Community Organizing to Combat Homelessness

Published November 09, 2009 @ 10:27AM PT

There is no better way to build community power than by organizing the power of a community. Amid these challenging economic times, and with a former community organizer in the White House, homeless advocates should revisit this timely topic. Today's workshop will cover community organizing through a numbers of lenses - classic community organizing, new media, advocacy, etc.

First and most important lesson in today's workshop: everyone is an expert. Here goes!

1:09 - First observation: the mere topic of community organizing always seems to get people energized and excited. There's good energy in this room. Why? Perhaps because if you believe in organizing, you believe in the idea that we can all be empowered to affect change; if you have hope, you have a reason to fight for your ideals. That's inspiring.

1:13 - Naturally, this is an interactive workshop, so I will do my best to translate this group work into live-blogworthy material.

1:26 - First, some definitions:

Electoral organizing: Using the electoral process to advance understanding about an issue in order to provide political pressure. Some examples: leaf letting, community meetings, etc.

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Author

Shannon has worked in homeless shelters and service organizations in San Francisco, the Triangle region of North Carolina, and currently in the greater Boston area. She is a graduate student studying housing and urban policy at Tufts University.