NPR: Community Organizers Seek Unity, Leverage
NPR reports on community organizers new push to have a strong voice in Washington, D.C.
Pam Fessler reports on NPR's Morning Edition that community organizers are striving to forge a working relationship with the new Obama Administration in order to effect more significant changes at the national level. While many organizing groups focus their work at the state and local levels, there is increased activity among community organizing groups nationwide to forge alliances and direct shared energy at influencing national change.
Fessler quotes Joe Szakos, the Executive Director of the Virginia Organizing Project:
In the past, a lot of elected officials just refused to meet with you. And what we found is we've switched their political calculator a little bit, because there's almost a direct relationship: The more doors you knock on, the easier it's going to be to get that meeting...
They know with one push of an e-mail, you can send out something statewide. All of a sudden, they can't control as much as they could in the past — and they can't hide.
Although the economic downturn is likely to receive the most attention from the new Administration, Fessler asserts, "That doesn't mean these community organizers won't try — they plan to be at the table with everyone else. And the first step is to show Washington they are a power to be reckoned with."
