Community Organizing
I work as a community organizer for Syracuse United Neighbors (SUN), a grassroots neighborhood organization whose members are residents of the city’s south, southwest and near-west sides.
Over 450 families are dues-paying members of SUN and we work on issues of crime reduction, safe and affordable housing, bank redlining and environmental justice.
SUN is a member of the National People’s Action (NPA) organizing network, a coalition of neighborhood groups from over 30 states that work on changing national policies that have a direct effect on local neighborhoods.
The basic blueprint for community organizing was developed by Saul Alinsky who helped organize neighbors in the Back Of The Yards area of Chicago starting in the 1940’s. The white ethnic neighborhood immediately adjoining the massive Chicago Stockyards came together originally as an adjunct to the labor organizing at the yards, but developed into something much broader.
As the documentary film about Alinsky “The Democratic Promise” states: “A passionate believer that social justice could be achieved through American democracy, Saul Alinsky methodically showed the “have-nots” how to organize their communities, target the power brokers and politically out-maneuver them. The lessons he taught people about the nature of power, imparted dignity to the poor and helped create a backyard revolution in cities across America. His work influenced the struggle for civil rights and the farm workers movement, as well as the very nature of political protest.”
Alinsky spent some time in Syracuse in 1965, teaching students and residents about community organizing through a federal grant from the War On Poverty agency–the Office of Equal Opportunity. The subsequent organizing campaign in Syracuse’s low-income neighborhoods infuriated Syracuse’s Mayor William Walsh (father of current Congressman James Walsh) because of its “Register for Power” voter registration drive. Feeling threatened, Mayor Walsh demanded that the feds defund the program. Syracuse University then fired Professor Warren Haggstrom who created the training program and invited Alinsky to Syracuse.
SUN was created by the Board of Urban Ministry in 1978 and benefited from the original canvassing of neighborhoods done by Alinsky’s student organizers and resident volunteers.
More Information On Community Organizing:
Battle Stories Interesting, funny, and empowering stories of underdog victories when fighting for change in the community. Video blog of community organizer Jake Lowen from Wichita, Kansas.
National People’s Action blog with updated news articles on actions from N.P.A. groups across the country.
Basics of Organizing Introduction to the nuts and bolts of organizing–written by Shel Trapp the founding organizer of N.P.A.
