Building Powerful Community Organizations

Voter registration is part of community organizing

BPCO — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 21:37:53 -0400

This Sunday, MICAH, the organization in Framingham, MA, I organize, will hold a voter registration drive in some of the Town’s precincts that don’t have the voting strength of the more affluent precincts. It is a common American tale. Those without less free time, less money and less formal education tend to vote less often than those with more of the above. Part of our answer are events like the one we will hold this Sunday at St. Tarcisius Church. Lots of food, free T-shirts, and hopefully more registered voters at the end of the day than at the beginning. We were glad to have this article in the Boston Globe, thanks to a contact my wife made at work with an interpreter who free-lances as a Globe stringer in Framingham.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/09/25/voter_sign_up_takes_aim_at_new_citizens_low_income_groups/

Foreclosures and community organizers

BPCO — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 21:30:33 -0400

My colleague Lew Finfer was asked by Boston Globe columnist Kevin Cullen about the foreclosure crisis, now that President Bush wants to bail out the financial institutuions that profited from the sub-prime mortgage fiasco. From our congregation-based organizing, we knew of someone who we thought would exemplify the problem, and this column in today’s Boston Globe came about:

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/09/25/no_bailout_for_romilda/

Presence by Senge, Scharmer, Jaworski and Flowers

BPCO — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 14:54:46 -0400

Just read Presence, a book by Peter Senge, C. Otto Scharmer, Joseph Jaworski, and Betty Sue Flowers.

The book is about how we think and how we think affects how we can change the world. It combines modern physics, spirituality, sociology, meditation practice, politics and more.

Some of the best parts of the book are its stories. It includes a fascinating narrative of a grass-roots health care initiative in Germany, where doctors, patients and other community members met and designed ways to make their health care system better. Here in the USA, where we are stuck on getting insurance for all, it is helpful to read this (pp 154 ff) to think about what we really want health care to be, even if everyone were insured. The problem (and the solution) around health care is not only access, but what kind of care we should have. This example describes methods and importance of community input This narrative helps us understand that health care should not only be a service that doctors provide — but rather a system that all of us must create.

I have a question for the authors about their values. They challenge making money as the most important value. However, their examples are mostly about innovation in for-profit companies. They tout a new development at The Gap. They describe how VISA created a new business model, but they don’t challenge the need for a new line of clothes (made where and by whom?) or the overall effect ...

Book Party Thursday July 19 in DC

BPCO — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 13:00:57 -0400

Book Party in DC: Thursday, July 19^th

Come Thursday, July 19^th to the book party for the book at Bus Boys and Poets Bookstore 2021 14^th Street, NW, Washington, DC. co-sponsored by the National Organizers Alliance, Heather Booth, Spence Limbocker and Andy Mott. Call my cell: 617 645 0226 for more information. Hope to see you there, Michael

Boston Cares

BPCO — Thu, 23 Feb 2006 00:32:59 -0500

I posted a new photo to Photos.