From: Rob Kleidman <r.kleidman@csu-e.csuohio.edu>

Randy Stoecker and I are organizing a working group that will meet this summer to create an action plan for building more collaborative relationships between scholars, organizers and activists, and funders. The full description follows after the next paragraph.

Because we are applying for some funding to defray travel expenses (prioritizing organizers and activists), it would help a lot to get some indication of interest, and possibly even commitment to attend, from some of you. Please let me know if you may or will attend, or if you would like more information. Please also pass this along to anyone who might be interested.

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Working Group on Organizing and the Academy University of California, Davis August 19-21, 1998

The Working Group on Organizing and the Academy will bring together community organizers, social movement activists, funders, and researchers to create an action plan to build more collaborative research relationships between researchers, organizers, and funders. Collaborative research includes organizers and, often, funders, in the research process. It produces research reports - typically studies of organizing and its results - that are of use to organizers, funders, and researchers. In recent years, a growing number of researchers, organizers, and funders have become interested in collaborative research. This Working Group will assess the current state of the field and will explore ways to encourage and support more collaborative research.

The Working Group is part of a larger Workshop on Social Movements and Society, organized by the American Sociological Association, section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements (CBSM). The section includes more than five hundred fifty members. This is the third in a series of workshops. The first two, in 1987 and 1993, were well-organized and well-attended. Rob Kleidman and Randy Stoecker, two academics who have done collaborative research with community organizers, are organizing the Working Group, with the assistance of Jeannie Appleman, Executive Director of Interfaith Funders.

Invited participants include people currently involved in collaborative research relationships and those who might be interested in forming such relationships. Existing collaborative research takes a variety of forms:

Participant-observation research on community organizing and other forms of activism, in which researchers share their observations and insights with activists. In some cases, researchers design and get funding for follow-up programs to meet some of the needs identified in the research

Formal evaluation research of organizing, in which researchers report findings to funders, activists, or both. Recently, several funders have expressed an interest in locating independent research on community organizing and other forms of activism, in an effort to do a broader assessment of the nature and effects of organizing.

Policy research on issues around which activists are organizing

Infrastructure research: researchers investigate the interests in and capacity of activists to make use of potential tools such as the Internet. In some cases, researchers and activists also work together to meet the needs identified in the initial research.

Beyond this, there is a wealth of research on organizing, social movements, and activism, which often remains within the academic world. Many of us believe that some of this research, perhaps framed and reported outside the academic context, would be of use to activists. There are also other forms of collaboration. Service learning and internships, for example, place students in social change organizations to do useful work, to reflect and write about their experiences, and to share their reflections with these organizations.

Most of the time in the working group will be spent in discussions to educate ourselves and each other on what collaborative work currently exists, what are its strengths and weaknesses, and what our individual and collective interests might be in future collaborations. We will then develop an action plan to create more collaborative research relationships that meet the needs of the different constituencies and that contribute to progressive social change

The cost of the workshop will be between $150 and $200 for registration, room in one of the U.C. Davis dormitories, and most meals. We are applying for funding to defray the costs of organizers who wish to attend.

For information and to receive a formal invitation, please contact one of the Working Group organizers:

Rob Kleidman, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, Cleveland State University, Cleveland OH 44115; (216)687-9203, Fax: (216)687-9314; e-mail: r.kleidman@peopmail.csuohio.edu

Randy Stoecker, Associate Professor of Sociology, Research Associate in Urban Affairs Department of Sociology, Anthropology, Social Work, University of Toledo, Toledo OH 43606 419-530-4975; Fax: 419-530-8406; e-mail: rstoeck@pop3.utoledo.edu