by Jane Keating, Leaven Youth and Families Organizer
Firstly, I want to appreciate the Leaven Community - Alison Killeen, Cheryl Lohrmann and Terry Moe - for your support in my participation in the May five day Industrial Areas Foundation training , “Advanced Community Organizing Training”.
My biggest reason for going was to learn about ways to build real power to create lasting change.
Attending with Leavener Cheryl Lohrmann, a dear collaborator, made a dynamic training even better. It was extra energizing to have a buddy to discuss the training with a Leaven lens and with an eye on sharing back to Leaven. Our strategic plan goal of Community Organizing and Action and how to scale up this core value was on my mind during the training.
The training was in Tacoma. It was wonderful to be part of a group of @30 that was international, representing some of the Pacific Rim. There was a good showing of indigenous peoples and labor organizations, via Sound Alliance - a Washington coalition of member organizations.
I called for a lunch meeting with everyone at the training from Portland (MacG members). We met three times over the course of the training and later met in Portland for a reflection. Everyone there from MACG was associated with a church. There are lots of reasons for this. My wondering is: “Into the future, how does MACG continue to practice organizing in order to be diversified/broad based?”
During the training we all attended a Sound Alliance meeting. It had diverse member organizations. Having a dedicated paid organizer for alliances (SA, MACG) seemed crucial as SA was in a rebuilding phase.
How do we, as Leaven Community, with all of the external pressures, do this work in a financial system that doesn’t compensate organizers as they should and need to be? This also affects Leaven Community’s survival. Is it true that Leaven members feel they can’t put their personal power and attention together because they have too many individual pressures? How do we want to address this Collective vs. Individual paradigm?
A primary question I had going into the training was: In order to have a democratic society - how do we use broad-based organizing (BBO) to that end?
One of the pieces of the BBO training that stands out to me was the concept of taking on projects, issues, and a campaign around what is winnable and building power off of “wins”. Part of this is maintaining relationships through meaningful relational processes in order to continue through “losses”. What (small) issue has Leaven already recently “Won”? How might we build on it for the next bigger issue? I would posit that the continued existence of Leaven is a “Win” in and of itself.
What do we mean by bringing back organizing as part of our strategy? Where do we want to go with organizing in Leaven?
Leaven has strong justice values. How can we use our broad based organizing skills to have strong organization to organization relationships? After the training, I see the possibility of Leaven creating a strategy around organizations we want to be in relationship with and a team of Leaven organizers, of varying experience, using the organizing process toward that end. As we move into our Fall organizing training, I see the crucial value in connecting with other organizations with Leaven and prioritizing our organizing culture. This seems like a great way to center Leaven’s organizing culture. No experts necessary.
In this political moment, daylighting Broad Based Organizing can be a response to the manipulation toward polarization (driven by fear) in the US.
Jane’s Key Takeaways
It felt really great to go as a representative of Leaven. Having the backing of the people and the history of the community behind all of us, is important.
At the training, it was vital being with people who were there for shared self interests. It was reassuring and invigorating at the same time. Organizations sharing their triumphs and pressures together, is a good contradiction to feelings of powerlessness and isolation.
The depth we could go into to define and understand Broad Based Organizing was most useful. I was able to flesh out full picture that I had pieces of from the on the ground work at Leaven. Having the devoted time necessary for a full training of the very specific, IAF Organizing gave clarity. The model resonated with me in its elemental value of people power. Looking at our sources of anger and agitation is powerful. Having a process to address injustice together is key to living out Leaven values.
How do we as Leaven Community keep our relationships and love publicly centered in community to change the harmful aspects of our current larger culture? Looking at the world as it is and moving toward the world’s potential for liberation is core for me as polarization tactics are employed as a result of oppressive systems with high stakes consequences. Recognizing our interconnectivity and having deeper reciprocal connections is spiritual. It allows for more joy, creativity, flexibility and nimble action.
I highly recommend the training and am eager to talk to anyone that is curious it.