We need the energy of community organizers

I found myself today in a deep conversation with a very charismatic African American gentleman who is trying to find a way to save Black and Latino kids who are on the verge of dropping out of school. He is very concerned that many need mental health intervention but are afraid or embarrassed to admit it, so he was trying to build a community-based program to intervene for these kids. He is no doubt right about these concerns, but we began to dig a little deeper and question why so many of these kids would need mental health intervention. I think it is fair to say that it was somewhat of an epiphany for him to come to the realization that the poor health of their neighborhoods was probably related to these kids' struggles.
 
Obama was doing this same kind of community organizing, trying toempower neighborhoods in Chicago. He has been derided for this occupation by the Republicans, and yet it's clear that the epiphanies he experienced doing this work led him to state-wide office, the Senate, and now hopefully the White House. We need to draw on the energy that exists among these community organizers who are focused on the specific problems of their neighborhoods, while perhaps overlooking the root problem of a society that has turned its back on them.
 
My visitor hadn't seen his role as getting "political." I think he left with a different idea about how he might help to heal these kids and their communities. As educators, I think we need to consider how we can help make these links for people who don't think "politics" has anything to do with their daily lives.
 
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Harry Klops says:

the stuff obama is doing there is as sad as it is not the best solution in the orginization, i think he should put in more self-confidence in this solution http://www.absauganlagen.de

Luke Terry says:

My local community is trying to organize to fight against criminality and school desertion, we have receive some help from nonprofit private organizations however we haven’t been able to convince our political authorities of how necessary this organization is for our community. http://www.studentaccommodationone.com/

Dave Silva says:

Encourage communities to organize is sometimes difficult due to lack of information. Some communities despite the great energy the put into these programs, sometimes have to quit to their efforts because there is no support from the local political authorities. http://www.zinbay.com/resources/the-truth-about-resume-writer-software.html Dave Silva,

last minute says:

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