In the weeks following Hurricane Katrina, community organizers throughout the Gulf Coast region launched innovative strategies for helping affected residents meet their unique needs. Christine Doby, a program officer with Mott’s Pathways Out of Poverty Program, explains in the following Q&A how these “social entrepreneurs” contribute to and shape the field of community organizing. The interview was conducted by Mott Communications Officer Duane Elling.
Mott: What has been the role of organizing in the Gulf Coast community since Hurricane Katrina?
Christine Doby (CD): Organizers have been working to unite members of displaced communities, as well as calling for more effective relief efforts and the participation of low-income people in the rebuilding process.
Affected families should be at the center of activities to develop and implement relief and rebuilding programs, but without solid community organizing, poor and working class voices will be lost. Organizers are making sure that elected officials and the private sector recognize and engage these families instead of simply deciding, even with the best of intentions, what they should want and what they will get.
Mott: These organizers have been described as “social entrepreneurs.” Could you explain this connection for us?
CD: A social entrepreneur is someone who sees what isn’t working and strives to solve it, usually by altering the very systems that contribute to the problem. Community organizing identifies, recruits, trains and mentors these entrepreneurs, though they call them “leaders.” But it's the same idea.
Social entrepreneurs are the opposite of formal bureaucrats, who are efficient in stable situations that require routine responses. But when presented with a new and challenging situation, bureaucracies generally require that line staff turn to someone higher on the decision-making “ladder” to figure out what to do, how to respond. Entrepreneurs, on the other hand, step forward and start doing something about it. And in situations like the Gulf Coast after Katrina, where each day, each hour, brings new challenges, these entrepreneurs are critical.
Many organizers in the region have reacted in an entrepreneurial fashion and their focus has occasionally been at odds with that of bureaucracies working in the area. But these community organizations have been instrumental to making sure that the needs of low-income communities remain at the forefront of discussion.
Mott: How does this capacity for innovation help communities face their concerns, both in an immediate crisis and over a long-term struggle?
CD: In organizing, innovation and community are directly linked. The creativity, the plan, the action, the demand, they all come directly from the community as people struggle together to face a crisis, identify solutions and take responsibility for their lives. And as they see that they have the power to create meaningful change, they become increasingly skilled and confident in their ability to take on additional and more difficult challenges.
Mott: What are the potential implications of this entrepreneurial spirit for creating lasting, systemic change throughout and beyond individual communities?
CD: Among the most important is that these leaders and organizers encourage civic participation, which is vital to a healthy democracy. People who are engaged in analyzing their communities and their needs, and who are central to the development and implementation of solutions, shine a spotlight on the very real power that lies in the country’s grassroots.
As these experiences are shared and spread, action is cultivated in other communities, whether it’s in addressing an immediate crisis like a natural disaster or the longer-term, more acute conditions of crime, poor housing, struggling schools and a lack of jobs.
Mott: How does Mott grantmaking in the area of community organizing reflect an interest in these social entrepreneurs?
CD: Mott is interested in the strength and viability of the voluntary nonprofit sector. This is one of the great successes in American culture: the range, reach and depth of nonprofit organizations that enrich society with ideas, resources and engaged citizens.
These social entrepreneurs are working with others to analyze and identify problems, as well as meaningful solutions. They also hold themselves accountable to their communities, to other leaders and to the clear priorities of the local organizing groups.
Every community has leaders in it -- people with ideas, energy and passion. Organizing brings those leaders together and provides training and experience. Then, like other entrepreneurs, they set out to get things done, not waiting for others to define the boundaries of what is possible.
Additional Resources
- Group moves quickly to reconnect, organize Astrodome residents: The Metropolitan Organization, a Houston-based community group of churches, schools and other organizations, was integrally involved in helping to re-settle 25,000 men, women and children displaced by Hurricane Katrina.
Organizing brings social entrepreneurship to New Orleans: The national headquarters of ACORN, an international organizing network of more than 175,000 members, was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. The New Orleans chapter of ACORN was instrumental in helping to organize assistance to families in New Orleans impacted by the hurricane.
A conversation with Mark Davis, executive director of the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana: Mark Davis was left homeless after Hurricane Katrina. In a conversation with Mott Communications Officer Maggie Jaruzel, Davis talks about the physical and emotional toll Katrina took on the region and its residents. [Note: to download a PDF of the entire conversation click here.]