query: hiring organizers

[colist-admin at comm-org.utoledo.edu]

[ed:  thanks to Helen, John, and Doug for the continuing discussion on 
hiring organizers, paying them, and raising funds for them.]

From: "Hartnett, Helen P" <helenh at ukans.edu>

Organizing is...to me this is the question and thus often the confusion and
struggle for community groups and educators.  I teach in a School of Social
Welfare, and our profession (social work) has left some of the ideas
regarding community practice behind. I find that students do not often
understand the concepts and consider "organizing" to be about confrontation
only or that it is some "elusive" idea, without concrete programs and
services.  And of course, students get my idea of community organizing
within the frame of social work.  For me, organizing is a process and or
philosophy that must guide community practice, the produced "product" varies
(policy change, community drive project, housing, etc...).  Also, the level
of "color" diversity in the classroom is limited.  But the level of
economic, ethnic, age, religious, geographic, and experiential diversity is
abundant. I feel it is my job to tap into those strengths while
acknowledging the opportunities for inclusion of additional constituents.

I also participate in community work, and recently the group with which I am
involved has been discussing if they do (or do not do) community organizing.
Many of these organizations receive foundation/state/local money and have
the will and capacity to do organizing.   Again, the idea of what is
organizing emerges....and the questions related to who is participating in
building community capacity?  Is it only the "elites" within that community?
Is it better to have people of color organize people of color? What
constitutes fair representation?  Do we organize because we think it's
important?  What if the community is not interested?

The bigger question for me is whether or not teaching can be organizing.  I
believe teaching to be a form of social work practice, am I organizing?

Helen Hartnett, Ph.D.
University of Kansas
School of Social Welfare

******************

From: "John M. Beam" <beam1 at ix.netcom.com>

A question Marshall's and some others' remarks raise is:  What examples of 
grass-roots, base building activity do we have which have not/do not still 
require
regular infusions of outside support?  Labor unions make it on their 
dues.  Some farmer organizing in the twenties made it on dues but also sold 
insurance.
(For that matter, that's certainly part of what labor unions offer, 
too.)  Cadre party organizations sometimes support their organizing agenda 
when they have an
internal culture that redistributes of the income of members with better 
paying jobs.  Last, but certainly not least, are churches, which even in 
very low
income communities, are often self-supported.

So, I submit that a question we need to answer is: Given that working class 
communities do support some sorts of organizing, why do we continually have 
to turn
to foundations, canvassing upper income neighborhoods, and other 
non-community based entities or strategies to support even modest salaries 
for the kind of
organizing discussed in the list?

John M. Beam
Pumphouse Projects

**********************

From: "Doug Hess" <DHess at frac.org>

I have to disagree a bit with both Marshall and Joan on funding and salaries.

There are altruistic professions that raise salaries that allow people to 
focus on their work full time and for the long haul. (BTW, I don't think 
competitive is the right framework for discussing salaries, because you are 
lefting asking competitive to whom? The CEO of Disney. Instead, the issue 
is raising enough money to keep people in it and allow other people, 
especially non-single, non-20-somethings, to transition into it.)

Furthermore, while Marshal is right about gatherig local resources, there 
aren't many examples of succesful social movements that didn't involve the 
"supportive bystanders" including people with money (very few organizations 
operate on this model now, please provide examples if I am wrong).  The 
fact is, that if we think poor communities alone have enough resources to 
successfully organize (if defined as mobilizing resources) without outside 
resources, then the obvious question is: why hasn't this radical change 
just happened on its own already? It is not like most organizing technology 
or culture is that new.  In fact, isn't this theory of change that says 
organizers don't need, want, require sustainable (quasi-professional) 
salaries/benefits akin to saying that communities should just pul 
themselves up by their own bootstraps?  I really believe that the missing 
element is highly trained and well suppoted staff.  To get it, you have to 
ask for it, including more money for them and serious/advanced support systems.

[Just as important as salaries, I think advanced training (not just weekend 
workshops on advanced bake sales, or intermediate grantwriting) is an area 
needing some new long-term support....but that's another topic....and it's 
not a ton of money, but even if just a few tenths of one percent of the 
money in the category of funding that the Foundation Center tabulates as 
public benefit would turn things upside down for organizers...]

Doug Hess
Food Research and Action Center
Senior Policy Analyst
1875 Connecticut Ave, NW #540
Washington, DC 20009
ph. 202-986-2200 ext 3004
fax 202-986-2525
http://www.frac.org