Download Community Organizing - Disability Rights Pennsylvania

Community Organizing for Disability Advocacy Groups
Prepared by the Disability Advocacy Support Hub (DASH)
September, 2013
I. Introduction:
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can
change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.”
Margaret Mead
“Alone we can do little, together we can do so much.”
–Helen Keller
“Vision without action is merely a dream
Action without vision just passes the time
Vision with action can change the world”
– Joel Barker
“A barking dog is often more useful than a sleeping lion.”
–Washington Irving
“The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn”
--Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Lead, follow or get out of the way.”
Thomas Paine
Community organizing is a process in which people with a common selfinterest are brought together to act to create change.
II. Rules for Successful Organizing
A. Leadership
 Leave your ego at the door
 Delegating
 Avoiding burn out
B. Recruiting Members
 Finding people
 A job for all
 Rotating tasks
C. Empowering Members
 Mentor: those with experience help those without;
 Let all be part of decision making and share all info;
 Do skill building sessions for the range of members experience —
including bringing in folks who have waged successful community
organizing campaigns;
 Do brain storming sessions—get ideas from all;
 Discuss options with members
 Make people feel like valued members of the group;
 Recognize accomplishments of individual and group effort
D. Establishing Good Communications
 Using e-mail, Facebook, etc.
 Are phone trees dead? Should they be revived?
 Establish and maintain good contact lists and make the lists
accessible to all
 Assign a volunteer (preferably one who prefers phone work ) to make
confirmation calls prior to next meeting
E. Taking Care of Body and Soul
 Find accessible (physical and transportation-wise) and inviting
meeting space;
 Feed people; Celebrate victories big and small
 Do fun, creative stuff
F.



Staying Organized
Agree on mission and short and long term goals
Keep good records
Do planning and stop to regroup and evaluate your plan in light of
political climate changes
 Prioritize
 Divide into small tasks; Establish and respect schedules and
deadlines
 Keep goals and deadlines visible during meetings
 PREPARATION, PREPARATION, PREPARATION
G. Avoiding Pitfalls
 Don’t let individuals hijack the group
 Keep your energy up, even in the face of frustration
 Be ready for the long haul; Deal with unexpected challenges-members may have useful solutions
 Deal with conflicts within the group;
 Balance the need to do group maintenance stuff with the need for
action
 Help members deal with (and ignore) WHITE NOISE /distractions
 Avoid strategies that not all can support.
 When members get tired, resentful, hungry, pessimistic and just plain
don’t want to continue, find ways to remind one another why you are
doing what you do
This publication is supported by a grant from the Pennsylvania
Developmental Disabilities Council.
Copyright © 2013 Disability Rights Network of Pennsylvania and
Pennsylvania Developmental Disabilities Council. Permission to
reprint, copy and distribute this work is granted provided that it is
reproduced as a whole, distributed at no more than actual cost, and
displays this copyright notice. Any other reproduction is strictly
prohibited.