Organizing Agenda

What! What! Well, the "what" is all in the execution of a relevant vision. Below, is a proposal that was submitted to an organization that thought it wanted to be relevant. When it was time for the rubber to meet the road, they bitched up. And these were people that really thought they wanted to be "bout-it, bout-it". What it will really take is a pool of independent money, something like what George Soros has done in setting up MoveOn.org. And please don't say Oprah. This effort will require real money from people with money that get it; that understand that the Black male in America is on the endangered species list. Step on up!

"Good day,

As per our recent conversation, I am writing with a proposal for my role as organizing consultant. This proposal is intended to give you a broad overview of the campaign tactics (section III), and some of the “messaging” (sections I, II) that, in my reading, best seems to accomplish the goals of the ... campaign that you have currently initiated.

Goals
The ... campaign is at its core, a campaign to strengthen our people and our community. It is intended to make us strong, viable and interdependent partners in human progress.
The gentrification of ... has presented us with a survival challenge that begins with our homes, and our neighborhoods, and ultimately extends to our ability to economically provide for our own future.

Overarching theme: "Self-Sufficiency, Not Dependency"

The enemy is DEPENDENCY. The solution is building an Infrastructure of SELF-SUFFICIENCY.

Fifty years ago, we took on the challenge of Civil Rights because we understood that we could not prosper as a people within the matrix of Jim Crow. It was a system so embedded in our society, our psyche, that it affected every aspect of life in blatant and subtle ways. There was no peace to be made with Jim Crow.

The gentrification assault on our communities is one tool in a matrix of mechanisms that operate to target us as the most economically vulnerable people in America, and the World. We cannot protect our neighborhoods if we cannot buy our homes. We cannot buy our homes if we cannot find and keep jobs paying living wages. And in this global economy, living wage careers have been replaced by substandard wages and low-end, fly-by-night jobs. Black male out-of-the-workforce numbers in some of the top cities in America are higher than 50%; the impact that has on our ability to survive and prosper is measured in all the social indicators that point to a people under siege.

Action -- Grow Self-Sufficiency Movement (The New "Civil Rights")
1. Who we are, what we stand for.
- research and communication strategy.
2. Rallying the Troops
- Methods: Boots on the ground, Mail, Phones, Events
3. Collaborating with other organizations with similar interest
- devising collective strategies and actions
4. Establish a communication infrastructure: cutting out the middle-man, speaking directly to our constituency
- recruitment and training of persuasion organizers
- develop web portal
- content production
- distribution
5. Movement Action Plan: taking control of the economy of our own existence: the difference between a tee-shirt store and ascribing value to our goods, services and ideas.
a) 21st Century Skills Institute (for illustrative purposes)
- teaching skills that will enable our constituency to compete in the worldwide economy
- teaching model based on activities rooted in the economy of our specific existence: images and stories; culture and beauty

The elements of the Action phase are sequential and contemporaneous, meaning that while a certain order of action is necessary, some of the elements will be on-going and will overlap with others. My consultant role would be to provide strategic and tactical advise, counsel and training. Which would include training organizers, helping to develop campaign literature, talking points, and other such content, communicating with potential collaborators, helping with recruitment and management of volunteers, developing and implementing a fund raising strategy, and auditing results. I estimate that it would take approximately six months to accomplish actions 1-4. The fifth action is an on-going program that will constitute the essence of the "how" we propose achieving our goal of "Self-Sufficiency, Not Dependency".
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