About
Organizing
Have
you
- been
an official or unofficial organizer for your community,
union or in regard to a public issue you care about?
- always
been a leader, even a "troublemaker" who was
never satisfied and has constantly worked with others
to achieve change?
Are
you
- currently
working in a setting where change is needed and you really
want to be involved in working with others to make it?
- concerned
about an issue, or more than one, where you see an immediate
and long-term need for change and want to do something
about it besides complain?
If
so, you might want to consider The Organizing Concentration.
Organizing
is one of the fundamental activities of a functioning democracy.
Organizers are concerned with improving social conditions,
changing institutions and power relationship, delivering
needed services, and strengthening community participation.
Groups of all kinds that are involved in promoting democracy
and social change – unions, community-based organizations,
political campaigns and the like – all engage in organizing.
Thus, organizing skills are greatly in demand in the workplaces,
movements and communities where CPCS students are graduates
are likely to work. There is an increasing call for organizers
within the labor movements and within community-based organizations,
non-profits working for social change and within political
campaigns.
Many
organizations expect staff to become self-trained organizers.
However, organizing skills and the theory behind them are
not so easily acquired. At best, an unskilled organizer
may do an ineffectual job. At worst, she or he can do damage
to the cause s/he is trying to promote. Organizers' lives
are notoriously hectic and do not always provide space to
reflect on practice.
The
Organizing Concentration at CPCS offers a unique opportunity
for students who are interested in or engaged in organizing
to develop practical skills for organizing, gain a deeper
understanding of the theory, values and philosophy behind
organizing work, and explore organizing strategies and models
that have been developed.
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