Case Study #4: Developing a Faith-Based CO Organization

CASE STUDY #4: DEVELOPING A FAITH-BASED CO ORGANIZATION

CO at Work: Lessons from The Gamaliel Foundation on How to Build a Faith-Based CO Group.

Faith-based CO organizations are most often developed in local communities by one of the national CO networks, though some local groups have emerged on their own. A few of the latter remain independent of networks, while most have sought and obtained affiliate or membership status with one of the networks.

Each network follows a similar process in developing local faith-based organizations and in according them affiliate status. The Gamaliel Foundation's process, which has been used in the development of some 40 affiliates and sponsoring committees across the country, normally takes a year or more to complete. It builds local commitment to and "ownership" of the organization from the very beginning. The steps that groups must follow in Gamaliel's process are listed below.

• Recruit a minimum of 20 congregations (generally emphasizing those serving low-income communities and communities of color), form a multiracial and ecumenical sponsoring committee, and raise $100,000.
• Hire in concert with Gamaliel a professional organizer to guide its work.
• Assure that the organizer meets with every pastor and 10 laypersons from each congregation to learn about each congregation and to identify potential leaders.
• Bring three to five leaders from each congregation to a weekend retreat to study the basic concepts of organizing.
• Have each core leader who goes through the retreat recruit another 15 - 100 leaders in his or her congregation.
• Have this expanded team of 300 - 800 leaders go through four hours of training in conducting "one-on-one" interviews with congregation members.
• Over a six-week period, visit anywhere from 150 - 1,500 people within each congregation.
• Hold a large convention⁴⁴ in which participants choose four top priority issues and commit themselves to working on one of them.
• Have up to 300 leaders go through another four-hour training, this time to learn how to conduct one-on-ones with public officials, professors, agency heads and business CEOs.
• Assure that the leaders spend eight weeks conducting one-on-ones with public officials.

After all of these steps are taken, the group holds its first public "action," often with more than 1,000 people taking part. The group presents clear problems and solutions to politicians, agency heads and corporate leaders. The goal of the "action" is to win allies and gain recognition for the group.⁴⁵

Other organizations play significant roles at the national level in assisting CO organizations. Among them:

• The Grassroots Policy Project, Washington, D.C. - trains environmental and economic justice groups for increased participation in the political process;
  
• The National Center for Schools and Communities, New York City - research, training and other assistance to catalyze and strengthen school reform and community-building CO groups and strategies;
  
• Enlace, Portland, Oregon - strengthening and expanding the base for low-wage worker organizing;
  
• The Progressive Technology Project, Washington, D.C. - making effective use of computer technology, the Internet, and other rapidly evolving technologies and communications vehicles for organizing and change; and
• The Grass Roots Innovative Policy Program, Roanoke, Virginia - builds greater capacity and linkages for policy impact by CO groups.