Just what is a COMMUNITY ORGANIZER?

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FROM WIKIPEDIA

Community organizing is a process by which people are brought together to act in common self-interest and compel others to join them. While organizing describes any activity involving people interacting with one another in a formal manner, much community organizing is in the pursuit of a common agenda. Many groups seek populist goals and the ideal of participatory democracy. Community organizers are often times foot soldiers for the local political machine. Political machines were once very prevalent in the older and larger U.S. cities in the first half of the 20th century, especially around the time of Al Capone. Only a few political machines prevail today, most notably in Chicago. Community organizers create social movements by building a base of concerned people, mobilizing these community members to act, and developing leadership from and relationships among the people involved.

Community organizers act as area-wide coordinators of all the programs of different agencies so as best to meet community needs for health and welfare services. They also facilitate self-help programs initiated by local common-interest groups, for example, by training local leaders to analyze and solve the problems of a community. Community organizers work actively, as do other types of social workers, in community councils of social agencies and in community-action groups. At times the role of community organizers overlaps that of the social planners.

Common aspects of organized communitiesOrganized community groups self interest from government, corporations and institutions as well as increased direct representation within decision-making bodies and social reform. Where negotiations fail, these organizations seek to inform others outside of the organization of the issues being addressed and expose or pressure the decision-makers through a variety of means, including picketing, boycotting, sit-ins, petitioning, and electoral politics. When these methods fail, it may lead to negative and violent means by people who are greatly affected with non-decisions or setbacks.

Community organizing is usually focused on more than just resolving specific issues. Organizing seeks to make the participants that they are empowering all community members, often with the end goal of distributing power equally throughout the community. However, any influence that may be achieved may in fact only empower the leaders of the "community Organizer."