IST2020-1-SP16 - Community Organizing

Instructor: Jenny Whitcher, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Religion & Public Life and Director of the Office of Professional Formation
E-mail: JWhitcher@iliff.edu
Office Hours: By appointment,
To schedule a meeting, please select an open slot from my appointment calendar (gmail sign-in required).

Course Meeting Time: Wednesdays, 1:00 - 4:30 p.m., March 21 - May 27, 2016
Course Location: B-205 Duncan

Course Synopsis: A strong democracy, comprised of public and institutional life, depends on the civic agency of the people. In this course, students will learn history and core concepts of relational, broad-based community organizing in the United States, through a democratic classroom and the practice of organizing skills. Students will reflect on their core values to define and develop their core self interest and public identity, build meaningful public relationships across difference and diversity, build and evaluate power, and develop community organizing strategies in collaboration with others.

Community organizing skills and methods are useful in a variety context, from personal, professional, to public relationships; within church, religious/spiritual, nonprofit, business, and government contexts; and most importantly as a relational, democratic leadership approach to strategic and systemic social justice and change.

Syllabus

Class Notes (google Doc)

Books: 

Articles/Book Chapters:

Topic Area: Democratic Culture & Community Organizing

Topic Area: Power & Power Analysis

  • Loomer, Bernard. 1976. “Two Conceptions of Power.” Process Studies. 6.1:5-32. http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=2359. (Links to an external site.) (28 pages)

 Topic Area: Confrontation, Agitation, and Public Action

Topic Area: Mobilizing versus Organizing

Topic Area: Transformative, Public, Relational Leadership

Topic Area: Evaluation

Movies:

Women Organizers from Makers: The Largest Video Collection of Women's Stories. Select stories:

  • Makers Profile: Dolores Huerta, Co-Founder, United Farm Workers
  • Makers Profile: Diane Nash, Civil Rights Leader
  • Makers Profile: Anu Bhagwati, Equal Rights Advocate. Founder and Executive director of the Service Women's Action Network (SWAN), which advocates on behalf of servicewomen and women veterans.)

Saul Alinsky (IAF):

  • Firing Line with William F. Buckley, Jr. 1967. “Mobilizing the Poor.” Stanford: Hoover Institution Video Library. (DVD-50 minutes)
  • Hercules, Bruce and Bruce Orentein. 2000. “The Democratic Promise: Saul Alinsky & His Legacy.” Indie Flix. (57 minutes) 
  • Moyers & Company, Season 2, Episode 6, "How People Power Generates Change." May 12, 2013. (57 minutes)
  • "Neighbor by Neighbor: Mobilizing an Invisible Community in Lewiston, Maine." 2009. (98 minutes)

Websites:

  • http://www.colorlines.com/
  • https://www.raceforward.org/: Race Forward: The Center for Racial Justice Innovation (formerly The Applied Research Center)
  • www.IndustrialAreasFoundation.com: IAF is the organization that Saul Alinsky founded, the largest and longest standing community organizing network.
  • www.DemocraticFaith.com: maintained by Frank Pierson, recently retired IAF organizer (23 years IAF/West/Southwest Region , 7 years Chicago and NYC)
  • www.AlinskyNow.com (and on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Alinsky-Now/437937952933886) Also maintained by Frank Pierson
  • http://amosipl.org/: AMOS Institute for Public Life, local IAF organization in Des Moines, IA
  • http://www.piconetwork.org/: People Improving Communities through Organizing
  • http://ctwo.org/: Center for Third World Organizing
 Together we will be deciding which resources, including those not on the list, we want to cover in the course. Therefore, you do not need to purchase books prior to our first meeting. Regardless of what we decide to prioritize, scanned readings are available to get us through the first few weeks if you want to order books for the quarter after we get started.

Democratic Learning Environment:

This course strongly encourages students of diverse backgrounds, politics, religious beliefs, and values to learn together and from one another in a respectful, democratic, and rigorous learning environment.

I understand my role and responsibility to you and the institution as facilitator of a productive learning environment. I also believe that democratic pedagogy supports increased student engagement and learning. Bridging my role as facilitator with a democratic approach and within an institutional setting, I have provided some structures and guidance to facilitate your learning, and welcome and encourage your collaboration on how to best structure our time together. One the first day of class, we will review and negotiate the syllabus. I have included areas within the syllabus where you can make choices about the course content, and welcome additional changes that best fit the learning needs of this particular classroom community.

Due the democratic nature of this course, students are asked to remain flexible as the course schedule may change. Any changes to the course schedule will be discussed and agreed upon as a group, and the updated schedule will be posted to Canvas and sent out to all students by the instructor through a Canvas announcement.  As opportunities arise, the class may leave campus during the class meeting time, always returning to campus by the end of our scheduled classroom time.

Course Objectives: As a result of participation in this course, students will:

  1. Understand the history and contemporary context of relational, broad-based community organizing;
  2. Develop and demonstrate public skills, strategies, and techniques of relational, broad-based community organizing; and
  3. Critically reflect and act on the role and responsibility of relational, democratic, social justice leadership

Course Learning Goals: Co-created by students and instructor on the first day of class.

Seminar Participation: Your active participation is of primary importance to your learning in a seminar course structure and environment. In order to build an effective learning community it is essential that each participant is present. As such, a major basis for accountability and evaluation is regular and timely participation in the seminar. If you are unable to attend class – either due to illness or other unavoidable conflicts, please notify the seminar instructor in advance.

You will complete a Self-Evaluation and Grading Rubric at the end of the course. I will provide this rubric to help you with the self-grading process, which is open to your revision. The first section of the rubric will directly correlate to the course objectives and learning goals that we will review and co-develop during our first class period, and the second section will include the below democratic learning performance goals.

Evaluation of your learning and performance should look at both the quality and quantity of your engagement with course content and the learning community. Here are some example questions to keep in mind as you think about evaluating your learning and performance:

  1. Did I actively engage with course content: preparatory reading/media, reflective group dialogue, and course assignments?
  2. Was my engagement meaningful?
    1. Did I contribute to the co-creation of knowledge in useful and meaningful ways?
    2. Did I engage in multi-directional dialogue?
    3. Did I demonstrate critical analysis and creative thinking?
  3. Did I help create a democratic learning environment?
    1. Did I demonstrate agency in my learning and the learning of others, as well as encourage agency of others in the classroom community (i.e.: not relying solely on the instructors for my learning experience)?
    2. Were my interactions respectful?
      1. Respectful of other voices by being concise, but thorough in my contributions
      2. Limit judgmental tone/language
      3. Speak for myself, and not inappropriately speak for others
      4. Share experiences, reflections, and/or questions, while trying not to make assumptions about other cultures and people
      5. Honor the value that each person brings to the classroom community, knowing that we are all products of different experiences, educational backgrounds, opportunities, cultures, and histories, and are at different places in our own self understanding and understanding of others
    3. Did I encourage equitable contribution within the classroom community (i.e.: encouraging others to speak if I speak often; speaking up more often if I tend to be quiet; and asking opinions of those who might have something valuable to contribute)?
    4. Did I encourage the classroom community to consider multiple perspectives, including those not obviously present in the classroom?

Course Requirements and Grade Distribution: To be negotiated by students and instructor in week 1

 

Degree Learning Goals: Please take some time to look over the Professional Degree Learning Goals (MDiv, MASC, MAPSC) and the Academic Degree Learning Goals (MTS, MA).

Incompletes:  If incompletes are allowed in this course, see the Master's Student Handbook for Policies and Procedures.

Pass/Fail:  Masters students wishing to take the class pass/fail should discuss this with the instructor by the second class session.

Academic Integrity and Community Covenant:  All students are expected to abide by Iliff’s statement on Academic Integrity, as published in the Masters Student Handbook, or the Joint PhD Statement on Academic Honesty, as published in the Joint PhD Student Handbook, as appropriate.  All participants in this class are expected to be familiar with Iliff’s Community Covenant.

Accommodations:  Iliff engages in a collaborative effort with students with disabilities to reasonably accommodate student needs.   Students are encouraged to contact their assigned advisor to initiate the process of requesting accommodations.  The advising center can be contacted at advising@iliff.edu or by phone at 303-765-1146. 

Writing Lab:  Grammar and organization are important for all written assignments.  Additional help is available from the Iliff Writing Lab, which is available for students of any level who need help beginning an assignment, organizing thoughts, or reviewing a final draft. 

Inclusive Language:  It is expected that all course participants will use inclusive language in speaking and writing, and will use terms that do not create barriers to classroom community. 

DateDayDetails
Mar 29, 2016TueWritten Introduction & Motivationdue by 03:00PM