SEED Direct Action and Community Organizing 101

DIRECT ACTION AND
COMMUNITY ORGANIZING 101
STUDENT ENGAGEMENT AND
EMPOWERMENT DIRECTIVE

POWER CONCEDES NOTHING WITHOUT A DEMAND. IT NEVER DID AND
IT NEVER WILL. FIND OUT WHAT THE PEOPLE WILL SUBMIT TO, AND
YOU HAVE FOUND THE EXACT AMOUNT OF INJUSTICE AND WRONG
WHICH WILL BE IMPOSED UPON THEM; AND THESE WILL CONTINUE
UNTIL THEY ARE RESISTED WITH EITHER WORDS OR BLOWS, OR
WITH BOTH. THE LIMITS OF TYRANTS ARE PRESCRIBED BY THE
ENDURANCE OF THOSE WHO THEY OPPRESS.
Frederick Douglass

http://bit.ly/2l5Yfn3
WHAT IS ORGANIZING?
▸ Organizing: the process of building power as a group
and using this power to create positive change in our
lives. Organizing has everything to do with power and
shifting relationships of power.
▸ Power: the ability to control our circumstances and make
things happen outside of ourselves.
▸ Collective power: the power that a group has by
working together with a shared interest in achieving a
goal.
1. Throughout history, organizers have played a key role in addressing injustice in our country. From the Civil Rights movement, to the feminist, LGBT and immigrant
rights movements, organizers have come together, created strategies and built collective power to win lasting change.

2. Everyone has power inside themselves—power to make decisions, to act, to think, to create. However, not everyone has equal power to make things happen outside
of our own lives due to inequality of resources and authority. Nevertheless, we can build our own power and the power of our community through organizing.

OUR CAUSE IS RIGHT. DECISION
MAKERS JUST NEED TO
UNDERSTAND THE PROBLEM, AND
THEN THEY’LL FIX IT, RIGHT?
You, probably
Sometimes we think that if our cause is right, we will be able to win easily without building power. We might think that if decision makers just understood the problem
then they would act.

Me, definitely
Unfortunately, in most cases, even if we are right, and those in power know about the issue, they still don’t act. This is because they are being pressured by others not to
act, such as donors who want school funds to be allocated to sports programs instead of a student health center. Most campaigns will require you to be more than right.
You will find that you must build power in order to put pressure on those who can make decisions. Organizing is about figuring out what resources you really need in
order to win change. This could mean you need the votes of members of your student council; chatter on social media; the allegiance of a person with power; or it could
mean building crowd support to disrupt business as usual with direct action (such as a protest). You must identify what you need and then figure out how you can make it
happen.

IDENTIFYING THE CHANGE YOU WANT
▸ Vision: is a clear idea of the world you want to create. It is
based on a set of core values that define a group and what
they are fighting for.
▸ Ex.: Advocates for Youth is a nonprofit organization and
advocacy group dedicated to efforts that help young
people make informed and responsible decisions about
their reproductive and sexual health. Their vision and core
values …
One of the first steps of identifying the change you want is to develop a shared vision. A vision is a clear idea of the world you want to create. It is based on a set of core
values that define a group and what they are fighting for.

RIGHTS. RESPECT. RESPONSIBILITY. (3RS)
▸ RIGHTS: Youth have the inalienable right to accurate and complete
sexual health information, confidential reproductive and sexual
health services, and a secure stake in the future.
▸ RESPECT: Youth deserve respect. Valuing young people means
involving them in the design, implementation, and evaluation of
programs and policies that affect their health and well-being.
▸ RESPONSIBILITY: Society has the responsibility to provide young
people with the tools they need to safeguard their sexual health,
and young people have the responsibility to protect themselves
from unwanted pregnancy, and sexually transmitted infections
including HIV.
These are just an example of the shared values of an organization. To develop your own, you can use these as a launching point and determine if there are ways you want
to adapt it or recreate it to meet the values of your community or group.

While we must be ambitious and dream big to realize our vision for young people’s sexual health and rights in our communities, we also must recognize that we cannot
address all of the problems we see at one time. So the first step we must take is to think through what we want to tackle first.

KEY QUESTIONS WHEN DETERMINING WHAT PROBLEMS TO ADDRESS
▸ What problems are you most angry about?
▸ Do other people share your anger and frustration?
▸ Can you think of a concrete solution for this problem? Is
this solution feasible?
▸ Will this solution make a lasting change in people’s lives?
Does it alter the system that is creating the problem?
1. It is important that you seek to address a problem that impacts people’s lives in a direct and signiﬁcant way. The more deeply we feel an injustice (often through anger), the more likely people will be willing
to take action to address the problem.

2. The more people that are directly aﬀected by the problem or that share your concern, the more people you will be able to motivate to take action.

3. If you cannot name a concrete solution, you will be unable to organize towards a change that will address the problem. It is also important that your solution is possible. The more able you are to convince
people that your solution is feasible, the more likely people will commit their time and energy to working toward making change. (For example, sometimes students say that they are really angry about
patriarchy, but a clear winnable solution to patriarchy is hard to name. Instead, if we identify sexual violence is a problem on campus, then we can identify solutions such as demanding improvements to the
sexual assault policy on campus, or requiring training for all incoming students on sexual assault and consent.)

4. It is important to consider if the change you are aiming toward will make a lasting impact in people’s lives or will the community go back to how life was before you started this campaign. One way to
ensure lasting success is to address underlying power structures (who has power in a situation and the systems which reinforce that individual’s or group’s power).

The problem tree is a great tool to use with your group to better understand the concerns you see in your community and where you should concentrate your organizing efforts to create
lasting change. A deeper understanding of the problems you see in your community will help you determine a solution that does not simply address the symptoms, but rather the
underlying power structures that support the problems.

1. Leaves are the visible and tangible parts of the problem. In other words, they are the symptoms. For example, high STI rates, high rates of unintended pregnancies, violence against
LGBTQ people, high rates of sexual assault in the community, etc.

2. When answering this question, think about some reasons these problems exist. Is there a policy banning condom access in your school? Does your school teach abstinence-only
programming rather than comprehensive sex education? Is there a lack of training for students, professors, and campus police on gender-based violence? Think about what structures
are keeping these problems in place and that if they were changed would have a long term impact on your community.

3. Some examples of root causes are racism, classism, homophobia, sexism, ageism, and discomfort with or fear of sexuality.

Your organizing efforts should be focused on challenging the programs, practices and policies you listed under the trunk. If you only address the leaves, you will only create band-aid
solutions. It is difficult to address the roots because they are based in a long history of deep rooted injustices. Cutting off the problems at the trunk is your best opportunity to defeat the
problems in your community.

IDENTIFYING YOUR DEMANDS
demand (n.) - a specific policy change or action
that you seek to win from a decision-maker.

TO MAKE STRONG DEMANDS, MAKE THEM S.M.A.R.T.
▸ Specific: It is important that your demands are as specific as
possible so that you are in control of defining success.
▸ Measurable: It is important that you establish concrete criteria for
measuring progress to attaining each demand.
▸ Attainable: Is your demand something someone can actually
agree to?
▸ Realistic: A demand must be something you are both willing and
able to work toward.
▸ Timely: Your demands should be grounded within a timeframe.
1. For example, if you demand that your student health center provides free HIV testing, the school could meet your demands by providing free testing one time a year. A more specific demand could be
that the student health center should provide free HIV testing twice a week—once before and once during school hours. Creating specific demands requires that you do some research to understand
how to best meet the needs of your community, but it ensures you have the most control of defining how the success of your campaign will be implemented.

2. Setting measurable benchmarks will help you stay on track and be able to clearly articulate how you are moving toward achieving your demands.

3. For example, demanding an end to sexual violence in your community is an important vision but not a concrete demand. No one can be held accountable for taking action. Instead a more attainable and
specific demand would be to demand your principal take action by implementing and enforcing a specific sexual assault policy, or mandating all students and staff go through sexual assault and consent
training. While it is true that neither of those demands alone will end all sexual violence in your community, they are attainable and measurable actions for which someone can be held accountable.

4. This does not mean you should think small. In fact, more people are often willing to work towards demands that are harder but will have a greater impact on your community.

5. One of the best tactics of decision makers to avoid your demands is to delay them. Instead of rejecting your demands, most decision makers will attempt to calm you by saying they need time to consider,
ideally long enough that you stop caring and move on. Therefore, it is extremely important that you state your demands are met by a certain date. This creates a sense of urgency that is crucial for winning.

Creating S.M.A.R.T demands forces organizers to cut the issue in a way that they can design a tangible and winnable campaign. Sometimes this might feel like you are minimizing the problem and not
addressing the entire issue. While this is true in some respects, because one campaign cannot erase the deep rooted historical injustices and oppressions demonstrated in the problem tree, creating
S.M.A.R.T. demands will set your campaign up for a tangible success that can win real change in people’s lives and move your community one step closer to addressing the underlying injustices.

CREATING A STRATEGY
strategy (n.) - the method of building enough power
to influence a decision-maker to give you what you
want
Creating a strategy is essential because it will help you understand how each action you take will move you toward winning your demands. A strategy is diﬀerent from a
plan because it involves power and relationships. Ex.: planning a social event vs. getting your school to change their non-discrimination policy to be more inclusive.

8YOUTHACTIVIST’STOOLKIT
DEMANDS TARGETS
CURRENT
RESOURCES
POTENTIAL
SUPPORTERS TACTICS
Demands are specific
measurable things we
want to WIN!
1. List the demands of
your campaign?
2. What short-term or
partial victories can you
win as steps toward
reaching your overall
campaign demands?
How will the campaign:
Win concrete
improvements in
people’s lives?
Give people a sense
of their own power?
Alter the relations of
power?
Primary target:
The person who has
the power to give you
what you want. (The
decision maker) A target
is always a person, never
an institution.
Understanding your
target:
What opposing pressure
does your target face to
not give you what you
want?
Secondary target:
The person(s) that have
power of your target?
What power do you
have over the secondary
target?
What we have:
List the resources
that your organization
brings to the campaign.
Include: skills of
group members,
connections to student
and community
organizations, funding.
What we need:
List the specific things
you need to do to
develop the campaign.
Expand leadership of
group
Build membership
base
Develop media plan
Develop campaign
strategy
Develop media/
messaging campaign
Develop fundraising
plan etc.
Who cares about this
issue enough to join or
help us?
Who has the skills that
you need to win the
campaign?
How will you reach out
to potential supporters?
(for instance: table
on campus, hold
membership meetings,
host social events,
present at other club
meetings, canvass
the dorms, talk to
professors, etc.)
Tactics are actions taken
to move your target to
give you what you want
(your demands).
Tactics must:
Demonstrate your power
while simultaneously build
your power.
Be within the comfort
zone of your group, but
outside comfort zone of
your tactic.
Be directed toward your
primary or secondary
target
Moves you closer to
reaching your demands.
Example of tactics:
Petitions
Public Hearings
Negotiations
Rallies
Marches
Sit Ins
Strikes
Adapted from Midwest Academy
STRATEGY CHART
See page 32 for a blank worksheet you
can fill in as your own strategy chart.

POWER ANALYSIS: IDENTIFYING KEY PLAYERS AND
DETERMINING YOUR STRATEGY
Key players in your campaign are those who hold the
decision-making power to give you what you want, those
who can inﬂuence the decision-maker, and those who could
help build your power to inﬂuence the decision-maker.

KEY PLAYERS
▸ Primary target: the person or people who can give you
what you want. In other words, the decision-maker.
▸ Secondary target: a person who has more power over the
primary decision-maker than you and you have greater
influence over this person than over the primary target.
1. Sometimes it will take a little investigative research to determine who has the power to make decisions about your issue. It is important that the target is a person (or group of
people), not an institution (like a college or university). Individuals are far easier to move than any institution. It is also important to remember that your target is not your enemy.
Rather the person/people that you want to direct your organizing efforts toward in order to move them to make the change you want. Painting your target as your enemy will not
necessarily help you win your campaign. Winning will require that your target agree to your demands, which is more likely if they can also look like they won in the end. In other
words, if you win, your target doesn’t need to lose.

2. Ex.: there might be a teacher at your school that is more responsive to the needs of the students or more sympathetic to your cause and might have more power to influence the
principal. If you have more power to influence this person, s/he might be a good secondary target. Other secondary targets might be a major donor, a local elected official that
supports your efforts, or a respected religious leader in your community, etc. If you think you have a better chance at moving your secondary target to move your primary target to give
you what you want, you might want to focus your efforts on this strategy.

KEY PLAYERS, CONT’D
▸ Constituency: the people directly impacted by the issue
you are organizing around.
▸ Allies: the people and organizations that can help you get
what you want.
1. These are your core group of people. Constituents have the most to win if change is achieved. From within this group, it is important to identify trusted leaders who
can help shape and lead the campaign, as well as the skills and resources your group can help bring to the campaign.

2. Allies are generally supportive of your mission and could be encouraged to advocate publicly on your behalf. It is important to identify potential allies that have
inﬂuence over your target that you could move to

3. be more supportive of your cause. It is also helpful to have some unlikely allies, those who might be perceived not to support your cause but come out vocally in
support. Having unlikely allies can often open the minds of potential new supporters and show how your mission would beneﬁt the entire community, not just the core
constituents.

4.

POWER MAPPING
Once you have identiﬁed the key players, your next objective is to assess their level of support for your demands and the amount of power they have by putting them on
a power map. By mapping where people currently stand, you will be able to craft 
a strategy of moving key players to being more supportive of your demands. Now that you have a sense of where the key players currently stand, you want to devise a
strategy to build the power of your supporters and move key decision makers

toward supporting your demands. In other words, on the power map you want to shift people towards agreeing to your demands (left) and build your power (top).

NEXT WORKSHOP:
KNOW YOUR RIGHTS
Sunday, March 25th

SEED Direct Action and Community Organizing 101

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