Does anyone actually know what a community organizer does? ?

Question

These are the people that come in to clean up, help, and rebuild after a hurricane, or a massive flood. They come in to help when a plant or factory closes and the community that remains has lost the bulk of it's jobs. They come in to assist in poverty stricken neighborhoods, run after school programs, and homeless shelters. They come in to assist rebuilding when terrorists attack and wreak havoc on a major metropolitan cities. How do you justify diminishing this service?

Answer 1

I have help out at a homeless shelter and work with kids with disabilities. I guess I'm Ready to be the Pres.

Give me a break. "Community Organizers" are great and will all enjoy it when we help others, but that doesn't mean any of us a qualified to run the free world.

Answer 2

name somthing obambi built,jobs he secured!

Answer 3

Why don't you all keep on believing Obama is being mocked for being a community organizer (which by the way is a vague and inflated term to describe community service which most people like to do without using it as a catapult into public office). If you are interested in what is really going on, the only mocking is that Obama and his supporters think it qualifies him to be president. At the same time those people ripped into Sarah Palin for being a small town mayor. Get a clue. Start paying attention to everything that is going on and stop cherry picking sound bites.

Answer 4

No, community organizer is a nice way of saying troublemaker and rabelrouser.  

Answer 5

Yes!

A 'community organizer,' in Obama-speak, is someone who uses a non-profit organization to gather up homeless and criminal people, get them registered to vote Democrat, and get them to the polls.

Unfortunately, much of what Obama's outfit did is illegal, and is under intense scrutiny by law enforcement!

Let woman of color, Michelle Malkin, give you the specifics below:

Answer 6

I think when anyone mocks Community Organizers it's because they despise the people they try to help.

Answer 7

They must do something right because they p**s off the GOP !!!

Answer 8

This is very commendable stuff. However, how does this grant them executive powers? What executive decisions did he make while in the position?

The point was to say that Obama and the democratic party questioned Sarah Palin's experience as a governor and a mayor, yet Obama's experience is comparable at best.  A community organizer, while a necessary and helpful job, does not qualify as executive experience.

It would be like saying that you could be CEO because you organized your company's picnics.

Answer 9

Sort of like Al Sharpton.

Act like they do something but really, they don't.  And I bet it's funded by government money.

Boy, Tickled Blue below must be really offended Obama has no experience.  He's made up a whole list of dubious "responsibilities," half of which repeat themselves.

Answer 10

Community Organizers try to help lower income people in any way they can; sometimes that means setting up a soup kitchen, or helping to stop a home foreclosure, and sometimes it means winning elections.  A big part of community organizing is setting up political actions to try and force the government, and/or corporations, to pay attention to the little guy.  That's how running for office becomes a natural path for a community organizer.  Obama's time as a community organizer proves that he really does have our best interests in mind when running for office, even when running for the highest office in the land.

I know a lot of community organizers, work with a lot of community organizers, and they work their assess off, a h**l of a lot more than a small town mayor with a desk job. They work 18 hour days, 6 to 7 days a week, and they're on their feet at least 6 hours a day, in the worst neighborhoods you can imagine, putting themselves on the line trying to improve their communities, all for very little pay.Community Organizers are some of the most honorable, decent, and committed, people I've ever met. How dare Palin, and the Republicans, belittle their work? It's insult the entire Black community, to talk about some of the best people in their communities like with such disrespect, and indeed it's an insult America, and to humanity as a whole, because community organizing, is working selflessly for a better America and a better World; it is one of the highest callings any human can give themselves to. How dare she belittle the best qualities of humanity by talking shamelessly about those who commit themselves freely to help others, and ultimately to help us all build a better future?

Anyone CANNOT be a community organizer, most people would wash out of community organizing because it is really hard work for minimal pay.  The best community organizers I've met are qualified to be president, they have impeccable judgment, leadership & conflict resolution skills, but most of all they are perfectly selfless. What I wouldn't give to see one of them in the nation's highest office instead of the reckless, stupid, and selfish, piece of sh*t there now.  A president who was a community organizer will be my dream for a better America come true.

Answer 11

ESSENTIAL DUTIES

The Community Organizing Manager customarily and regularly exercises discretion and independent judgment in the following job duties:

1. Develop and oversee the Community Organizing Department’s annual workplan and budget.

2. Serve as the lead staff to the Community Relations Committee of TNDC’s Board of Directors.

3. Supervise staff, tenant volunteers, and/or interns assigned to the department.

4. Serve as a member of TNDC’s Senior Management Team.

5. Serve on task forces, speak to the media, and otherwise serve as TNDC’s representative.

6. Coordinate and facilitate the exchange of information with, and the participation of, TNDC staff in community development efforts.

7. Provide technical assistance, support, and leadership development to neighborhood groups and residents.

8. Develop and maintain positive working relationships with tenant groups, community agencies, and neighborhood stakeholders and work collaboratively to address short- and mid-range community development goals.

9. Lead outreach, issue cultivation, and leadership development within TNDC’s tenant base, and throughout the community.

10. Help to coordinate and organize community input and support related to community issues.

11. Monitor and actively participate in relevant community meetings.

12. Educate and work with public and elected officials around community issues.

13. Give public testimony to city agencies, civic committees, and neighborhood groups as needed.

14. Inform and advise TNDC Executive Director about key community efforts where the organization could or should take a formal position.

15. Other duties as assigned by Chief Operating Officer or Executive Director.

REQUIRED SKILLS

• Excellent community building skills, public speaking skills.

• Ability to supervise staff and/or volunteers.

• Ability to facilitate meetings.

• Excellent verbal and writing skills.

• Ability to understand and communicate the needs of low-income residents.

• Ability to work independently and within a team structure.

• Able to attend evening meetings and work on weekends.

• Ability to work within, and sensitivity to, a culturally diverse environment.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

• Four-year college degree.

• Two years of organizing or community development experience.

• Two years supervising staff and/or volunteers.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Bilingual and Bi-literate in English and at least one of the following languages: Mandarin/Cantonese, Spanish, Vietnamese, Tagalog.

• Familiarity with the Tenderloin neighborhood.

Answer 12

Obama's a self righteous man, most people who are that way will make it look like they are sincere and care about people, just so they dont look selfish.

Answer 13

You answered your own question.  I think most people do not know what they do.  Obama explained it well in Dreams from My Father.  These people work with local government officials to make communities better. Palin and Giuliani were very ignorant when they mocked Obama for his time as a community organizer.  I'm sure they won't be voting for her (community organizers and their associates).  Here is a good article about community organizers responding to Sarah Palin.

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/04/orga...

Answer 14

Community organizers generally seek to build groups that are democratic in governance, open and accessible to community members, and concerned with the general health of the community rather than a specific interest group.

The three basic types of community organizing are grassroots organizing, faith-based and community organizing, and coalition building. Political campaigns often claim that their door-to-door operations are in fact an effort to organize the community, though often these operations are focused exclusively on voter identification and turn out.

The ideal of grassroots organizing is to build community groups from scratch, develop new leadership where none existed, and otherwise organize the unorganized. It is a values based process where people are brought together to act in the interest of their communities and the common good. It is a strategy that revitalizes communities and allows the individuals to participate and incite social change. It empowers the people directly involved and impacted by the issues being addressed. A network of community organizations that employ this method is National Peoples Action.

Answer 15

Whoopee... Any official can do that... Is that the experience we need to run America? UH NO!!!

Answer 16

They R hacks 4 street gangs, often former members themselves that can't get legitimate jobs, or R doing it out of necessity as a condition of probation or parole !

Answer 17

Gee,

I guess I have been a "Community Organizer" for 30 years!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Guess that means that because I help at the soup kitchen that I am qualified to negotiate with the Russians????

I am more qualified to be President than Obama, the only difference between me and him is:::::

I know I am not qualified....

Peace!

Answer 18

I hope they help people who are down and out.  I admire someone that does that.  I am always for the underdog.  I believe in helping people who are less fortune than I. I don't think was cool to dissed community organizer.  Not everyone is born with a silver spoon in his mouth or marry into money.  :))

Answer 19

Short answer, they help people.  But don't tell the Republicans that.  They seem to think community organizers are something to be scorned and laughed at.  I doubt the people helped by community organizers feel that way.  

Community organizers act as area-wide coordinators of all the programs of different agencies so as best to meet community needs for health and welfare services. They also facilitate self-help programs initiated by local common-interest groups, for example, by training local leaders to analyze and solve the problems of a community. Community organizers work actively, as do other types of social workers, in community councils of social agencies and in community-action groups. At times the role of community organizers overlaps that of the social planners.[

Answer 20

Thank you! IMO pretty much anyone who does community service falls into this community organizer roll. Apparently Republicans are not big on community service.

Answer 21

Someone who builds up a community, usually inner city communities. There is a lot of work to be done in that area. If you ever spent any time in these areas , you might know.

Answer 22

It is just a title given to someone when they are not sure what they do.  It only helps that persons ego and pocketbook.

Answer 23

I am aware of what a community organizer does.  They're generally hard-working, good people.  Does this mean that all community organizers are qualified to be the President of the United States?  No.  All of us have the capabilities to be a community organizer, but not all of us would be able to handle the complicated job of running this country.

Answer 24

Yes,  I was a community organizer while in Peace Corps.  Our work can be small but our impact can be significant.  I found that impacting even one child or family can be profound.

Answer 25

They also help people get off their butts and help themselves rather than waiting for government hand outs. It's about teaching personal responsibility. This idea is what I love most about Obamas message. I thought republicans were all for that kind of stuff...  

Answer 26

They are enablers for people to not care for themselves.