Community Organization and Change
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Professor: Randy Stoecker |
Fall, 2007 |
WELCOME...
...to Community Organization and Change. This is the revival of a course that has not been taught for many years at the University. It will, consequently, be a work in progress. People are likely to bring many definitions of the three title concepts: community, organization, and change, that we will need to work through. So be prepared to work through those definitions and perhaps be surprised now and then.
COURSE GOALS
I have two goals for this course:
1. to understand community organizing in a theoretical context.
2. to learn basic community organizing skills.
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.
My job is to create and maintain a classroom atmosphere where everyone feels comfortable taking intellectual and interpersonal risks, and to support others in doing so as well. I welcome challenges to ideas, especially my own. But please practice respect for each other as people while you question and criticize each others' ideas.
PROFESSOR CONSULTATIONS
Please 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
Community organization, as a practice, has been until recently unique to the United States. That doesn't mean people in other nations are not doing grassroots advocacy or development, only that the particular practice that we call community organizing is a U.S. practice. Thus, most of this course will have a U.S. focus, though I will include German, Australian, and Canadian perspectives with which I am familiar. I welcome those of you with international experience to make those part of the course, particular in the final weeks of the course, which will be student led.
There are two important sources of contemporary community organization in the United States: Saul Alinsky, often considered the founder of community organizing; and Ella Baker, a much less recognized but no less important Civil Rights movement organizer. We will thus spend the first couple of weeks getting that history under our belts. We will build on this history by exploring philosophies of community organizing, addressing issues such as the role of ideology in organizing.
The middle of the course will look at the actual process of community organizing, analyzing how community organizers actually do the work of community organization.
The final section of the course will be student led, with volunteers organizing class sessions on topics about which I lack expertise and experience.
CLASS PROCESS
Because my involvement with community organizers has led me to see lectures as a disempowering form of education, I will do only a little lecturing. Most of the time, then, 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, you will be lost and we will lose your participation. We will also be doing a number of workshops during the course that will involve discussion and interaction. I always welcome your participation, comments, and questions since I think student participation contributes to a much more interesting class.
READINGS
Since this is a community organizing course, the books for the course will be available at a locally owned and community-based bookstore:
A Room of One's Own Feminist Bookstore
307 W. Johnson St.
Madison, WI 53703
Tel: 608-257-7888
The following books are required:
Lee Staples. 2004. Roots to Power: A Manual for Grassroots Organizing, 2e, Praeger, ISBN 0-275-96998-3
Rinku Sen. 2003. Stir it Up: Lessons in Community Organizing and Advocacy, Jossey-Bass, ISBN 0-7879-6533-2
Saul Alinsky. 1971. Rules for Radicals, Vintage, ISBN 0-679-72113-4
Barbara Ransby. 2003. Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement: A Radical Democratic Vision, New edition, University of North Carolina Press, ISBN 978-0-8078-5616-1
For those of you serious about being a community organizer, I strongly recommend the following, also available at A Room of One's Own:
Kristin Layng Szakos and Joe Szakos. 2007. We Make Change: Community Organizers Talk about What They Do--and Why, Vanderbilt University Press, ISBN 978-0-8265-1555-1
COURSE WEBSITE
This course is supported online, where you will submit your writing and engage in out-of-class discussion. You should be able to go to https://learnuw.wisc.edu/ to login, where you will see the course listed. This will be primarily for you to upload assignments. You can also use the "e-mail" link to contact your fellow classmates.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
1. Organizer memos
Most larger community organizing groups usually have a lead organizer and then a number of front-line organizers. The lead organizer often acts as a kind of supervisor and mentor, talking through strategy with the front-line organizers, debriefing the outcomes of various strategies, and coaching the front-line organizer through the process of recruiting members, building a base, engaging in tactics, and managing campaigns. Lead organizers don't have time for a lot of writing, but often want reports from the front-line staff. So the first assignment of the course will be four memos to the lead organizer. Each should be a maximum of 500 words.
Doing these memos well will require that you have some familiarity with some community. We will talk about what a "community" is the first day of class, to help you with that. But particularly the second and third memos will ask you to out line a strategy for a particular community. You may want to consider this as a community of which you are a member or one your are familiar with through friends or one you are familiar with through media.
The due dates are posted on the course calendar, below. I will be somewhat strict about the late penalty, since you can turn in assignments electronically. Documentable debilitating illnesses and tragedies/emergencies, of course, will be granted extensions. I will not grade you, especially on the second and third memos, on the basis of whether I think your proposed strategy will work for a particular community (since I will likely not know those communities). Instead, I will grade each on a 15 point scale based on the following:
- accurate use of at least four readings from the time period covered by that memo--cite author and page number in your paper.
- clear writing (short sentences, plain language, simple punctuation).
- within the word limit (going significantly over could cost you points)
- on time (-3 points for every day late) (note: every student can submit one memo up to two days late without penalty).
2. Final Project
Some of you like to write papers. Some of you have other relevant skills. You can propose to me anything relevant to the overall topic of community organizing for your final project, based on these broad requirements. I welcome and encourage collective work, so feel free to organize groups and develop collaborative projects. Here are some possibilities:
- You can make a contribution to the COMM-ORG web site (see http://comm-org.wisc.edu/), which I edit. A contribution could include an annotated bibliography on some specialized topic in community organizing and development, a resource list, a list of organizations, etc.
- A thesis/dissertation/grant proposal. Feel welcomed to use this course to develop proposals.
- A traditional long paper.
- A non-traditional website or other multimedia product.
- A service learning project (see below on service learning projects).
The final project requirements are:
- present a written proposal no later than Oct. 5 (5 points for turning it in on time, -1 point for every day late). 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. The proposal should be at least one page, and include the following:
- A description of your topic and justification of why it fits the course.
- An outline of your paper or a workplan if not a paper.
- present a full rough draft (complete with references) or project report/journal etc. no later than Dec. 3 (5 points for turning it in on time, -1 point for every day late).
- submit your final draft no later than the scheduled finals period (30 points, -5 points per day for every day late). This can include leading a portion of one class, either as a presentation, facilitated workshop, or other kind of experience (10 points).
Important:
Service learning projects: I do not see such projects as primarily student learning experiences. Instead, the first goal of a service learning project is to enhance the capacity of a community organization. That means, to do a service learning project, you need specific skills that you can bring to a community organization. In your proposal, you will need to tell me what those skills are and how the organization you are working with will deploy those skills. If you wish to do a service learning project, here are the requirements:
- The organization needs to be involved in community organizing. As you will learn, that is almost completely distinct from social service organizations. There are but a handful of organizations in Madison doing community organizing and I am communicating with them about possible opportunities.
- You will need to provide me with a letter (paper or electronic) from the organization director or president at the beginning of the semester specifying what you will do at that organization, and what the deadlines will be for your work, before you begin.
- You will need to write a detailed reflection paper where you discuss your thoughts about the project in relation to the course material (at least 10 pages referencing at least 10 specific readings).
- You will need to provide me with a letter (paper or electronic) at the end of the semester from the organization director or president specifying that the work was completed satisfactorily and on time. If I do not receive such a letter, you will receive no credit for the service learning project.
I will be happy to meet with you and the organization representative at any point to troubleshoot the partnership. If you run into difficulties along the way, please let me know so we can all sit down together and get the experience on track.
Traditional Papers: If you choose to write a traditional paper you should be thinking in terms of a minimum of 15 pages/15 references if you are an undergrad and 20 pages/20 references if you are a grad student.
Working in groups: Groupwork can be challenging. Some people join groups so they can get other people to do the work. If you submit a group proposal, I will ask that you specify what each group member will contribute to the final product. Each group member will receive the same grade for the final project unless a group member has alerted me to a problem in the group. In that event, I will ask each group member to grade every other group member. Each group member's project grade will then be computed as follows:
((sum of group member grades / number of group members) + (professor group grade)) / 2
Plagiarism: Being found guilty of plagiarism can include failing the course and even being expelled from the University. The Internet makes it very easy to plagiarize, and to catch plagiarism. The university also has specialized anti-plagiarism software. The first thing you need to do is know what plagiarism is so you don't do it by accident. See http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/QuotingSources.html for that. The second thing to know is what to do if you are stuck on a paper. Best advice--contact your friendly university professor. Now, I also know that some students are committed to cheating even at the risk of being kicked out of school, while some honest students will be terror stricken that they might flunk the class because they forgot a citation. Please rest assured I will not flunk anyone because they forgot a citation. This policy is to catch the flagrant violators, not sloppy referencing. I will help you fix sloppy referencing on your rough drafts.
3. Attendance
I struggle with whether to require attendance. I don't want to require attendance and students typically don't want attendance to be required. But when push comes to shove and students have other exams to study for and other papers to write, my experience is that they stop attending the classes that don't require attendance. So I am leaning toward an attendance requirement that would work as follows:
3 absences for any reason: no penalty
4-6 absences: 1/2 grade reduction (from A to AB, or B to BC, for example)
7-9 absences: 1 full grade reduction (from A to B, or B to C, for example)
10-12 absences: 1 1/2 grade reduction
13-15 absences: 2 full grade reductions
and so onI will take attendance using an attendance sheet. Falsifying information on the attendance sheet carries the same penalties as plagiarism. Of course, being "present" means being present for the entire class period.
Grades:
Your final grade will be figured as the total points earned from the organizer memos (maximum = 60) plus the total points from the final project (maximum = 40).
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Grade
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Points
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A (Excellent)
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95-100
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AB (Intermediate grade)
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89-94
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B (Good)
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83-88
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BC (Intermediate grade)
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77-82
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C (Fair)
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71-76
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D (Poor)
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65-70
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F (Failure)
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64 or below
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COURSE CALENDAR
**Note: undergrads should read all assigned readings each week; grads should also read at least one "resource" reading. The readings are typically not long and not theoretically difficult.
**Remember to bring the readings with you.
**I may add "resource readings" (which are optional) as the semester progresses. You can always find the most up-to-date list on the web version of this syllabus. Please let me know of any broken links.
**If you receive permission errors for any online reading
link, go to
https://www.library.wisc.edu/ezproxy-bin/ezpatronT.cgi, log in, and try
again.
| Sept. 5: | The Community and Community Change | |
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Resource Reading:
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| Sept. 10-12: | Saul Alinsky | |
Read:
Resource Reading:
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| Sept. 17-19: | Ella Baker | |
Read:
Resource Reading:
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| Sept 24-26: | The Contemporary Context | |
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Resource Reading: Marc Pilisuk et al. 2005. New Contexts of Organizing: Functions, Challenges, and Solutions. Chapter 6 in Meredith Minkler (ed.) Community Organizing and Community Building for Health, 2e. Piscataway, NJ: Rutgers University Press. Benjamin Heim Shepard and Ronald Hayduk. 2002. From ACT Up to the WTO: Urban Protest and Community Building in the Era of Globalization. New York: Verso. Ernesto Cortés, Jr., Reweaving the Social Fabric http://www.tresser.com/ernesto.htm Mark R. Warren, Creating a Multi-Racial Democratic Community: A Case Study of the Texas Industrial Areas Foundation http://www.tresser.com/iafin.htm Thomas J. Lenz, Building a Force for the Common Good--United Power for Action and Justice. In Shelterforce Online http://www.nhi.org/online/issues/101/lenz.html ACORN, "Detailed History of ACORN." http://acorn.org/index.php?id=51 Gary Delgado, Chapter 4 "The ACORN Model" from Organizing the Movement, Temple University Press, 1986. Arlene Stein. 1986. "Between Organization and Movement: ACORN and the Alinsky Model of Community Organizing." Berkeley Journal of Sociology 31:93-115. Our Resistance Must Be As Local As Capitalism: Place, Scale and the Anti-Globalization Protest Movement, James DeFilippis, 2001, http://comm-org.wisc.edu/papers2001/defilippis.htm Local and Global Organizing after 9/11, By Autumn Leonard, Tomás Aguilar, Mike Prokosch, and Dara Silverman, 2001, http://comm-org.wisc.edu/papers2001/localglobal.htm
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| Oct. 1-3: | Community Organizing Philosophy | |
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Read:
Resource Reading:
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| Oct. 8-10: | Basics of Community Organizing: Building a Base | |
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Due Oct. 12 (by 11:59pm central time): Final project proposal. Read:
Resource Reading:
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| Oct. 15-17: | Basics of Community Organizing: Cutting an Issue | |
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Guest: Dave Beckwith, Executive Director, the Needmor Fund Read:
Resource Reading:
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| Oct. 22-24: | Basics of Community Organizing: Organizing an Action and Negotiation | |
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Resource Reading:
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| Oct. 29-31: | Basics of Community Organizing: Leadership and Organizational Development | |
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Read:
Resource Reading:
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| Nov. 5-7: | Advanced Community Organizing: Action Research | |
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Resource Reading:
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| Nov. 12-14: | Advanced Community Organizing: Coalitions and Allies | |
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Resource Reading:
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| Nov. 19-21: | Advanced Community Organizing: Technology and Media | |
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Due Nov. 23 (by 11:59pm central time): Organizer Memo 3--How might action research, coalitions, and technology/media fit into your basic organizing strategy for community "X"? (choose a specific community) (include at least one reading from each week of 11-5 through 11-21) Read:
Resource Reading:
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| Nov. 26-28: | student projects | |
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Student led sessions: Nov. 26, TBA Nov. 28, Hailey Pobanz: community organizing with aging populations
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| Dec. 3-5: | student projects | |
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DUE--Final Project Draft: Dec. 3 by beginning of class Student led sessions: Dec. 3, June Reineke and Carl Egner, asset-based community organizing Dec. 5, Janina Mera, use of symbols in community organizing
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| Dec. 10-12: | student projects | |
Due Dec. 14 (by 11:59pm central time): Organizer Memo 4--How would you change any of your previous memos, or how is your thinking reinforced, based on the material presented in the student led sessions? (include information from at least four student-led sessions) Student led sessions: Dec. 10, Alison Brooks--Brittingham Park Dec. 12, Meghan Steinke--community organizing version of Jeopardy
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| Dec. 19: |
DUE--All Final Projects, scheduled finals period, 10:05 A.M. WED. DEC 19 |