new book: We Make Change: Community Organizers Talk About What They Do

[colist at comm-org.wisc.edu]

From:     Virginia Organizing Project <e-action at virginia-organizing.org>

We Make Change book launch June 21

With two major presidential candidates - Barack Obama and Hillary 
Clinton - offering their experience in community organizing as evidence 
of their ability to lead the country, many Americans are beginning to 
wonder just what a community organizer is.

We invite you to the launch of We Make Change: Community Organizers Talk 
About What They Do - and Why, a timely new book by writer/editor Kristin 
Layng Szakos and VOP Executive Director Joe Szakos that helps to 
demystify this little-known profession and offer a glimpse into the 
daily lives of the people who make changing the world their life's work.

The book launch will be held on June 21 at 7:30 p.m. at the Buford 
School Auditorium in Charlottesville.  The free event features musician 
John McCutcheon, readings by the authors and book signings.  We Make 
Change will be available for $25 (publisher's price $27.95), with 
proceeds going to a special fund for recruiting and training interns and 
apprentice organizers.

Please consider becoming a SPONSOR of the We Make Change book launch.  
For $75 (individuals) or $125 (couples and businesses), come to a 
special reception before the book launch at 5:30 p.m. on June 21.  Talk 
with the authors in a smaller setting, get an autographed copy of We 
Make Change, and support the Virginia Organizing Project with your 
sponsorship.  RSVP for the location of the sponsors' reception to Sally 
Bastian at 434-984-4655 x229 or at bastian at virginia-organizing.org, or 
send your check to VOP at 703 Concord Avenue, Charlottesville, Virginia 
22903-5208 with a note that you want to be a sponsor for the event.


We Make Change: Community Organizers Talk About What They Do - and Why 
is a lively, readable collection of stories and observations by 
organizers across the United States.   The reader will come away with an 
insight into this fascinating profession and the people who have chosen it.

Community organizers are the people who work, often behind the scenes, 
to help people come together to effect meaningful change in their 
communities by building effective community organizations. They are 
there with the neighborhood group working to bring bank loans to 
low-income homeowners. They are there with immigrant women organizing to 
get medical insurance for their families, with small-town 
environmentalists keeping a toxic waste plant out of their community, 
with parents trying to get schools to respond to the needs of children 
with dyslexia, with gay and lesbian students striving to create a safe 
space in their schools, with groups working to reduce the ravages of 
racism in their towns and institutions. Wherever there is a 
well-organized group agitating for progressive social change, chances 
are there is a community organizer nearby.

Community organizers work at their jobs because they are passionate, 
because they believe that change is possible, and because they enjoy 
working with people. Although it's not an occupation that leads to great 
wealth, community organizers can make a living at it. Community 
organizers receive salaries, pensions and health insurance. They raise 
families and send their children to college. They do well by doing good.

This book explores the world of community organizing through the voices 
of real people working in the field - organizers in small towns and big 
city neighborhoods, women and men, some in their 20s, others in their 
60s, of different races and economic backgrounds.  In addition to 14 
individual profiles, all 81 interviewees are given voice in chapters 
like "What is Community Organizing?" "How I Started Organizing" "Why 
Organize?" "Achievements and Victories" "Disappointments Are Inevitable" 
and "Advice to Aspiring Organizers."

The book is available from Vanderbilt University Press at (800) 627-7377 
or www.vanderbiltuniversitypress.com/bookdetail.asp?book_id=4096

Please join us for the sponsors' reception (see above) at 5:30 p.m. on 
June 21, or for the free book launch at Buford Middle School Auditorium 
at 7:30 p.m. that evening.

For more information, call Sally Bastian at 434-984-4655 x229, or email 
her at bastian at virginia-organizing.org.