Grassroots organizing
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Grassroots organizing is a political practice to create social change. Grassroots organizing is based on the power of the people to take collective action on their own behalf.
| Method | Definition | Example(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Direct Service | Assisting those in need | Insulating or weatherizing homes. Homeless Shelter. Soup Kitchen. |
| Education | Teaching people skills and about issues | Teach people how to look for an apartment. Cultural events. |
| Self-Help | Coordinating efforts for people to assist each other | Neighborhood clean-up day. Baby sitting co-op. |
| Advocacy | Propose laws or regulations on behalf of others. | Lobby for more renewable energy. |
| Grassroots Organizing | The people who care about the issue come together to create solutions. | Ten activists band together and put together a rally and a letter-writing campaign to increase state transit funding by 10%. |
Grassroots organizing’s power is in the sense of justice about an issue and the power of ordinary folks to influence people in powerful positions, whose power always depends on cooperation from many, many people. Its power is not of money, issue expertise, or relationships to decision-makers.
Grassroots organizing works to increase the capacity of a social movement by training new volunteer leaders and by involving new volunteer activists. Leadership development helps to increase the size of the movement and to increase its power. Leaders learn a variety of skills, such as flyering, running meetings, writing letters-to-the-editor, and about the issue, whether it be about racial justice, pro-life campaigns, affordable housing, clean air, or lower taxes. Eventually leaders learn how to be organizers: they learn how to pick an issue, run a campaign, and how to train new leaders.
Since the power of grassroots organizing is in ordinary people, it seeks to mobilize large numbers of people. An activist group of five people may be able to reach 5,000 people in a week by putting up posters, sending e-mails, or making phone calls. Larger organizations can reach hundreds of thousands or even millions people.
Grassroots organizing creates democracy. By engaging ordinary people in its campaigns, it works from the bottom up to make its decisions. It does this by working with its constituency to determine issues, strategies, and tactics, and finding its volunteer leadership from the folks it is organizing.
[edit] External links
- Ricardo Levins Morales poster illustrating the difference between grassroots organizing, social service, and education
- Midwest Academy
