What innovative approaches can you use to challenge traditional community organizing communication?

Make sure you are sending information out how different communities receive it. For example, email might be great for middle-class English-speaking communities, but if you're trying to get the same information to foreign-born, non-English speaking communities, you'd better be using WhatsApp.

Choose your platforms wisely. We serve older adults, so Facebook is the main engager - we have a page and a community. We use instagram to attract our young intergenerational volunteer force. And we use LinkedIn to attract industry partners, high net worth donors and board members. I publish a blog across platforms about our work and our thought leadership. That goes throughout all of the platforms, our website and our online community Stonewall Village NYC . This way we can have segmented conversations with our target groups, but they all receive that same cohesive message about our mission, vision and progress, no matter which onramp of engagement they come to us by.

Ultimately, integrating digital tools into traditional community organizing approaches can expand outreach, amplify voices, and foster stronger connections within communities. By embracing innovation in communication strategies, we can adapt to the changing needs and preferences of our diverse constituencies, ensuring that our efforts remain relevant and impactful in today's digital age.

Traditional community organizing will always be here. But to reach this new generation of AI technology, social media, and communication streams, we must adjust to reach more and develop a hybrid mode of community organizing. I just finished a campaign to reach a community at our new school, and our team hit strip malls, grocery stores, and the post office to relay our message. But we used a QR scan code along with passing out flyers, and the Q R code WON!!. The senior citizens took our flyer, and the millennials pulled out their cell phones and scanned the code. Within hours, we received feedback with their contact information, and I`m sure the Seniors may attend a community meeting to learn about the school. But the tech kids are ready.

One thing that I have found helpful is to Get to the point and bring clarity to the message, always know your audience, and encourage engagement. Use social media platforms and be sure to communicate. Fit your message to draw attention.

Stop asking and start listening to community needs and priorities. How can we address together root causes if we are not willing to listen to the current and present concerns of the people? True organizing for justice begins there.

Just the other day...I met somebody I know on social media and have been interacting with in an event and to my surprise, she gave a puzzled look to my smile. She behaved as though she didn't know me at all and appeared very cold when I tried to strike a conversation with her. This experience made me wonder...about what is social media doing to us? Are losing our ability to relate to people in real life? Are we building multiple versions of ourselves? And then I wondered whether such communication is actually making a difference. I would thus want to rekindle our old ways of sitting together over a cup of tea or coffee or simply take a walk...

I embrace creative tactics to weave the fabric of our community stronger. I initiate interactive storytelling sessions, where each member contributes a piece to a collective narrative, fostering a shared sense of identity. I organize virtual art collaborations, blending talents to create digital murals that represent our communal spirit. Through gamified challenges, I engage members in friendly competition, encouraging collaboration and communication. These creative approaches not only enhance our connectivity but also infuse our community with a vibrant sense of togetherness and innovation.

Peace Murals serve as both a creative expression of our advocacy and a means to break down barriers and stereotypes between different groups of people. It's inspiring to see people from different religions and cultures working together on a mural. In 2013, we created the EDSA-bayanihan peace mural in the Philippines, which took us three months to finish with more than 3,000 volunteers. It was a very enriching experience for everyone involved, and it led to many new relationships and partnerships. Today, through Music for Peace Camp, we organize a five-day camp with an interfaith youth group to create music and use it to help children learn about peace in different elementary schools.

By any means ensure good working relationship with existing structures such as government departments related to issues that you are organizing the communities for, traditional authorities among others. Community organizing has always proved to be impossible where existing structures are ignored.

Participation is a path, not a destination. A big ask is easy to say no to, but if the asks build gradually, you are allowing your community to grow with you, and to get comfortable working together toward a common cause. Instead of pointing toward one participatory activity, think of all the ways that someone could support your effort, depending on their ability and capacity. Those activities are your roadmap, giving each member of your community a way to build their engagement, and each person a chance to be part of it.

As a part of our process, we conduct a learning conversation and community assessment with the community before starting any program. This helps us better understand the community's landscape and peace and conflict profile. We also seek suggestions from them on how to make the program better, what kind of trainings they require, and more. This collaborative approach ensures that the community is engaged as co-creators and owners of the program, which leads to their greater commitment to its implementation.

Facilitate a community-driven process to identify and address issues by actively engaging diverse voices, including minority groups like the elderly and the youth. Encourage the community to provide recommendations for viable solutions. Emphasize the importance of ensuring that proposed programs not only have public value but also align with the community's envisioned outcomes. Establish a framework that fosters accountability, holding community members responsible for decision-making processes, thereby ensuring a collective commitment to positive results.

It's key to involve community members in all levels ,this will help in identifying earlier or failed plans to build on and further create a sense of ownership for the community members and willingness to adapt to change

One thing I have found helpful in participatory is that it gives the people or community to read into their situation, discover themselves and find solution to their own challenges.

Stories are how we share information and what we tend to remember best. Therefore, it's crucial to tell genuine, relatable stories, preferably drawn from your own experiences. This is how you can ensure that the information you want to share sticks with people and captures their interest.

I agree, storytelling can build a deep connection that will last a lifetime. My family instilled values through storytelling. Our stories remind us that we have more in common than we think. Storytelling also brings healing. Our world is in desperate need of healing. In the board room. In the staff room. In the neutral gender bathroom. Brenè Brown’s stand on vulnerability started on a stage and her story. Now the world is her stand. The power of storytelling is greatly undervalued and under used. Make sure not to use it as a tool to increase the bottom line only. That’s manipulative marketing. Be authentic. Be vulnerable. Be transparent about why you are telling the story.

I feel this is the easiest way. Everyone has a story, and who's to say people won't be moved by yours! Story telling is a creative tactic and will help you to connect with your audience, keep them engaged, and convey your message. All while showing your authenticity.

I think visual communican can be a powerful tools for community organizing campaigns as it attract attention,simplify complex information and inspire action

Sharing your lived experiences above all will connect you to other organizers. Allowing multi marginalized folks to speak their own story of self in their authentic voice will also provide organizer autonomy.

Only you know what level of risk you can tolerate in terms of trying new approaches, but every single thing you do is a chance to evaluate ways you can do better. Often we collect the data - who responded to what, how impact was that - but we don't make the time to consider it. Make the time, and adapt a little (or a lot) at each opportunity or you will only be repeating prior mistakes and wasting scarce resources for poorer results.

Peter Block's book, Community, has a great perspective on empowerment and many excellent organizing strategies--everything from how to define community to how to set up a room, and how to best phrase questions.

Always know your audience. What works for one may or may not work for another. Be inclusive, sensitive & cater to that specific audience (keep the message the same though).