Introduction to Community Organizing for Community Engagement Professionals

Presented by Campus Compact for Southern New England and Massachusetts Department of Higher Education

About the Training: 

Community Engagement Professionals often have multiple roles, both formal and informal, many of which require them to organize others (students, other faculty/staff, community members) to advance mission, programming, and institutional change efforts. While typical training and academic preparation focuses on disciplines and project management, it overlooks our role as organizers. The goal of this training is to provide an overview of the theory and practice of community organizing as a framework and tool for activating change within and beyond campus and with a variety of stakeholders, specifically for staff and faculty working in community engagement. Participants will be provided a brief overview of various elements of community organizing campaigns (including identifying goals and purpose, relationship building, communicating and collaborating with stakeholders and constituents, mapping power and assets, strategizing and problem solving, and taking collective action) alongside some of the strategies and tools needed to go from conceptualization to action.

Participants will have the opportunity to convene in breakout rooms to connect with colleagues and develop ideas for applying the framework to their own work. Participants will be encouraged to articulate an organizing project that would fulfill some part of their own work responsibilities or personal passions so they can consciously apply the organizing framework and tools to it during the session ​– and then in real life when they return to work. The facilitators will also offer an optional follow-up meeting in early fall for participants to check in about progress and challenges in integrating the principles and practices of Community Organizing into these new or existing projects.