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Looks like it is my turn to add to the #PAscholarstrike teach-in. This effort is part of a mass action of higher education professionals protesting racist policing, state violence against communities of color, mass incarceration and other manifestations of racism. 1/ https://twitter.com/meganehatch/status/1303710100817874945
If you haven’t yet, be sure to check out all of the other threads: Day 1 summary: https://twitter.com/SethJMeyer/status/1303436276910239744; Day 2 agenda: https://twitter.com/SeanMcC_PA/status/1303666951370280960 2/
I am going to focus on the intersections of [urban] politics, community organizing & local governance, asking: 1. What can PA learn from community organizing? And more specifically, 2. how can organizing inform local gov approaches to addressing racial injustice? 3/
I agreed to participate in the #PAscholarstrike last week—and since, I’ve learned that there have been a series of racist attacks (vandalism and racist threats) on my campus. 4/
First “Black Lives Matter” was replaced by “White Lives Matter” – then this week “hate has no home here” was replaced by “Blacks have no home here” on the campus ‘rock’. Our students- from student athletes to Black United Students- are organizing against these attacks. 5/
For me, participation in this strike/ teach-in is one, admittedly small, action that I can take in protest to the racist acts in solidarity with our students. 6/
It's worth noting that I am a faculty member at Kent State University. Most people know KSU because of the May 4 [1970] massacre, when peaceful protesters and student bystanders were murdered by Ohio National Guard during an anti-war demonstration, killing four people! #May4 7/
Less known is the history of Black United Students, founded in 1968: “As antiwar and black power movements swept the nation in the late 1960s, black students on college campuses were inspired to take more direct action to quell racism and promote equality” https://bit.ly/3bC4fMy
BUS has organized numerous actions over its more than 50 year history, including a multi-day campus walk out 1968 9/
BUS’ actions led to “the creation of the Institute for African American Affairs in 1969, the Center of Pan-African Culture (CPAC) in 1970 and the Department of Pan-African Studies in 1976.... 10/
...CPAC’s home base, formerly the Old Student Union, was renamed in 1977—dedicated to the late Dr. Oscar Ritchie, KSU’s first African American faculty member—and is known as “the House that BUS built.”” https://bit.ly/3bC4fMy 11/
Organized action led to significant change! And BUS continues to be a significant and important student group on campus 12/
Yesterday, @bus1968 put out their “demands” for action at the university. https://twitter.com/bus1968/status/1303340414951403521 13/
BUS’s work on the KSU campus is illustrative of the change that can come from community organizing. 14/
So, what is community organizing? I am currently teaching a class on community organizing for a political science senior seminar. As I was prepping for class, I kept coming back to how much PA (and political science) can gain from community organizing. 15/
Community organizing is hard to define. In Szakos & Szakos book, We Make Change ( https://bit.ly/3m7gMfJ ), the authors offer a series of definitions from community organizers across the country. 16/
Community organizing is about power. One of the organizers said, organizing “is meant to mobilize people and help them build power that they once believed that they didn’t have to win on issues of justice in the community” https://bit.ly/3m7gMfJ 17/
One of the definitions that I like is from Marion Orr: “a process that engages people, organizations, and communities toward the goals of increased individual and community control, political efficacy, improved quality of life and social justice” https://amzn.to/2ZjhqgJ 18/
Shouldn’t this be a core tenet of local governance? This definition emphasizes some of the most important (IMO) elements of local governing: organizational structures and processes that emphasize community control, political efficacy, and social justice! 19/
In my class, we identified 4 key elements of community organizing, as we worked to develop our own definition:
1. Power: power structures; people power
2. Democracy: democratic engagement, participation, inclusive 20/
1. Power: power structures; people power
2. Democracy: democratic engagement, participation, inclusive 20/
Cont.:
3. Leadership: Developing leaders, community-engaged leadership
4. Born of necessity (social, political, economic problems/inequality) 21/
3. Leadership: Developing leaders, community-engaged leadership
4. Born of necessity (social, political, economic problems/inequality) 21/
And while it did not make the list, much of our conversation focused on centering the wisdom and knowledge of historically & systemically marginalized communities—a key aspect of “community control”. 22/
Organizers understand that the work is not about them! It is about mobilizing and sustaining grassroots people/ community power—mobilizing and organizing people/ communities that have been/continue to be excluded or marginalized in local governing 23/
Shouldn’t we want to build processes and design institutions that move people “from the margins to the center”?... 24/
And, in the process, create a more vibrant and engaged citizenry--a citizenry that feels that have the ability, knowledge, and capacity to inform local governance? 25/
Orr suggests, for example, that community organizing “could be an antidote for the civic engagement paralysis prevent in America’s cities” (p. 3). 26/
some addl background: Community organizing as we know it today has been shaped by Saul Alinsky— known for his organizing work in Chicago’s Back of the Yards neighborhood and the founding of the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF). 27/
But as scholars and organizers have rightly pointed out—community organizing has roots in the settlement house and civil rights movements. Organizers like Ella Baker are often excluded for organizing history—but were exceptional community organizers. https://amzn.to/2Zp91bA 28/
As organizers will attest, community organizing is not only about mobilizing activists to attend a rally or turn out and vote—it is about building community and building organization[s] for sustainable, and equitable social change. 29/
Community organizing is about building and sustaining organizational processes and structures that keep people motivated and engaged, fostering political efficacy, and often disrupts the status quo—because the status quo is inequitable! 30/
In many ways then, community organizing shares boundaries with both nonprofit management (volunteers, organizational structures, funding!) and urban/ local governance (decision making, local politics/ policy, agenda setting, & coalitions)! 31/
For me and my work-- organizing informs how I thinking about participation in local gov/ community development work 32/
It is not just about bringing [a] community together to identify community interests or report out plans
Community organizing, instead, views community building and engagement as an ongoing process of deliberation & contestation. 34/
Rather than avoid conflict, an organizing approach (can) recognizes the importance of engaging in difficult dialogues and community conflict.
We talk about this a little in my co-edited book (with @DrJasonRivera1): Community Development and Public Administration Theory. 35/
We talk about this a little in my co-edited book (with @DrJasonRivera1): Community Development and Public Administration Theory. 35/
Lori Minnete & Frances Fox Piven also briefly discuss this in their chapter in Shaw's book, Class, Inequality, and Community Development 36/
DOI:10.1332/policypress/9781447322450.003.0002
DOI:10.1332/policypress/9781447322450.003.0002
There is some amazing literature in planning & sociology that I want to highlight—because they offer some excellent insights (and critiques) about local gov/ community development approaches to engagement (and how local gov can learn from organizing) 37/
Silverman, et al (2020), Are we still going through the empty ritual of participation? Critical Sociology 38/ https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0896920519837322
They revisit Arnstein’s “ladder of participation,” suggesting public input in neighborhood revitalization projects “remains problematic.” Residents believe that planning/outcomes do not prioritize their interests, particularly true for “minority and working class” 39/
Yesterday I read @Jeremy_Levine’s article in Shelterforce: It’s time to move on from community consensus. 40/ https://shelterforce.org/2020/09/04/community-consensus/
Levine illustrates how our push to find “community consensus” assumes that there is a singular community. Further, it assumes equal access, resource, and interest in engagement in participatory governing institutions, which we know is not the case. 41/
Levine argues that we should, “rethink public participation as a way to elevate the political voice of specific people—marginalized residents—rather than vague notions of “community control.” 42/
I particularly liked Levine's argument as it pushed me to think about what I mean when I use the term "community control" and what organizers mean when they say "community control" 43/
It also has important implications for local gov practice! 44/
The emphasis on centering the wisdom and knowledge of marginalized residents is key! 45/
Ahhh! I am running out of time for my 1 hour contribution to the #PAscholarstrike 46/
I said that I would attempt to answer the question- how can an organizing approach help local gov address racial injustice 47/
Answer: processes and structures that
1. center the voices of people who have been systematically excluded or marginalized, especially BIPOC 48/
1. center the voices of people who have been systematically excluded or marginalized, especially BIPOC 48/
2. create opportunities for meaningful engagement (e.g. empowered participation) that fosters political efficacy 49/
OK-- I could keep going! But I am going to end and go see what @meganehatch had to say! #PAScholarStrike https://twitter.com/meganehatch/status/1303724906258092037?s=20
