Community Organizing and Open Mics.

Community Organizing and Open Mics.

Last week I attended the APCA convention attended by college students and artists for the purpose of enhancing college campus activities. This document talks about community organizing and roles of a team and speaks to those students tasked with creating regular events on their campus or neighborhood. It is an invitation to see yourselves as a community organizer.


Community organizing is a science that has been created in a grassroots way by people with little access to power and money, to create something meaningful in their lives, and to create a mechanism for overcoming various forms of adversity. It's effectiveness has been proven to such a degree that it is now being used by corporations and politicians to increase their profits and gain political power. Of course the world's most famous community organizer right now is our President Barrack Obama. On the campaign trail they were making fun of him for having worked as a community organizer. Atlanta is sometimes referred to as the birthplace of civil rights and the American civil rights movement is one such movement known for being instrumental in using/ developing the technology of community organizing.

I was introduced to community organizing back in 2000 thru coming to an open mic event. It was the hottest event in town at the time and I came to find out the guy behind it all was this young guy who was practicing the community organizing techniques he'd learned at an institute created for that purpose, so that he could create his own organization. I ended up creating a program that I ran under his organization for several years. I recently moved from Atlanta up to the NYC area to be with family while focusing on the professional aspects of my performance career. So while my new primary focus is being a performer, I'm also a community organizer and I would like to share what I have learned about this and about teamwork and what it takes to make a great event and how an event based organization can make a great team and enhance everyone's team building experience. Teambuilding skills are very important nowadays. Always have been.

Community Organizing: Defintion, Purpose and Values and Strategies for Success।

Community Organizing

Definition

My definition of community organizing is to bring together people from a neighbourhood or community and strengthen the bonding and sense of community. Community organizing starts from the premise that most of us want the same sense of security and freedoms. There are things we can do to achieve this for ourselves and future generations. In order to allow this kind of journey to start and progress there needs to be some sense of initiative and this is where a community organizer comes in.

The purpose and role of community organizers.

Doing a google search on community organizing brings up some interesting articles worth checking out. For me, community organizing is a way to learn more about yourself and your neighbours and the dynamics of people and teamwork and cooperation. I think a true sense of community creates a sense of belonging that not only enhances our individual and collective survivability but also strengthens our mental, emotional and spiritual well being. The benefits of being a community organizer are many, and probably different for everyone. Think back to when you were in High School. Do you remember a certain type of person that always seemed to be organizing the parties, events, and outings? It's sort of like that but with some other good stuff added to the mix. I sincerely wish everyone who is even mildly interested in the idea of community organizing to learn more and give it a go. In today's world of individualism with everyone doing their own thing, there is always more room for community organizing to get people in the same physical proximity to come together and help each other make life more fun and interesting.

With the initiative of a community organizer, several people in a neighborhood can come together and find ways to not only enhance their own lives but also ensure that the lives of future generations do not make the same mistakes made by previous generations. Through organizing, the next generations can be groomed to take care of the neighborhood and become responsible stewards of the land. A neighborhood and community working together, can start to expand their focus out of individualistic survival into making life in the neighborhood more sociable and more interesting, taking into account the needs of the next generations. For example, public gathering spaces can be created to create social forums for people of all ages to socialize in and further the work of continuous positive change. Communities can develop ways for all generations to live and work together in the same neighborhoods and develop a sense of culture that can be carried on.

The Values and Strategies for successful community organizing

The following values and strategies that have been carefully selected from a wide variety of sources that have identified what it took to make other efforts for positive changes around the world successful in the past. These values and strategies were developed by my friend and colleague David Plutado Fugate.

Values for Successfull Community organizing

1. Broad diversity and all inclusiveness, bringing as many relevant perspectives into the thinking as possible.

You want to invite everyone from the neighbourhood to participate and be included; everyone regardless of age, weight, appearance, opinions, idiosyncracies etc. These are your neighbours /your community and you can all learn from each other, from all your various ties to and experience with the human family. Make sure you are able to cater to everyone's diverse needs and give them any due respect and avoid anything that may prove to be offensive to them.

2. Vision, caring, and responsibility and not on the basis of anger or fear.

Using fear tactics is unsustainable and eventually people get tired of it. They will much more easily gravitate towards the virtue energy, (such as courage, righteousness, love, kindness, happiness, joy, openness, honesty) as will you.

3. To recruit ever more allies and not to identify enemies or attack or embarrass any so called opposition.

This is an expansion of the first point. There are always an infinite supply of potential new allies to the cause and strengthening this aspect. With the commitment and focus on making allies, it will make the work feel better. Someone you might think is an enemy could easily one day become another one of your allies.

4.To propose solutions and not to protest wrongs.

People get tired of protesting wrongs and find more joy in working on solutions. When people come together and experience true teamwork with their neighbours then they will be empowered to find other ways to come up with other solutions to other problems they are faced with.

5. For the common good and not for self interest.

Community organizing works best when there is the common good's interest at heart. Everyone believes in the common good and will therefore offer their support. Self interest can be served by serving the common good. For example if a neighborhood came together and bought a food item in bulk and then redistributed it amongst themselves they could get it at wholesale rates rather than paying retail like everyone else.

6. For completion and to win, not just be ethically or morally correct.

Although we would all one day like to see peace on earth, this is not a realistic goal that we can expect to achieve in order to feel a sense of success. Set a goal that participants can enjoy in the success of completion of the project and have cause for celebration and joy. This builds enthusiasm for other larger goals.

7. With a shared commitment to struggle together for positive change. This struggle is threefold: personal, interpersonal and global.

This understands that the journey will not only be easy and without struggle. In signing up for community organizing and making positive changes we understand that there will be obstacles that make the struggle. The struggle is not a masochistic need for pain, it is simply understanding that there will be effort required and sweet pain resulting, sort of like exercise or even gentle stretching.

Strategies for Successful Community Organizing.

It is said that a good organizing strategy is one that matches most of the following criteria. Next to each is how the program relates to each.

1. Result in Real Improvement in People's Lives. If you can see and feel the improvement, then you can be sure that it has actually been won.

2. Give people a sense of their own power. People should come away from the campaign feeling the victory was won by them, not experts or lawyers, or by the mercy of policy makers. This builds confidence to take on larger issues and loyalty by the organization.

3. Alter the relations of power. Building a strong organization creates a new center of power that changes the way the other side makes decisions, and hopefully give communities greater influences on the changes to be made to improve their lives.

4. Be worthwhile. Members should feel they are fighting for something about which they feel good, and which merits the effort.

5. Be winnable. The problem must not be so large or the solution so remote that the organization is overwhelmed. The members must be able to see from the start that there is a good chance of winning, or at least that there is a good strategy for winning. Ask who else has won an issue and how, and then call on people with experience and ask for advice.

6. Be widely felt. Many people must feel that this is a real need and must agree with the solution. It is not enough that a few people feel strongly about it.

7. Be deeply felt. People must not only agree, but feel strongly enough to do something about it. It is not enough that many people agree about the issue and don't feel strongly.

8. Be easy to understand. It is preferable that you don't have to convince people that a problem exists, that your solution is good, and that they want to help to solve it. In general, a good issue should not require a lengthy and difficult explanation.

9. Have a clear time frame that works for you. A campaign has a beginning, a middle, and an end. You should have an idea of the approximate dates on which those points will fall. Some time frame factors are internal, that is, set by your organization. Some are external, set by someone else. The timetable for an election is almost totally external.

10. Be non-divisive. Avoid issues that divide your present constituency. Don't pit neighbor against neighbor, old against young, one race against another. Don't be content to get the traffic or a drug pusher off your block on onto the next block. Look down the road a few years. Who will you eventually need to bring into your organization?

11. Build leadership. The campaign should have many roles that people can play. Issues campaigns that meet most the criteria also build leadership if they are planned to do so. Train and place people in leadership and decision making capacities to build the strength of your members.

12. Set your organization up for the next campaign. In addition to thinking about future issue directions, consider the skills the group will develop in the campaign and the contacts it will make for the next one.

13. Have a pocketbook angle. Issues that get people money or save people money are usually widely or deeply felt.

14. Raise money. This means having some idea of how you will obtain funding sources for your campaign.

15. Be consistent with your values and vision. The issues we choose to work on must reflect our values and our vision for an improved society.

16. Be capacity-focused. The issue you work on must utilize and provide community members to engage themselves using skills and resources that they can bring to the table. Focusing on needs, rather than capacity, trains people to clients and dependants, rather than equal participants and decision makers in creating positive

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Open Mics, members of a team.


Below is a document I created from my experiences both in and out of the open mic scene that can be used to help others organize and run successful events and create a team and build a sense of teamwork.

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The following document has been created to assist people who wish to organize and host a regular events within their community through teamwork, or conversely, build a team and experience teamwork, through hosting a regular event. The elements of this kind of event and the components of it's team have been divided into ten areas with roles governing each. This includes the role of the leader who initiates the process and has a vested interest in seeing the process unfold. In the beginning, this person herein described as the team leader may have to take on the responsibilities of all roles and gradually begin sharing them with others as they become available/join the team. For those of you who are already part of an organization that organizes and hosts regular events, this document will be like a map of the village you grew up in, or the blueprints to your family home. It is something you can use to replicate what you already have, or help people understand and stay on track with what you have.


Team Member / Leadership Roles and Responsibilities / Key Areas of Responsibility
The following are 9 roles that operate under the leadership of the team leader / coach. Once the roles and responsibilities for these key areas are understood, the names can be changed into something more creative for example an animal, plant, color, special other nickname or mascot. With each role is a premise, the main underlying reason behind it.


1. Front of House (hospitality/host)

Premise: Most people prefer going to a social event where someone greets you in an unconditional way and makes you feel welcome with no strings attached and then makes introductions for you, making you feel valued. We prefer to have someone that we could say goodbye to upon our departure, rather than say entering an event anonymously, making our own way through unfamiliar surroundings, and being left to our own devises to make connections, and leave anonymously. It makes the difference between an event we will want to come back to and one that we don't.

Responsibilities.
Responsible for first impressions of the team /event/project and establishing the first point of contact; being the face of the team and the face of the event/ organization.
Meeting and Greeting people at the event/meetings.
Making people feel welcome and know their place and how they fit in.
Decorating the event site/Setting up a room before a meeting.
Developing a system for helping each person fit into the event/organization from the initial contact. This includes participation before the event for preparation work, at the event and after the event-preparing for the next one.
Setting up a system for taking and replying to inquiries generated by the team's, it's events and it´s promotion. This may include phone, email, social networking as well as in person.

2. Nourishment (food catering)

Premise: People are animals that enjoy food and beverages at regular intervals. The body is a temple, and if you can positively effect one's spirit by nourishing their body, then you have done a great thing. Smart people will appreciate and see the value of this.

Responsibilities.
Responsible for creating a system for estimation, collection, preparation and distribution of tasty, healthy, inexpensive, filling and thirst quenching food at the events and meetings.
Understanding that people need and like to eat and drink.
Finding people's unique dietary requirments and possibly catering to them?
Creating food sharing systems/processes.


3. Scribe (documentation and promotion creation)

Premise. The written word is a standard medium of communication with great reach and depth. Communicating a message is one of the foundations of humanity.

Responsibilities.
Ensuring that documentation is created of the organization/team/events through as many mediums as possible; video, audio, written, photography, sketches, poems, songs.
Soliciting input from others for documentation/promotion purposes.
Documenting information on the team and it's members and the events for both internal and external distribution (promotion).
Create a system for enabling each of the officers to record what they do on a day to day basis for making the event a success, so that this information may be shared for continuous overall improvements.
Creating promotional material for the outreach officer.
Documenting processes. For example, what process was used to market and promote this event?
Taking and keeping tabs/notes of what is said and agreed upon at meetings


4. Outreach (marketing and promotion)

Premise. People love the personal contact which always makes it the best way to get a message across. Communicating a message is one of the foundations of humanity.

Responsibilities.
Developing and executing a plan for taking the message about the Team it's meetings and events to the people.
Set goals for level of support and participation from each sector that will participate such as students, family and friends, young children, senior citizens, business owners, tourists, other communities, general public.
Decide which mediums will be used and in which ways; tv, radio, internet, newspaper / print, person to person.
Help distribute the agenda of each meeting leading up to the events.


5. Assets management. (treasurer)

Premise: There is an abundance of everything we need so lets always handle our business.

Responsibilities.
Conducting an assets inventory and developing a system for sharing assets of the group and providing members with equal access to these assets such as a library system.
Creating a budget and develop a system for collecting, handling, distributing money to each key area. Also a transparent reporting system for members to know the financial situation of the team/organization.
Developing a fund raising /augmentation plan.


6. Time-Keeper (logistics and project management)

Premise: Time is all we have. Make the most of it, at all times.

Responsibilities.
Manage format of the events/meetings so that they start and finish on time and flow from one activity to the next.
Keep the team on track of things that need to be done before, during and after the events and meetings and the relationship between them.
Create meeting agendas by collecting items from each meeting participant.


7. Creative and Artistic Design and Production.

Premise: Art is intangible. Fun is even more intangible. The intangibles such as art are fun. Fun is the greatest wealth and the highest currency.

Responsibilities.
Responsible for bringing out the best creative energy/ best vibe/from the participants and maximizing the creative impact of the events and meetings.
Responsible for making the event a place of fun and creativity.
Ensuring that the artistic, creative, emotional, intangible needs of each team member/participant are met. This may include leading the group through ice-breaker, team building exercises, prayer, visualization, centering, meditation exercise or segment of creative self expression.


8. Education

Premise: Information is power.

Responsibilities.
Finding out what educational materials might be needed by each of the key area officers in order to best fulfill their roles and responsibilities and enhance their effectiveness as team members.
Bringing the vibe of "higher learning" to the group/event.


9. Membership

Premise: There is power in teamwork.

Responsibilities.
Informing new potential members on the mission, goals and objectives of the team, the benefits of membership and the roles and responsibilities of team members.
Manage database of members / guests.



10. Team Leader /Coach

Premise: The best way to learn is to teach.

Responsibilities.
Overall responsibility for making the meetings and events happen through teamwork.
Coaching individuals to make a team and complete the agreed upon goals.
Organize election / selection process to determine who will hold the various officer positions
Plan and decide upon the next and subsequent moves.


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Team creation process

A Team is formed by a self appointed Team Leader who takes on the responsibility for organizing and hosting the event/s, raising the necessary funds and setting things up for the next project/s.

In the beginning, individuals can take on multiple roles and eventually each role can be handled by a small team with it's own leadership.

The 3 part process of selecting individuals for these roles is nominations, selections and inauguration.

Nominations: The team leader organizes a simple nomination and election process whereby individuals nominate other individuals to hold any one of the key area officer positions. Individuals who are nominated become candidates. The person who nominated the candidate becomes the spokesperson for the candidate. The spokesperson gathers information from the candidate they nominated and then presents to the rest of the group as to why they feel that candidate is well suited to serve the team in that specific officer capacity. The candidate can also speak on his/her behalf and answer questions.

Selection: Next the group is asked to vote by raising their hand or using a secret ballot and if the majority of the people agree then the candidate becomes the officer and is sworn into their officer position at a subsequent Officer Inauguration Ceremony.

Inauguration: The Officer Inauguration Ceremony led by the team leader takes place during a team meeting. The new officers tell the rest of the group about their roles and responsibilities and share their feelings, thoughts and plans for fulfilling their new role.


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Open mic tips

-Greet people at the door. Introduce each person to another person, so at the very least they connect with two people at the event.

-Create a flyer, diary/record of the event. Put it up where people can find it.

-Cook/prepare some nourishing food / bring some filtered water for people to drink.

-Start on time, finish on time. Have an intermission. Allow time for people to talk to each other. Don't allow the event to go for too long. Leave them wanting more and with time and energy to bring home. Remember a big budget Broadway show or movie goes for about an hour and a half.

-Allow/enable organizers/team members to bring whatever they want to make the event a success. This includes "art/poetry" to share so at the very least, each of you will hear each others pieces.

-The main job of a host is to bring out the best in others, and ensure that others are heard, not monopolize the time on the mic. A good host introduces people well and makes constructive meaningful and appropriate commentary that everyone can relate to.

-Collect people's contact info, thank them for coming, solicit their input and feedback

-Allow, enable, ensure that people are able to contribute either assets or funds to the event.

To encourage people to stay for the duration of the event, start and finish on time (a relatively short time) and also put all the names in a hat and pull them out randomly.