Community Organizing I

I am particularly interested in the Institute because I want to deepen the social action component of my teaching and develop a more intentional structure for students to move from identifying an issue to building power, developing strategy, taking collective action, and reflecting on what they learn in the process. I am also interested in learning alongside faculty from other disciplines who are wrestling with similar questions about how we prepare students to participate meaningfully in democracy and social change.

Community Organization, Planning and Development I (COP & D) is an introduction to the history of community organizing in social work, the basic theories and models of community organizing and change, strategic frameworks utilized by practitioners in the field, and fundamental organizing skills the student will need in their professional roles as a social work practitioners of community organizing. This course has been consistently updated given the unprecedented moment we are now living in—one filled with equal amounts of great peril and great possibility. The quality of organizing that unfolds over the coming years will greatly determine the latter triumphs over the former. Our goal by the end of your time in our program is that you will be well prepared to be a vital participant in that organizing.

Students will explore how to introduce tactical and strategic advantages within their own community-based field settings. Students will have the opportunity to enhance their skills and understanding of the complexity and components of organizing with diverse communities based on geography, issues, identities, and/or positionalities. Models of community organizing will be introduced with a focus on deepening your understanding and utilization of flexible and adroit organizing tactics and strategies capable of immediate mobilization. Special attention will be paid to organizing across and within difference: social issues such as class, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, age and ability in the context of organization are discussed. Students will continue to explore their own background, histories, values, styles, assumptions and experience to enhance self-awareness and tactical use of self in assessment, intervention and evaluation of community change efforts.

The proliferation of the internet and the advent of social media has revolutionized community organizing worldwide. From Occupy Wall Street (Juris, 2012; Tufekci et al., 2013) and the Arab Spring (Howard et al., 2011) to the Black Lives Matter movement (DeFreece & Carney, 2016), social movements are using social media to engage citizens and organize actions. Social media, particularly as accessed through cell phones, has become the preferred coordination tool for social movement mobilization around the world (Shirky, 2011). This course will introduce students to digital organizing and traditional models—both needed by today's organizers.

Mayra Lopez-Humphreys

Associate Professor

Social Work

Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College