Organizers' Collaborative

Community organizers are the people who work, often behind thescenes, to help people come together to effect meaningful change intheir communities by building effective community organizations. Theyare there with the neighborhood group working to bring bank loans tolow-income homeowners. They are there with immigrant women organizingto get medical insurance for their families, with small-townenvironmentalists keeping a toxic waste plant out of their community,with parents trying to get schools to respond to the needs of childrenwith dyslexia, with gay and lesbian students striving to create a safespace in their schools, with groups working to reduce the ravages ofracism in their towns and institutions. Wherever there is awell-organized group agitating for progressive social change, chancesare there is a community organizer nearby.

Community organizers work at their jobs because they are passionate,because they believe that change is possible, and because they enjoyworking with people. Although it’s not an occupation that leads togreat wealth, community organizers can make a living at it. Communityorganizers receive salaries, pensions and health insurance. They raisefamilies and send their children to college. They do well by doing good.

This book explores the world of community organizing through thevoices of real people working in the field — organizers in small townsand big city neighborhoods, women and men, some in their 20s, others intheir 60s, of different races and economic backgrounds. In addition to14 individual profiles, all 81 interviewees are given voice in chapterslike “What is Community Organizing?” “How I Started Organizing” “WhyOrganize?” “Achievements and Victories” “Disappointments AreInevitable” and “Advice to Aspiring Organizers.”

Find out more here: http://www.wemakechange.org