Empowering a community takes more than organizing and mobilizing its people; it takes a simple, yet radical, notion that consensus can be reached by creating mutual self interest between key individuals in the community and players of interest. In Consensus Organizing: Building Communities of Mutual Self Interest, author Mike Eichler shows how even poor and disempowered communities can achieve lasting results by implementing some key consensus organizing strategies. Through personal, lively, and relevant examples, Eichler takes the reader on a road trip through various communities and shows how collectively they were able to reach lasting results by finding key areas where consensus could be reached. Key features: The author shares his twenty-five years of experience as a community organizer, including the development of a national effort to train young people as consensus organizers in diverse locations such as Las Vegas, New Orleans, and New York City. Demonstrates how consensus organizing can be applied to a variety of settings, including public education, housing, economic development, health and crime. Gives readers the opportunity to learn more about themselves: It helps students to see the other side of any situation and understand how common ground can be achieved. It is written in a student-friendly, conversational manner, which will make students feel as if they have taken a journey with the author, struggled with the various communities, won the victories with the disempowered, and had a few laughs along the way. Intended audience: This book can be used as a core textbook for courses in community organizing and as a supplemental volume in various macro social work courses on community practice. It can also be used in departments of social work, urban planning, public administration, and public health.
Mike Eichler is Professor of Social Work at San Diego State University where he is also Director of the Consensus Organizing Center. He has an extensive background in community organizing and development in numerous cities including Chattanooga, Atlanta, Boston, Fort Worth, Kansas City and San Diego. He is a former President of the Consensus Organizing Institute (COI) a national non-profit that trains local organizers, develops programs and provides strategic assistance to organizations working on a wide range of community agendas using Consensus Organizing techniques.
Introduction Ch 1. Community Organizing: Conflict and Consensus Ch 2. Evolution of Consensus Organizing Ch 3. Issues Analysis Ch 4. Program Design Ch 5. Cultural Competency in Consensus Organizing Ch 6. Consensus Organizing Strategy and Tactics Ch 7. Developing External Relationships Ch 8. Forming Partnerships Ch 9. Building Personal Relationship Ch 10.Building Institutional Relationships Ch 11. Developing Young Organizers Ch 12. Using Consensus Organizing in Other Professions Ch 13. The Future of Consensus Organizing "Answers" to Reflection Questions Epilogue
"Eichler's new book is a very engaging summary of the consensus method of organizing which he pioneered. Not only is the book informative, but it reads like an extended chat over a hot cup of coffee in Mitchell's diner in the Mon Valley. Eichler's voice in this text is impassioned, analytical, and humorous all at once. He has mastered the art of conveying complicated ideas through the use of memorable and enthralling stories. Eichler has a story teller's eye for just the right details to make the reader feel as though one is on a journey through the multi-faceted terrain of organizing, yet he never strays far from the lesson he intends to convey. Eichler also has a passion for social justice, but he does not come off as being preachy or ideological. This has been one of the keys to his success in organizing." -- C. Matthew Hawkins * Customer Review *
