Picture? A Critique of the Mainstream Campaign Model,   Also see tactics links at: Direct Action for Visibility

Kim Bobo, Jackie Kendall, Steve Max. Organizing for social change: a manual for activists in the 1990's. Washington: Seven Locks Press.  Choose from chapters on Choosing an issue, Developing a strategy, A guide to tactics, Designing actions

Road Raging - Top Tips for Wrecking Roadbuilding, http://www.eco-action.org/rr/index.html Chapters 8-13.

Tactics of Targets, http://comm-org.wisc.edu/resources/tactics.htm by ACORN.

DUE: "This week I Learned…" paper by Wednesday, Apr. 6.
 

Shel Trapp, Basics Of Organizing, http://www.tenant.net/Organize/orgbas.html links to: Negotiation,
Presenting Facts and Research.  You will also find the section on public meetings helpful.

Environmental Information Network, The Control Game, http://www.actionpa.org/activism/controlgame.html

 DUE: "This week I Learned…" paper by Wednesday, Apr. 13.

 DUE: Project rough drafts or progress reports by Friday, Apr. 15.

 DUE: "This week I Learned…" paper by Wednesday, Apr. 20.
 

READ: any two of the following (in books, one chapter counts as one reading) and be prepared to report on what you have read in class on Monday:

Organizing for Neighborhood Development:  A Handbook for Citizen Groups http://tenant.net/Organize/orgdev.html

Sandy O'Donnell and Ellen Schumer. Community Building & Community Organizing: Issues in Creating Effective Models. Shelterforce On-Line http://www.nhi.org:80/online/issues/85/combuild.html

Randy Stoecker, Crossing the Development-Organizing Divide: A Report on the Toledo Community Organizing Training and Technical Assistance Program, 2001, http://comm-org.wisc.edu/drafts/cdcorgnew.htm

Randy Stoecker, Community Development and Community Organizing: Apples and Oranges? Chicken and Egg? 2001, http://comm-org.wisc.edu/drafts/orgdevppr2c.htm

Randy Stoecker, Power or Programs? Two Paths to Community Development, 2001, http://comm-org.wisc.edu/drafts/twopathsb2.htm

Lee Winkelman, Massachusetts Community Development Corporations and Community Organizing.  A COMM-ORG Working Paper.   http://comm-org.wisc.edu/papers98/winkelman.htm

Lee Winkelman.  "Organizing Renaissance."  In Shelterforce Online http://www.nhi.org/online/issues/101/winkleman.html

Giloth, Robert. (1985) "Organizing for Neighborhood Development." Social Policy 15:37-42.

Randy Stoecker, "Community Organizing and Community Development in Cedar-Riverside and East Toledo." Journal of Community Practice, Vol. 2, No. 3.

Jamison, Michael S. (1985) "The Joys of Gardening: Collectivist and Bureaucratic Cultures in Conflict." The Sociological Quarterly 26:473-90.

Holmes, Len, and Margaret Grieco. (1991) "Overt Funding, Buried Goals, and Moral Turnover: the Organizational Transformation of Radical Experiments." Human Relations 44:643-64.

Hunter, Albert, and Suzanne Staggenborg. (1986) "Communities Do Act: Neighborhood Characteristics, Resource Mobilization, and Political Action by Local Community Organizations." The Social Science Journal 23.2:169-80.

Keyes, Langley. (1987/88) "The Shifting Focus of Neighborhood Groups: the Massachussetts Experience." Policy Studies Journal 16:300-6.

DUE: "This week I Learned…" paper by Wednesday, Apr 27.
 

READ: any two of the following (in books, one chapter counts as one reading) and be prepared to report on what you have read in class on Wednesday:

The Citizen's Handbook, by Charles Dobson of the Vancouver Citizen's Committee.  http://www.vcn.bc.ca/citizens-handbook/  Read links to: Visioning Exercises

The Community Toolbox, by the Community Toolbox Team. Participatory Approaches to Planning Community Interventions, http://ctb.lsi.ukans.edu/tools/EN/sub_section_main_1143.htm

Marie Kennedy, "Transformative Community Planning: Empowerment Through Community Development." The Planners Network http://www.picced.org/resource/pn/combased.htm

Robert Cassidy, Ch. 5 in Livable Cities, Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1980.

Ken Reardon et al. 1993. "Participatory Action Research From the Inside: Community Development in East St.Louis." The American Sociologist 24:69-91.

Henry Sanoff. Designing With Community Participation. McGraw-Hill, 1978.

William M. Rohe and Lauren B. Gates Planning With Neighborhoods. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1985.

Hutcheson, John D., and James E. Prather. (1988) "Community Mobilization and Participation in the Zoning Process." Urban Affairs Quarterly 23:346-68.

DUE: final projects, graduate projects.