By DUANE M. ELLING
When the husband and wife team of Joe Szakos and Kristin Layng Szakos began working on their book, We Make Change, they knew right away that its format would be unique. Joe had interviewed 81 community organizers from around the country, exploring the reasons behind their career choice and their experiences in the field. As Kristen began working with the resulting transcripts, it soon became apparent that the stories needed to be shared in the words of those who told them.
“The book recounts those narratives in the organizers’ own voices,” said Joe. “I think it makes their incredible experiences all the more real.”
In the following Q&A, Joe -- himself a community organizer and current executive director of the Virginia Organizing Project -- discusses the new book and his own insights into the field of organizing. The interview was conducted by Mott Communications Officer Duane Elling.
Mott: What prompted you to write “We Make Change”?
Joe Szakos (JS): About five years ago, I was at a library and asked the staff if they had any resources about careers in community organizing. While they had books on jobs in many different fields, organizing wasn’t one of them. I went home, looked online and found many resources about organizing as a strategy for social action, but still really nothing about the people who were actually helping communities to do that work.
That highlighted for me an important gap in the knowledge base about the field. Organizers don’t often talk about why we do what we do, the motivation behind the work. We focus our conversations on actions and issues. But to keep those efforts moving into the future we also need to recruit new organizers, both young people who are exploring possible careers and experienced professionals who are looking to change jobs.
Our mission with We Make Change is to support the development of that infrastructure by creating a better understanding of what a community organizer is and to spotlight organizing as a viable and meaningful career.
Mott: How did you go about collecting material for the book?
JS: When I attended regional or national meetings, I would ask organizers to talk about their work and what it means to them. Sometimes they hesitated, thinking that I wanted their views about the campaigns they were working on.
Keep in mind that organizers are trained to insure that, when it comes to campaigns or issues, the voices heard are those of the local leaders and organizations. It’s the organizer’s job to help communities find their voice, not to speak for them.
So I would tell them, “No, I want to hear about you, about your career as an organizer and why others might find this kind of work rewarding.” That excited them because they want people to know what organizing is all about, they want to bring more organizers into the field. So we would sit down and talk, and inevitably I was blown away by the power of their stories.
Mott: Could you share a few examples with us?
JS:
One of the many great stories is that of Vickie Goodwin, who worked for years as an organizer in Wyoming. She talks in the book about the kickoff for her first affiliate, where the local leaders represented a broad range of the political and social spectrum: left wing, right wing, military officers, community activists and so on. And she shares how she was able -- even to her own surprise -- to help the group effectively work together.
Vickie’s story captures the importance of bringing diverse people to the table and helping them to find common ground, to talk together, think together, plan together and then act together. Those skills as convener and facilitator are key to being a good community organizer.
Jerome Scott is another good example. He shared with us his experiences as a soldier during the Vietnam War and the subsequent promise to himself that he would never again do something with his life without knowing why he was doing it. That set him on the road to becoming an activist and organizer.
Stories like his tell us about the personal discovery that goes hand-in-hand with helping communities to identify their concerns and create positive change. And I think that can help others to understand the very real rewards of a career in organizing. People who do this work are living what they believe.
Mott: Did you uncover any common denominators among the organizers you spoke with?
JS: When I asked them why they chose organizing as a career, at the core of their answers was a passion -- what some described as a “fire in the belly” -- to support social change. Not only in terms of the issues, but more importantly in helping people to recognize and use their own innate power to affect those issues, to come together and shape the world around them.
It also became clear that many went into the field not fully knowing what to expect. They knew that they would be talking with people and helping them explore issues and strategies. But it wasn’t until they’d gone through a full campaign, and in some cases, several campaigns, that they really came to understand the challenges, as well as the rewards, of being an organizer.
Mott: What have your own experiences as an organizer taught you about those challenges and rewards?
JS: One of the things I’ve learned is that meaningful social change -- that is, change that is real and lasting and reflects the needs of the community that seeks it -- usually takes time and patience to achieve. Sometimes people have to take on and win smaller campaigns before they’re ready to embrace the idea of working on big issues like housing, education or healthcare. As organizers, we have to recognize and support that process, and make sure that it’s the community’s interests and goals, not our own, that are being served.
One of the key rewards for me as an organizer is the opportunity to help develop those local leaders and organizations, then watch them step forward and make a difference in their community. I also believe that, as grassroots groups speak out and exercise and test the democratic process, they ultimately create a higher quality of life for everyone. To have that as part of my job, I don’t think there could be anything better.