Active Outline

General Information

Course ID (CB01A and CB01B)
POLID060A
Course Title (CB02)
Introduction to Community Organizing
Course Credit Status
Credit - Degree Applicable
Effective Term
Fall 2023
Course Description
Community organizing efforts by people working together to improve their campuses, neighborhoods, and cities is the focus of this course. The course prepares students at an introductory level to become professional organizers, campus leaders, and effective citizen advocates. The introductory history, theory, and different approaches to grassroots community organizing sometimes using selected case studies as illustration will be explored. Ideas from the current context for organizing, the impact of social change theories, organizing strategies, tools and new methodologies used in community organizing will be analyzed and then applied. (Off campus field trips may be required.)
Faculty Requirements
Course Family
Not Applicable

Course Justification

This course will be taken as part of the Political Science Department community organizing class series and meets a General Education requirement for °®¶¹´«Ã½. It is CSU transferable. This course belongs on the ICCE Leadership and Social Change Certificate of Achievement. This course introduces students to key concepts, theories, and challenges in community, labor, and campus organizing. This course is cross-listed.

Foothill Equivalency

Does the course have a Foothill equivalent?
No
Foothill Course ID

Course Philosophy

Formerly Statement

Course Development Options

Basic Skill Status (CB08)
Course is not a basic skills course.
Grade Options
  • Letter Grade
  • Pass/No Pass
Repeat Limit
0

Transferability & Gen. Ed. Options

Transferability
Transferable to CSU only
°®¶¹´«Ã½ GEArea(s)StatusDetails
2GDX°®¶¹´«Ã½ GE Area D - Social and Behavioral SciencesApproved
2GES°®¶¹´«Ã½ GE - Environment Sustainability and Global CitizenshipApproved
CSU GEArea(s)StatusDetails
CGDYCSU GE Area D - Social SciencesApproved

Units and Hours

Summary

Minimum Credit Units
4.0
Maximum Credit Units
4.0

Weekly Student Hours

TypeIn ClassOut of Class
Lecture Hours4.08.0
Laboratory Hours0.00.0

Course Student Hours

Course Duration (Weeks)
12.0
Hours per unit divisor
36.0
Course In-Class (Contact) Hours
Lecture
48.0
Laboratory
0.0
Total
48.0
Course Out-of-Class Hours
Lecture
96.0
Laboratory
0.0
NA
0.0
Total
96.0

Prerequisite(s)

Corequisite(s)

Advisory(ies)

EWRT D001A or EWRT D01AH or ESL D005.

Limitation(s) on Enrollment

(Not open to students with credit in the cross-listed course(s).)

(Also listed as SOSC D060A.)

Entrance Skill(s)

General Course Statement(s)

(See general education pages for the requirements this course meets.)

Methods of Instruction

Lecture and visual aids

Discussion of assigned reading

Discussion and problem solving performed in class

In-class exploration of Internet sites

Homework and extended projects

Field observation and field trips

Guest speakers

Collaborative learning and small group exercises

Collaborative projects

Assignments

  1. Read and critically engage with books and articles as assigned.
  2. Writing:
    1. A series of analytical pieces that build parts of a community organizing plan at an introductory level.
    2. Develop talking points or other document for engaging media as part of a community organizing plan at an introductory level..
    3. A series of analytical pieces that build parts of a community organizing power map at an introductory level.
  3. Participation:
    1. Engagement in classroom activities and discussions.
    2. Active involvement with ongoing projects associated with the community organizing issues chosen by the class.

Methods of Evaluation

  1. Short papers or oral reports that will assess students ability to define, describe and explain the perspective of the discipline of Political Science, especially as it applies to the role of community organizing in the discipline and/or compare and contrast the history and contemporary situation of community organizing, especially within the context of campus and neighborhood constituencies, including people of color, immigrants, gender-based, sexuality-based, and class-based constituent groups. .
  2. Group collaborative learning assignments that will assess student's ability to examine, compare and integrate diverse strategies in bringing about social and political change and/or identify, compare and contrast contemporary models and methods of mass and individual communication and "messaging" for community organizing.
  3. Self-Assessment and Peer Assessment tools that assess students ability to identify and evaluate various strategies for volunteer and leadership recruitment, deployment, development and retention.
  4. Comprehensive cumulative project and/or portfolio that will provide final overall assessment of students ability to identify key steps in creating an overall community organizing campaign.

Essential Student Materials/Essential College Facilities

Essential Student Materials: 
  • None.
Essential College Facilities:
  • None.

Examples of Primary Texts and References

AuthorTitlePublisherDate/EditionISBN
Bill Lofy & Wellstone Action, Politics the Wellstone Way (Minneapolis: University of MN Press, 2005)
Steve Phillips, Brown is the New White (The New Press: NY, New York, 2018)
Kim Bobo, Jackie Kendall, and Steve Max, Organizing for Social Change: Midwest Academy Manual for Activists, 4th Ed (The Forum Press, 2010)

Examples of Supporting Texts and References

AuthorTitlePublisher
Marjorie Minkler, ed., Community Organizing and Community Building for Health and Welfare, 3rd ed. (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers, 2012)
Randy Shaw, The Activist's Handbook: Winning Social Change in the 21st century (UC Press: Berkeley, 2013)

Learning Outcomes and Objectives

Course Objectives

  • Define, describe and explain the perspectives of the social science disciplines, especially as they apply to the role of community organizing at a beginning level.
  • Compare and contrast the history and contemporary situation of community organizing, especially within the context of campus and neighborhood constituencies, including people of color, immigrants, gender-based, sexuality-based, and class-based constituent groups at a beginning level.
  • Identify, compare, and contrast diverse strategies in bringing about social and political change at a beginning level.
  • Identify, compare and contrast contemporary models and methods of mass and individual communication and "messaging" for community organizing at a beginning level.
  • Identify and evaluate various strategies for volunteer and leadership recruitment, deployment, development and retention at a beginning level.
  • Identify and formulate key steps in creating an overall community organizing campaign at a beginning level.

CSLOs

  • Evaluate community organizing processes and outcomes at an introductory level.

  • Assess how individuals and groups can affect community organizing processes and outcomes at an introductory level.

  • Demonstrate the capacity to participate effectively in community organizing at an introductory level.

Outline

  1. Define, describe and explain the perspectives of the social science disciplines, especially as they apply to the role of community organizing at a beginning level.
    1. Social Science as the study of people as members of society and the study of social structures/institutions.
    2. Political Science as an examination of: institutional power structures and the nature of social authority; the universal need for social mechanisms to determine the legitimate distribution of societal resources and burdens ("who gets what, when and how") and the resulting tendency for conflict in human affairs; and the variety of social, economic, and governmental institutions, movements and activities that seek to respond to and sometimes to resolve political conflict.
    3. Education and Leadership Development Studies as an aid in: forming a nuanced and integrative understanding of traditional leadership theories and critical perspectives; understanding organizations as complex, social and bureaucratic systems within a larger political environment; producing knowledge and interventions that build the capacity within schools, communities, and organizations to work towards justice; and developing competency as leaders by practicing reflexivity and self-awareness grounded in a social justice orientation.
    4. Women's Studies as an examination of power and gender roles and how they vary for women, men and non-binary people of different racial, ethnic, class and sexuality groups; an examination of the varying positions of women in society, emphasizing the diverse nature of women's experiences, including an investigation of family, work, beauty images, social movements and the media; and a multi-faceted discipline including such diverse perspectives as: liberal feminism, socialist feminism, ecofeminism, radical feminism, and multisystems feminism.
    5. Environmental Studies as a multidisciplinary academic field which systematically studies human interaction with the environment in the interests of solving complex problems.
    6. Psychological and Social Psychological approaches to individual, social, and institutional behavior.
    7. Sociological methodologies such as macro- and micro- institutional analysis.
    8. Economic analysis that explores the micro and macro systems for the production, allocation and distribution of social and material resources.
    9. Jurisprudential approaches which examine formal and informal systems of law, regulation, and social control.
    10. Historical methodologies which explore and interpret the development of human events over time.
  2. Compare and contrast the history and contemporary situation of community organizing, especially within the context of campus and neighborhood constituencies, including people of color, immigrants, gender-based, sexuality-based, and class-based constituent groups at a beginning level.
    1. Compare and contrast the history and contemporary situation of student community organizing
    2. Compare and contrast the history and contemporary situation of community organizing among people of color, with particular attention to the civil rights movement and the current immigrants rights movement.
    3. Compare and contrast the history and contemporary situation of gender-based and sexuality-based community organizing.
    4. Compare and contrast the history and contemporary situation of issue-based community organizing with particular attention to the environmental sustainability movement.
  3. Identify, compare, and contrast diverse strategies in bringing about social and political change at a beginning level.
    1. Appraise the value of grassroots engagement in the electoral arena on a community's ability to effectively advocate for community interests.
    2. Appraise the value of popular grassroots community organizing on a community's ability to effectively advocate for community interests.
  4. Identify, compare and contrast contemporary models and methods of mass and individual communication and "messaging" for community organizing at a beginning level.
    1. Examine the importance of understanding the audience with whom one is trying to communicate and how to connect with this audience.
    2. Examine the effectiveness of personal and public narrative in communicating a message both for the recruitment and retention of volunteers as well as for conveying a political message to a mass public.
  5. Identify and evaluate various strategies for volunteer and leadership recruitment, deployment, development and retention at a beginning level.
    1. Learn to prioritize recruitment efforts through identification of most likely prospects in strategically important constituencies.
    2. Recognize the importance of one-to-one personal contact and relationship building.
    3. Identify various leadership and work "styles" such as task leadership, strategic leadership, vision leadership, process leadership, etc
  6. Identify and formulate key steps in creating an overall community organizing campaign at a beginning level.
    1. Recognize the value of identifying long-term goals & short-term strategic and tactical objectives in building effective community organizing campaigns.
    2. Identify, assess and develop resources (sometimes also called "strategic capacity") available within ones community that can be deployed to recruit, educate, inspire and mobilize citizen advocates and organizers to influence the outcomes of community organizing campaigns.
    3. Identify and assess various methods of creating a long-term "culture of organizing" within ones community.
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