The Power of the Organized Group, Essay Example

Community organizing is not a new idea in political action.  Throughout time, social change and justice has been largely due to the voices of many people coming together to shout the same message through a host of tactics, from petitions on paper to demonstrations in the streets.  Generation after generation has produced charismatic leaders who are able to bring these citizens together under common causes, and the combination of their vision and the organized “power of the people” brings about lasting and meaningful change.  Today, the potential for that power has only grown, as lightning-fast communication has enabled us to connect with one another unlike any other age in history. Thanks to this development, the burden of community organizing has been diffused to the group itself, and instead of simply responding to a leader’s call to action, each member of the group can harness the message and spread it to others, becoming an organizer in his own right. The old adage “many hands make light work” has always rang true in community organizing, and now more than ever those hands are able to reach far and wide, inciting change on an unprecedented scale.  With a mix of effective leadership, committed activism, and efficient communication, a committed group benefits from community organizing because its ability to succeed in changing the world around them is only strengthened as it expands and diversifies.

Although groups can usually accomplish much more than an individual, dedicated leadership is essential at the center of strong community organizing.  A good example of an effective leader can be found in the Urban Youth Collaborative’s (UYC) successful effort to guarantee continued funding for student subway passes in New York City.  With looming budget cuts that would end the 60-year subsidization of public transportation for thousands of kids, student leaders like Jorel Moore spearheaded the daunting task of keeping the much-needed program alive.  At first glance, the idea of middle and high school students affecting the budget of America’s largest city seems nearly impossible, but Moore and the leaders of UYC were determined to have the voice of those affected most by the cut be heard.  Before any action could take place, Moore and the UYC team had to first educate themselves on the issue through thorough research and conducting interviews with political leaders and city officials (Moore 7).  Then came the truly hard work: educating students on the details of the issues and working with them to create an effective course of action.  A combination of letter writing, protests, and the mobilization of hundreds of students to attend public hearings kept the UYC’s position at the forefront of the debate (Moore 9), and the immense public pressure helped to preserve the students’ transportation funding.  Like Jorel Moore and UYC, Hector Perez coordinated a group of students in Arizona to take on the state government, as they fought to keep minority-focused education and ethnic studies available in the Tucson Unified School District.  Through coordinated demonstration, Perez and his group brought a large amount of attention to their cause, however their campaign did not prove to be as successful as UYC’s: the state of Arizona has currently abolished ethnic studies, turning a bill into law that prohibits programs that “promote resentment toward a race or class of people” (Ginwright & Cammarota 18).  Despite their various effects, there are common results in a well-lead community organizing effort.

Leaders who are committed to bringing people together to “act toward a common vision” believe that solutions to neighborhood problems come from “the power of people to hold institutions, politicians, and corporations accountable” to the community (Ginwright & Cammarota 15). Their focus shifts from the issue itself to the people that have to become passionate about the issue.  The “internal capacity and resilience” that a strong community organizer must have needs to be infectious, because the most impactful effort is one that is full of a “collective power” that can truly affect local public policy (Ginwright & Cammarota 15). A leader has to focus on group empowerment, because the degree of success depends on how many people are dedicated to change.

When a group is well organized – when it is not only passionate, but also knowledgeable and articulate about its cause – it breeds success.  That success can be measured in political victories, like UYC’s campaign to save student transportation in New York, or by working towards social justice, like the effort made to transform the condition of schools by the Philadelphia Student Union (PSU).  In response to violent school conditions, district schools enacted harsh protocols, most notably corporal punishment and police-run “lockdowns” that relieved administrators of control of their schools (Dzurinko et al. 22).  In return, PSU has organized to look at the violence from another point of view, bringing attention to the “prison-like school environments, a lack of communication and trust between students and staff” (Dzurinko et al. 23).  The members of PSU organized their efforts through listening campaigns and utilizing the media, which not only allowed them to connect to the student body at large, but also opened up a dialogue with city officials that led to new policies for police in public schools

(Dzurinko et al. 24).  On the heels of that win, PSU organized Black and Asian students to identify commonalities, end violence against one another, and address concerns about their school policies.  Using the lessons learned from battling injustice, PSU was able to find more ways to connect young people to one another. As those groups continue to grow and diversity, so does their involvement in collective action, and that kind of action is essential to the democratic process. The more people educate themselves and participate in the process of community organizing, the more stable the balance of government and social justice becomes.

No matter how powerful a message is, it is lost without mastering effective communication, and in our digital age it is easier than ever before. Social media and web-based project management tools can play a strong role in group organizing, due to their ability to connect people anywhere.  Organizing digital messages can create an even stronger sense of responsibility among group members, as they become links in the chain of information via their own Twitter accounts and Facebook pages.  Now a message can be delivered not only to the active listener, but to anyone that listener is connected to.  Through each group member, an organized effort can “broaden its base of supporters and enhance traditional methods of organizing” (McDonald et al. 43).  Those “traditional methods” – in spite of all the advances that they bring to diversifying and disseminating information – are at the core of effective community organizing.  There is no replacement for traditional organizing power; no matter how a message is delivered, no real change can happen without connecting to the individual to that message in a real and intimate way.

Community organizing is one of the most direct and accessible ways for people to affect the policies and systems that govern their lives.  In many examples across the country, we have seen how people can make a difference.  While those people may have been motivated by the actions or the words of someone else, the true test of the message comes in the listener’s decision to not only believe that message, but become willing to work with others toward a common goal.  That kind of connection between people is what builds stronger communities, and a society that focuses on the needs of the many.

Works Cited

Dzurinko, Nijmie et al. “The Campaign for Nonviolent Schools:  Students Flip the Script on Violence in Philadelphia” VUE Spring 2011:  22 – 30.  Print.

Ginwright, Shawn and Julio Cammarota.  “Youth Organizing in the Wild West   Mobilizing for Educational Justice in Arizona!”  VUE Spring 2011:  13 – 21.  Print.

McDonald, Charles et al.  “The Role of New Media in Youth Organizing for Educational Justice.”  VUE Spring 2011:  41 – 48.  Print.

Moore, Jorel.  “No Transportation, No Education!”  VUE Spring 2011: 5 – 13.  Print.