UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND COLLEGE PARK AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES AASP 411: BLACK RESISTANCE MOVEMENTS HANDOUT: DIRECT ACTION ORGANIZING Distributed 9/9/2003; Revised 9/14/03

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Online Resources and Training Manual

The Community Toolbox University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS http://ctb.ku.edu/ Focused on community health issues, but information applies to other organizing challenges too. "The core of the Tool Box is the "topic sections" that include practical guidance for the different tasks necessary to promote community health and development. For instance, there are sections on leadership, strategic planning, community assessment, grant writing, and evaluation to give just a few examples. Each section includes a description of the task, advantages of doing it, step-by-step guidelines, examples, checklists of points to review, and training materials."

Center for Third World Organizing 1218 E. 21st Street Oakland, CA 94606 http://www.ctwo.org/training.html Note: There’s no online training manual here, but it’s a great project of the Applied Research Center (www.arc.org) which has excellent online resources on racism, welfare, and education policy issues. “The Center for Third World Organizing is a national multiracial movement center that works with community organizations and grassroots leaders to develop: Analysis: Showing how structures of racial privilege shape our lives and communities. Vision: Motivating movements based on race, gender, sexuality, and economic justice. Strategy: Building organizing capacity necessary to achieve meaningful social change. Action: Leading organization campaigns that advance racial justice messages. The cornerstone of our work, CTWO's training and development programs are informed by our belief in the "ripple effect." We maintain that if we develop the skills and capacities of as many organizers as possible, they can effect positive change and promote justice in communities across the country--indeed, around the world. This conviction has been borne out in neighborhood after neighborhood, city after city, in numerous state legislatures, and on Capitol Hill. From rehabilitating vacant lots to having an impact on state and national budgets, organizers we have trained credit the successes of their campaigns to the talents and skills they honed through their CTWO training. To respond to the far-flung needs of the communities with which we work, we design a wide array of programs that capitalize on the strengths offered by our participants' diverse backgrounds and perspectives.”

The Citizen’s Handbook

Vancouver Citizens' Committee, 3342 West 12th Avenue, Vancouver, B.C. Canada

http://www.vcn.bc.ca/citizens-handbook/

“As far as we know, this is the most complete grassroots organizing guide available on the Internet. Last updated July 5, 2003” Excellent on citizenship action.

The Online Resource for the DART Network

314 NE 26th Terrace, Miami, FL 33137

http://www.thedartcenter.org/index.html

“The Direct Action & Research Training (DART) Network is a national network of grassroots, metropolitan, congregation-based, community organizations spread throughout the United States.” Focuses on organizing through congregations.

Consensus decision-making

http://www.ic.org/pnp/ocac/
Excellent online guide for groups working making decisions collectively. You might need it later.

Starhawk’s website (Author of several articles in textbook)

http://starhawk.org/activism/activism-resources.html

”On this web page you'll find resources for nonviolent direct action and anti-oppression trainers/preparers and magical activism workshop facilitators. You'll find sample agendas, exercises, wall charts, handouts, and notes on how trainings went.”

Colours of Resistance: Organizing Tools

http://colours.mahost.org/org.html

Anti-racism organizing tools and white privilege awareness workshops, including "Tools for White Guys," "Racist Activism 101," "Anti-Racism and Global Justice: A 4-Hour Workshop Agenda," "Ten Ways to Tokenize or Alienate a Non-white Person Around You," and "Ten Things to Remember: Anti-Racist Strategies for White Student Radicals"

"Colours of Resistance (COR) is a grassroots network of people who consciously work to develop anti-racist, multiracial politics in the movement against global capitalism. We are committed to helping build an anti-racist, anti-imperialist, multiracial, feminist, queer and trans liberationist, anti-authoritarian movement against global capitalism. We are committed to integrating an anti-oppression framework and analysis into all of our work."