How can you improve your community organizing skills?

In my experience in community and labor organizing, WHO identifies the problem to be addressed is critical to creating the “clear vision” of change to pursue. From the very beginning, community members and leaders must lead an inclusive and dynamic process to name the problem to be solved, collaborate with others who share values/sense of purpose. Solutions will then emerge igniting collective action. Katina Cummings (Vermont)

Center the goals, experiences and values of directly impacted people in the making of their own liberation—not experts! This may cause you as “leader” ideally to “step up, step back,” and thus listen more than speak. It is also imperative to notice when the expert/manager (often person with no lived experience) is dominant, especially when their dominance may be because of access to resources and the acquisition of such resources. They may not be representing the population being “served”— which is extremely poor community organizing especially for social justice. Ideally involve the directly impacted people in all leadership decisions and choices as to the direction of the organization and its planning. Make the organization horizontal.

Building relationships with other community people is one of the best ways to learn and grow in this field. Also, you will make some amazing friends in the process too.

If you want to start out as a community builder: - participating in existing communities as a volunteer- collaborating and helping community members is a great place to start. - Joining a community whose community managers you admire. You can observe and learn a lot from various and myriad organising skills that community managers bring to the table. Remember, everyone’s approach is different so find your unique footing in the process.

“Think slowly and act quickly” is great advice for community organizing. One person can come up with a plan, but it takes buy in from the community to enact it. The best way to build buy in is through a transparent, democratic, and necessarily slow process of building consensus. Consensus ensures the plan will outlive the efforts of a single person, it helps ensure you’re developing a program that meets an actual need, and it builds stronger community bonds in the process.

Volunteer with other communities unrelated to the one you organize. Learn from them or help make them better. You get to see the different interactions, tools, methods, and innovations they made in their ecosystem that you can bring back to your community.

When you create a warm, positive, and inclusive built on trust and compassion, you are building a space for members to feel valued, appreciated, and recognized. When you focus on members' strengths and highlight them, they gradually become thought leaders of your community which will pave the way for others to follow and take the lead.

Community building is hard, y'all. Keeping track of your wins is paramount, so if you don't already have a running list of things like peer praise, nice notes from your members, career milestones, and moments you're proud of, create one today. Not only is this invaluable as a picker-upper on your inevitable bad days, but it also serves as go-to documentation during your review and promotion seasons when you need to share examples of your wins and major contributions. Get as comfortable with hyping up yourself as you are with hyping up others.

Community organizing is not just a means to an end, but a fulfilling journey in itself. It's about finding your niche, investing time and energy in it, and connecting with like-minded individuals who share your passion. By being a "go-giver," you create a positive cycle of growth and impact.

Celebrating and promoting both the individual and collective wins within the community is essential to growth and the change everyone is trying to create. If the people within the community don't feel supported, appreciated, and recognized for their accomplishments, they will not want to contribute to the community, and potentially will want to leave the community.

You can improve your community organizing skills by understanding the Give and Take Process that is necessary for full engagement within a community space. Members must be willing to both Give to the community and Take from the community for it to feel inclusive and accepting for all.