What is congregation-based community organizing?

Dart and other Congregation-based community organizations are in  the process of building power to hold society's political and economic systems accountable for justice. The fundamental problem addressed by these organizations is the disparity of power faced by persons in low-to-moderate income communities. "The absence of broad-based, democratic organizations in these communities denies them the opportunity to successfully solve their own problems," according to the DART leaders. This same theme is generally espoused by the other community organizations, such as the Gamaliel Foundation, http://www.gamaliel.org/default.htm ,PICO, http://www.piconetwork.org/  , IAF,  www.industrialareasfoundation.org , Jewish Fund for Justice www.jfjustice.org and others.

The systemic issues facing most of these communities are the pervasiveness of low-wage, non-benefit jobs; disparities in health care, public education, and safety; and the persistent ineffectiveness on the part of public and private structures in delivering services equitably to all people. These issues are rooted in each organization's long-term goal of building power to achieve a greater degree of justice in their community.

In our society, power stems from two sources; Concentrated money and organized people. Low-to-moderate income people are without significant amounts of money. Therefore, their potential for successfully addressing political and economic injustices is contingent on their ability to organize and mobilize large numbers of people bound together by common values and interests.

Values-Based

Organizations, such as DART and others, seek to promote core values like justice, fairness, love, and respect. For many of those involved in congregation-based community organizing these values stem from our great religious faith traditions. For instance, Christians, Jews, and Muslims all lift up love as one of their most fundamental values. Three of the Gospels instruct Christians to both love God with all their heart and to love their neighbor as they love themselves. These instructions are also given to the Jews in Leviticus 19:18 and 34 of the Hebrew Bible. The Holy Koran similarly shares, "If one of you truly believe, unless your love for your brother is what you love for yourself." For many major world religions, love is indeed the great commandment. This shared value for loving our neighbor as we love ourselves requires fairness and justice. And fairness and justice in the public arena requires power.

(The basic information above "What is Community Organizing?" has been gleaned from the DART organization...see their information below and  several other organizing organizations...)

A DART organization is where people can achieve their dreams for social, racial, and economic justice. Each local organization in the DART Network has its own leaders, staff, funding base, and accomplishments toward justice at the local level. Unpaid leaders from the local community make the decisions and ultimately run these organizations. Organizing staff provides the facilitation, training, and leadership development needed to make it happen. Recent victories include education reform, affordable housing investments, fair immigration policies, job training programs, and dozens of others. Local DART organizations are supported by the DART Center, Inc. based in Miami.           The DART Center of Miami, Florida was founded in 1982. The DART Center builds            and develops strong community organizations, while also training and           recruiting new organizers. Currently, DART staff members are working to: develop new organizations, train and develop new immigrant organizing and leadership development, conduct national trainings, provide local consultation, and train new organizers through the DART Organizers Institute. DART seeks to provide a vehicle for communities in low-moderate income areas to act powerfully through large, congregation-based direct action organizations. Members of these organizations meet face-to-face with decision-makers. Using the power of their numbers, they come together in the public eye to make demands and get commitments on issues that their members have identified. Listed below is a brief description of some key characteristics of congregation-based community organizations: