The course examines the history of community organizing in the United States. It explores the different theories and approaches to effective grassroots organizing. It emphasizes the skills and techniques used to empower people so they can win victories and improve their communities.

The course is intended to be a small, participatory seminar. Active student participation is critical to its success. The course involves five ways of learning:

1. We will read several books and a number of articles about organizing, including several case studies, and discuss them in class.

2. We will watch several films (including documentaries) and discuss them in class.

3. We will talk with several guest speakers who have experience as effective organizers.

4. We will participate in several hands-on exercises.

5. You will spend at least 12 hours a week working with a community organization in the L.A. area. You should already have picked one of these groups to work with during the entire term. You will attend meetings and public events, work in the office, meet the staff and members, and undertake research that will help the organization achieve its goals.

Your grade will be based on three things:

1. Your participation in class. Students are expected to do the reading on time, participate in class discussions and exercises, and complete writing assignments on time.

2. Your participation in a community organization internship. Students are expected to be responsible volunteers and complete the tasks assigned to you. Each student should keep a journal about their internship experiences. The journal will be handed in at the end of the term. To evaluate your internship, I will discuss your work with the supervisor and with you.

3. A short paper (15 pages) describing and analyzing your internship and the organization you worked with. The paper should draw on the class materials (readings, films, speakers, exercises) as well as your experiences and your journal. The paper should explain what you learned about community organizing especially, and how well the organization met the criteria of effective organizing. Some guidelines for your journal and final paper are attached at the end. A draft of this paper is due Thursday, November 15. The final version is due on the last day of class: Tuesday, December 4. I won't accept any late papers.

Much of the course reading will be found in the books listed below. In addition, all readings with an asterisk (*) will be found on the website for this course. Go to the Oxy library webpage, go to the electronic reserves, and find the website for UEP 310. I may occasionally add or switch readings if I think it is appropriate.

Students should also regularly bring to class articles from newspapers or magazines that relate to the topics discussed in the course.

You should purchase the following paperback books from the Bookstore:

The course will cover the following topics. Students should have reading assignments completed before the class discussion on the topic. Readings with an asterisk will found on the course website. I may distribute additional readings during the semester if they seem appropriate and important. (Note: NYT=New York Times; LAT=Los Angeles Times)

Milltown Role Play exercise.

Mary Beth Rogers, Cold Anger: A Story of Faith and Power Politics (entire book)

*Zinn, "Young Ladies Who Can Picket" (from Zinn, You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train)

*DiMassa and Khalil, "Landlords Push Tenants Out to Gentrify Units, Suit Says" (LAT, June 15, 2006)

*Dreier and Atlas, "The Missing Katrina Story" (Tikkun, January/February 2007)

*Goodnough and Greenhouse, "Anger Rises on Both Sides of Strike at U of Miami" (NYT, April 8, 2006)

*Sheth, Hardin and Bhagwat, "SLAC Claims Victory as Hunger Strike Comes to a Close" (Stanford Daily, April 23, 2007)

*Field, "Recruiting for the Right" (Chronicle of Higher Education, Jan. 12, 2007)

*DiMassa, "Unionizing LA Guards Isn’t Easy" (LAT, Sept. 17, 2005)

*Calpotura, "Riding with the Wind: Immigrant Rights Activists Travel the Deep South to Learn from the Civil Rights Movement" (Colorlines, March 2004)

*Dreier and Piven, "Anti-Corporate Insurgency Making Itself Seen, Felt" (Boston Globe, May 21, 2000)

*Bellah, et. al., "Individualism" (from Habits of the Heart)

*Witt, "We Rarely See Those Who Labor" (Baltimore Sun, Aug. 22, 1999)

*Vallely, "Couch-Potato Democracy?" (American Prospect, March/April 1996)

*Dreyfus, "The Turnout Imperative" (American Prospect, July/August 1998)

Film: "The Democratic Promise"

*Fisher, "Saul Alinsky and the Back of the Yards Neighborhood Council," "The Roots of the New Populism," "Neo-Alinskyism," "The New Community Development," "Building Confidence and Developing Working Class Women Organizers" (from Robert Fisher, Let the People Decide: Neighborhood Organizing in America, 2^nd edition, 1994)

*Stern, "ACORN’s Nutty Regime for Cities" (City Journal, Spring 2003)

*Atlas and Dreier, "Enraging the Right" (Shelterforce, May/June 2003)

*Nossiter, "In New Orleans, Progress at Last in Lower Ninth Ward" (NYT, Feb. 23, 2007)

*Chavez and Cardenas, "Group Aims to Improve Schools by Parent Power" (LAT, July 22, 2001)

*Cardenas, "Building a Power Base for Better Education" (LAT, May 13, 2002)

*Watanabe, "Church Seeks Lessons from Neighbors" (LAT, October 6, 2003)

*Fausset, "Thousands Attend Parley to Improve Life in County" (LAT, July 12, 2004)

*Rourke, "Her Calling: To Help Others Find a Voice" (LAT, August 12, 2002)

*Dahle, "Social Justice - Ernesto Cortes Jr" (Fast Company, November 1999)

*Shirley, "Ysleta Elementary School" (from Community Organizing for Urban School Reform, 1997)

Frederick Douglass quote (Bobo, Organizing for Social Change, first page)

Bobo, OSC, Ch. 2 (The Fundamentals of Direct Action Organizing)

Kahn, Organizing, Ch. 1 (Organizing)

*Renwick, "Fed-Up Tenants Take Over" (LAT, Aug. 15, 1994)

*Sahagan and White, "Port drivers steer toward clean-truck program" (LAT, June 6, 2007)

*Amber, "CNA/NNOC, Tenant Reach Agreement for Organizing Hospitals Outside

California" (Bureau of National Affairs, August 21, 2007)

*Hass, "Economic Justice in the LA Figueroa Corridor" (in Teaching for Change, 2002)

*McAlevey, "Stamford, Connecticut, Case Study: The Whole Worker Movement" (in Teaching for Change, 2002)

*Hertsgaard, "Green Grows Grassroots"(The Nation, July 31, 2006)

*Greenhouse, "Thousands of Home Aids Strike, Seeking $3 Hourly Raise" (NYT, June 8, 2004)

*Cleeland, "Hotel Contract Talks Falter as Union Tries Power Ploy" (LAT, June 24, 2004)

*Cleeland and White, "LA Hotels, Union Returning to Table" (LAT., August 14, 2004)

*Greenhouse, "Controversial Overtime Rules Take Effect" (NYT, August 23, 2004)

*The Hungry Person Exercise

*Kretzman, "Building Communities From the Inside Out" (Shelterforce, Sept./Oct. 1995)

*Axel-Lute, "Back to the Streets: Why Community Developers Should Join the Fight Against Corporate Globalization" (Shelterforce, May/June 2000)

*Axel-Lute, "Direct Action for Housing" (Shelterforce, July/August 2002)

*Weir, "Power, Money, and Politics in Community Development" and Dreier, "Comment" (Ferguson and Dickens, eds., Urban Problems and Community Development, 1999)

*Holt, "What Every Community Organization Should Know About Community Development" (Just Economics, date unknown)

*Traynor, "Community Development & Community Organizing" (Shelterforce,March/April 1993)

*Pastor, "How to Build in South-Central" (LAT, August 22, 2007)

Bobo, Organizing for Social Change (Ch. 26: You Mean You’re Not Getting Rich?)

*Leland, "When Health Insurance Is Not a Safeguard" (NYT, Oct. 23, 2005)

*Reynolds, "Social Citizenship: Lessons from Sweden" (from Taking the High Road, Ch. 1)

*Dreier, "The U.S. in Comparative Perspective" (Contexts, Summer 2007)

*Block, "A Corporation with a Conscience?" (New Labor Forum, Summer 2006)

*"Social Change Spectrum" (chart, taken from Power Tools, produced by SCOPE)

*Smeeding, "The Poverty Quagmire" (Washington Post, December 21, 2003)

*Eckholm, "America’s Near-Poor Are Increasingly at Economic Risk" (NYT, May 8, 2006)

*Weber, "The Factories of Lost Children" (NY T, March 25, 2006)

*Dreier and Appelbaum, "The Campus Anti-Sweatshop Movement" (American Prospect, Sept. 1999)

*"Health Quiz I" (from Hartman, ed., Poverty and Race in America, 2006)

MoveOn.Org, 50 Ways to Love Your Country, Ch. 1, "The Power of Connecting, Ch. 2, "Every Vote Counts," and Ch. 4, "Political Action is Personal"

*Watanabe and Becerra, "500,000 Cram Streets to Protest Immigration Bills" (LAT, March 26, 2006)

*"Sharp, "The Woman Behind Arnold’s Defeat" (Pacific News Service, Nov. 10, 2005)

*Atlas, Candaele, and Dreier, "Florida Gets It Right" (Commonweal, June 3, 2005)

*Feit, "Seattle's Pragmatic Populist" (The Stranger.Com, January 25-31, 2001)

*Walljasper, "Burlington, Northern Light" (Nation, May 19, 1997)

*Toobin, "Drawing the Line: Will Tom Delay’s Redistricting in Texas Cost Him His Seat?" (New Yorker, March 6, 2006)

*Bai, "Who Lost Ohio?" (NYT Magazine, (November 21, 2004)

*Bai, "Machine Dreams," NYT Magazine, August 21, 2005)

*Rosin, "People Powered: In New Hampshire, Howard Dean’s Campaign Has Energized Voters" (Washington Post, Dec. 9, 2003)

Kahn, Organizing, Ch. 17 (Politics)

*Moberg, "Obama’s Third Way" (Shelterforce, Spring 2007)

*Moberg, "The Unions’ Man?" (In These Times, August 2007)

*Dreier, "Lobbying for Peace" (The Nation, Feb. 10, 2003)

*Kest, "Gaining Ground by Holding Back" (Shelterforce, March/April 1997)

*Burton and Schwadel, "Greenpeace is Battling Slide in Contributions and Political Clout" (Wall Street Journal, March 3, 1993)

*Dolan, "Environmental Activists Adapt to Insider Role" (LAT, March 23, 1993)

*Dreier, "Ray Flynn's Legacy: American Cities and the Progressive Agenda" (National Civic Review, Fall 1993)

*Gertner, "What Is a Living Wage?" (NYT, Jan. 15, 2006)

*Greenhouse, "Maryland Is First State to Require Living Wage" (NYT, May 9, 2007)

*Malanga, "How the Living Wage Sneaks Socialism Into Cities" (City Journal, Winter 2003)

*"Business Takes a Beating," LA Business Journal, March 24, 1997)

*Articles on LAX living wage campaign:

Bobo, OSC, Ch. 1 (Introduction) and Ch. 3 (Choosing an Issue)

Kahn, Organizing, Ch. 5 (Issues)

*Tobar, "Housing Laws No Cure for Slums' Ills" (LAT, July 20, 1997)

*Stewart, "Homeless Advocates Sue LA Over Downtown Plan" (LAT, Aug. 21, 2002)

*Rivera, "Staples Center's Displaced Have New Homes and New Worries" (LAT, Oct. 9, 1999)

*Rivera, "Morrison Hotel Hit with Tenant Suit" (LAT, Dec. 22, 2004)

*Hamburger, "EPA Puts Mandated Lead-Paint Rules on Hold" (LAT, May 10, 2005)

*Barringer, "California Air is Clearer, But Troubles Remain" (NYT, Aug 3, 2005)

*Lopez, "Fewer Fire Inspections Conducted in Inner City" (LAT, Oct. 8, 1993)

*Groves, "Sidewalks Smooth for Well-Heeled" (LAT, July 30, 2006)

*Mozingo, "Residents Want Action After Fatal Accident on Figueroa" (LAT, Oct. 18, 1998)

*McGreevy, "Question of Race Profiling Unanswered" (LAT, July 12, 2006)

*Peterson, "US Data Reveal Loan Rate Disparity" (LAT, Sept. 14, 2005)

*Streitfeld, "Foreclosures in State Hit Record High" (LAT, July 25, 2007)

*Bustillo and Morain, "Panel Backs Raise in State Minimum Wage" (LAT, Aug. 18, 2000)

*Greenhouse, "Among Janitors, Labor Violations Go with the Job" (NYT, July 13, 2005)

*Greenhouse, "Hotel Rooms Get Plusher, Adding to Maids’ Injuries" ( NYT, April 21, 2006)

Bobo, OSC, Ch. 4 (Strategy), Ch. 5 (Tactics), Ch. 7 (Actions),Ch. 8 (Accountability Sessions)

Kahn, Organizing, Ch. 8 (Strategy), Ch. 10 (Tactics)

*Cleeland, "Missteps Hurt Union in Supermarket Strike" (LAT, Feb. 11, 2004)

*Dreier, "Grocery Union Gets It Bagged" (LA Daily News, July 26, 2007)

*Haugh, "The New Union Strategy: Turning the Community Against YOU" (Hospitals and Health Networks, May 2006)

*"A Win for the Working Poor: The Moral Minimum Wage Campaign" (Industrial Areas Foundation)

*Lassen and Adamson, "Erasing the Red Line" (From CTWO manual)

*Sabert, "From Moral Majority to Organized Minority: Tactics of the Religious Right" (Christian Century, August 11-18, 1993)

*Dreyfuss, "Reform Gets Rolling: Campaign Finance at the Grassroots" (American Prospect, July/August 1999)

*Cleeland, "Farm Workers Urge Davis to Sign Binding Arbitration Bill" (LAT, August 11, 2002)

*Jones, "History Echoes As Farm Workers Rally for Bill" (LAT, Aug. 26, 2002)

*Hirsch, "Ahmanson Ranch Protestors Turn Up the Heat on Sizzler Chairman" (LAT, Jan. 1, 2003)

*Richman and Kawano, "Neighborhood Information is Not Just for Experts" (Shelterforce, Sept./October 2000)

Bobo, OSC, Ch. 14 (Using the Media)

Kahn, Organizing, Ch. 12 (Communication) and Ch. 13 (Media)

MoveOn.Org, 50 Ways to Love Your Country, Ch. 3, The Many Faces of the Media

*Candaele, "Teamsters Go For Public's Heart" (LAT, Aug. 17, 1997)

*Ryan, "What's Newsworthy" and "Pegs, Leads, and Bites" (from Ryan, Prime Time Activism)

*"Nonprofits and the Press" (Aspen Institute, June 1999)

*Deterline,"Strategic Publicity and Media Activism" (Extra!, Sept./Oct.1997)

*"New Report Finds Hospitality Workers’ Incomes Too Low for Los Angeles" (press release, National Economic Development & Law Center, August 17, 2004)

*Model press advisory and model press release (from Fighting Toxics)

*"Organizing a Media Event"

Tuesday, Sept. 11 – Lunch speakers:
Lydia Avila-Hernandez ‘05 (East LA Community Corp)
Regina Clemente ‘03 (Planned Parenthood - LA)

Tuesday, Sept. 18 – Lunch Speaker
Maribeth Larkin (One LA/IAF)

*******
FINAL PAPER

As part of this course, you should keep a journal. Your journal should record your internship activities.

You should take notes on your observations and impressions about the people, the organization, the community, and issues you are dealing with. You should record your own activities -- including the highlights and problems.

Each student in this course is required to write a short paper (15 pages) describing and analyzing your internship and the organization you worked with. The paper should draw on the class materials (readings, films, speakers, exercises) as well as your experiences and your journal. The paper should explain what you learned about community organizing, especially, what are the key elements of effective community organizing and how well the organization met these criteria. 

Your final paper should aim to be objective. That means you should view the organization from a variety of angles and perspectives -- not simply the perspective of your supervisor. You should look at the organization from the perspective of the staff, the board, constituents, allies, targets, and others.

Then you can come to your own conclusion based on having an "outsider's" view of the organization. In order to write this paper, in other words, you will need to talk to people besides your intern supervisor. Your analysis of the organization's strengths and weaknesses should be based on the criteria we have discussed and read about in class. To help you think about these issues, I will put on the course website a chapter called "Getting to Know the Placement Site" from the book The Successful Internship: Transformation and Empowerment in Experiential Learning by H. Frederick Sweitzer and Mary A. King (second edition, Thompson-Brooks/Cole Publishers, 2004). Please read this chapter within the first two weeks of your internship.

The final paper should include an evaluation of the organization and of your internship. Topics should include (but aren't limited to) the following:

o The history of the organization. How it was started and by whom? Why was it started? How and why it has changed since its beginning? What are the organization's missions and goals?

o How is the organization organized? Discuss its budget, staff, board, and sources of funds. Who runs the organization? How does the way it is organized reflected its missions and goals? How does the way it is funded influence what it does?

o How does the organization decide what issues to get involved with? What is the group's overall strategy? How does it decide on strategy and tactics?

o What is the organization's constituency? How does it determine what its constituency is?

o How does the organization deals with such matters as leadership, recruiting and maintaining members, maintaining morale, fundraising, research, and the media?

o What impact does involvement in the organization have on the people -- staff, leaders, members?

o Discuss how your internship fit into the organization's overall activities. Discuss the specific role(s) you played in the organization. Evaluate the pros and cons of your internship.

o Discuss the overall strengths and weaknesses of the organization. Be sure to clarify what criteria you are using.