Elements of Organizing
The Grapes of Wrath and Us
John Steinbeck's great novel "The Grapes of Wrath" is an anthem to the human spirit: the willingness and ability to make another's suffering one's own: this is, fundamentally, all that the organizer needs to begin. Without empathy, compassion, and a vigorous sense of justice: the "American" (the human) does not yet truly exist. We have long understood that we rise and fall together. We have long understood that there will always be those who interpret the "right to be happy" as meaning they can ride roughshod over the rest of humanity and all of creation. In "The Grapes of Wrath" we read of times very much like ours: the rich seemingly have no limit to their avarice: and the poor (which is most of the rest of us) are pushed into the "corner" of experiencing life as injustice, oppression, and very limited opportunities. Right there: at that moment: people like Ma and Tom Joad always seem to appear: and then there comes a "Rose of Sharon" who stunningly affirms by constructive action the value of the life with no obvious value: and the rEvolution is momentarily manifested: and then it awaits our moments and our contributions...
Cesar Chavez was a farmworker, human rights leader, and labor organizer. He believed in the power of active nonviolence as a force for social change -- in 1962 he founded the National Farm Workers Association, which later became the United Farm Workers of America. For more than three decades Chavez led the first successful farmworkers union in American history, advancing the cause of justice in the fields that fed America. Through door-to-door, person-to-person, organizing Chavez built a union and social justice movement from the bottom-up. Using all the tools of nonviolence, such as strikes, boycotts, educational campaigns, theatre, art, music, fasting, and marches, Chavez became one of the most important and effective civil rights leaders in American history. Having grown up in Salinas, I was able to witness firsthand the plight and struggles of the workers in the fields of the fertile Salinas Valley, the "Salad Bowl of the World"... and having had the privilege of marching with Chavez, helped set in motion the founding and operation of the Catholic Worker Community in that same city and valley. Now, over thirty years since that founding, I want to reflect upon some of the elements of organizing that might be helpful to those entering upon the path of sacred / social activism.
Beginning
The activist must become informed and inspired by those who have "cleared the path". An essential reading list should include: Occupy Spirituality, by Adam Bucko and Matthew Fox for starters, and then:
The Hope, by Andrew Harvey
Long Walk To Freedom, by Nelson Mandela
Loaves and Fishes, by Dorothy Day
An Organizer's Tale, Speeches by Cesar Chavez
The Revolution Will Not Be Funded, edited by Incite! Women of Color Against Violence
Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story, by Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Story of My Experiments With Truth, by Mahatma Gandhi
Give Me Liberty, by Naomi Wolf
Rules For Radicals, by Saul Alinsky
Reveille For Radicals, by Saul Alinsky
Urgent Message from Mother, Jean Shinoda Bolen
These books will provide the necessary framework for the construction of YOUR contribution to the movement for social transformation for peace and justice and reverence for the Earth. Of particular interest to the aspiring activist would be the following pages on this website: How to Unleash the Activist in You and Gandhi Forward. Rooting all activism within the heart -- within a vibrant intention to pursue personal transformation -- is essential -- because the power of the dominator paradigm is deeply rooted within every person!
Recognizing that education will be on-going, the aspiring activist need not wait forever before opening the front door for a serious gaze up and down the street -- that gaze is meant to be both informal and informational. What do your friends think? Do you have a family, a partner, or a tribe even of like-minded folks? I began by putting a notice in a local newspaper: "Are you interested in starting a Catholic Worker House in Salinas? If so, come on over at 7:30 pm..." A number of folks actually showed up! And then begins the "getting to know each other" process, discussions and the identification of local issues and personal skills and commitments.
We intuited that "doing something" was of vital importance -- one can talk until the cows come home -- and still there will be someone somewhere hurting... In Salinas, there was (and still is) a "Chinatown" -- historically the local center for drugs, prostitution, gambling, etc. Growing up in Salinas, I was always aware of folks in the gutter on Soledad Street -- and its continuing "last stand" of the Wild West... so it was obvious to us that making some sandwiches and taking them out to the homeless would be a good beginning... (and those first 65 sandwiches have multiplied to over 2 million meals served since 1982)... "Organizations need action as an individual needs oxygen." (Saul Alinsky, Rules For Radicals). Everyone in America has a birth certificate -- including the President of the United States! -- but we are not really born until we have a purpose greater than our individual life and breath. Free service is the ticket to purpose!
After your first service-action, it is time to start a newsletter... or as Gandhi used to call it, a "viewspaper": nowadays that includes starting a website. Getting the word out, especially connecting the vision with "How You Can Help" columns is fundamental. And then connecting specific local issues to national and international issues is of great importance. Distribute your paper everywhere! Catholic Worker.org is an excellent resource as are all of the other websites listed on the "Rumi University" page on this website.
A Solidarity Spirituality
"Beginnings are always exciting", so said Dorothy Day... and every Catholic Worker and intentional community organizer has repeated those words since. A "solidarity spirituality in service" is one of the unique contributions of the Catholic Worker movement. In its essence, this means "service only for the sake of love", not "service with the intention of changing the person being served". To stand with the person who is suffering, and to freely give in a humble spirit that honors the dignity of the other, is a solidarity spirituality... and when that spirituality is coupled with the solidarity of justice-living (see the Recipe for a Planetary Transformation), then one's life becomes a sacred witness, a prophetic breath once again upon this Planet... this is the meaning of radical...
Funding a rEvolution
Essential reading for the servant-radical is "The Revolution Will Not Be Funded -- Beyond the Non-Profit Industrial Complex" edited by "Incite! Women of Color Against Violence". I wish that this book had been out way back when we started our project in Salinas! We lived and worked for a number of years literally hand-to-mouth. We were shocked at our ability to pay rent on the first of every month -- oftentimes it wasn't until the very last minute due... and, somehow, the first 65 sandwiches grew to become hundreds every day... and then soup... and then pasta... and then a full-fledged Kitchen and dining room... and on and on... but always there was the question of money. Within a few years of our founding, community volunteers began suggesting that we apply for official non-profit status... and after much debate, we opted to move in that direction.
After a quick, self-taught, course in 501 (c) (3) applications, the paperwork was submitted to all the proper authorities... and after due consideration, the non-profit status was granted... and an entirely different world opened up to us. A Board of Directors was formed: well-intentioned folks from the surrounding area intent upon personal affiliation with a caring, service oriented, intentional community steadily volunteered. Blessings upon blessings came our way -- but so did "ump-teen" headaches and heartaches... not the least of which has been the fact that "well-intentioned folks" have a very difficult time with talk (and action) of / for social change! "Radical" is seldom in the vocabulary of bankers! With each step closer and closer to the state, there is the temptation to "tone down the witness"... and advocacy for justice slowly becomes muted. Lawyers and accountants tend to be more interested in "community image" and balance sheets than in making the political connections between the soup line and systemic injustices... This is a tough but necessary paragraph because these are the very issues you will have to deal with -- Dorothy Day was radically consistent: she refused to play the non-profit "game". Her witness was a struggle to be sure -- but she held to her ideals and her visions throughout nearly fifty years in the New York Catholic Worker. Adopting a strategy of the pros in the non-profit world will be important: complete and study a "cost / benefit analysis" of this step... at the very, very, least: make a list of every imaginable "plus" and every single possible "minus". And then consider... and breathe... and wait... and fast...
Thinking of all the many thousands of lives that we touched, and some very significantly (like the homeless women who found safety and family in our shelter), I would probably find myself on the very same path that I have walked... yet, if I had known that an alternative was possible, I would like to think that I'd have taken up that alternative... so please consider the integrity of your vision of personal and global transformation... and then consider building up the alternatives now -- rather than waiting for systemic change coming down from on high -- study and consider the power and possibilities of co-ops... what are your gifts and skills? What are the gifts and skills of everyone in your group? What are the gifts and skills of those whom you have been serving and advocating for? It is highly likely that if you pause with these considerations, you will discover hidden wealth in your poverty -- and you will, at the same time, discover that it will be possible to sustain your vision by implementing cooperative social change ventures... Cooperation is the seed-bed of radical social transformation! (I can bless myself for having initiated an intentional community and organization that has fed over two million people in Salinas -- but there will be millions more indefinitely into the future -- but, god-dammit, what I've wanted and prayed for has been a revolution! How much hunger must there be? How much suffering must there be? How much longer will we passively accept the dominator paradigm in control of our economies, our politics, and our religions?)
Options! Consider options and possibilities! Consider deeply your vision: where are your dreams leading you? Where do you dream your efforts will take this precious blue Planet? How close to the bone can you live -- and still be happy? These are a few questions well worth pondering, especially as you consider the "long-haul" of a life of activism...
Sacred Place and Redevelopment
For the mystic / activist, a life of community service will oftentimes run right-smack-dab into issues of "Place": the official terminology is usually "redevelopment": a nice way to say, "Gee, there's gotta be some money here somewhere." Have you read John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath" and "East of Eden"? If not, please do so! Of course, Steinbeck is another Salinas' native son... but the books are important because a theme of both books is that sense of place: and of how moneyed interests can wrest a place from the people and of how that loss drives and informs both character and community... and also of our place in the "big-picture" flow of life and events that we may have very little say in... In Salinas, with its long history of big-money agriculture, worker exploitation, racism, and violence in the midst of varied "city" commercial interests this core issue of "place" is of vital importance...
As a child growing up in Salinas I was aware of Native Son Steinbeck -- the first time I heard his name was in regards to the fact that he didn't want a newly built high school to be "burdened" with his name. Sitting in our family auto and counting the railroad cars as they passed at the crossing on Market Street was always interesting: looking off to the right, there were folks sitting on the sidewalks, very scantily-clothed women on the corners, and a general look of "something wild" going on... Growing older, reading the local newspaper became a daily ritual: according to the swings of the agricultural seasons, prostitution was either up or down... busts for illegal gambling were frequent with rumors of Chinese tongs and secret underground tunnels running throughout Chinatown... occasionally there would be a tong shoot-out... the brothels were especially troublesome for city officials... still, that didn't stop a Mayor from getting cited for picking up a prostitute... Of course, all of this interesting activity was on "the other side of the tracks"...
"Speeding up traffic" was a good reason to build a by-pass: besides, who really wanted to be able to look at the goings-on in Chinatown? So the long, slow, process of "redevelopment" began: first downtown -- just a few stone- throws from Chinatown: closing down the old flop-house hotels (the newly homeless poor moved to Chinatown) and closing the bars throughout the area (the primary source of community for the folks in the hotels) with the effect of concentrating "low-scale" access to alcohol and drugs in Chinatown. Of course, gambling and drugs had long been big-business in Chinatown -- but a business that was mixed with high-quality restaurants and "entertainment" that appealed to wide cross-section of folks with some real money to spend. But once the "redevelopment dog" starts sniffing around everything is subject to change: with the new "island" that was now Chinatown, it could be walled off and forgotten -- unless folks got a bit too rowdy... the last of the old brothels finally left town... the bars were closed... the shops boarded up... everyone pretty much moved out: except for the new street gangs who had discovered the enormous amounts of money that could be had from drugs: so into the mix of homeless, came a steady line of truckers and Mercedes either trying to stay awake or find a creative outlet for too much cash...
So, a long-time on this part of the story, but it is important because every place has a story -- every place is a story. This briefest of possible overviews to the story of Chinatown-Salinas does not do it justice: early on during our time of making food in our home and transporting it down to Chinatown to give away on the corner of Soledad and Market, a Hollywood film crew came in and painted a number of the buildings for the TV miniseries "East of Eden" starring Jane Seymour... but all the paint faded after a few years... and the grind of "showing up" became the call: that, and endless meetings about use- permits, city disgust with the "blight" of homelessness, and the progress of what became the "National Steinbeck Center", anchoring a downtown that had driven out the poor, just like the Joad family in "The Grapes of Wrath": but "progress" never ceases: it always looks for whatever could be next...
In Salinas, that "next" was Chinatown. As "founder" of Dorothy's Place Community Kitchen I was a "stakeholder" in the future of Chinatown. Negotiations extended for over a year with the conclusion of "Dorothy's Place" moving across and a bit further up the street -- but every negotiation came with a loss: the new Mayor, surveying Soledad Street with me shortly after our move, said matter-of-factly: "Now we're going to clean-up the street." He didn't mean establishing anti-litter patrols. He meant the city intended to sweep the streets clean of homeless folks. Negotiating with redevelopment brought us a tired old hotel -- which we re-furbished to become "Dorothy's Place Hospitality Center" -- but which salved the conscience of the city and so began a relentless drive to "sweep" Chinatown clean. These police sweeps had the effect of destroying the community that had been the reality of the homeless in Chinatown and dispersing the majority of them throughout the city -- and some as far away as the Salinas River bottom a few miles out of town. It also had the effect of eliminating the "public eye" on the drug trade which then began to truly take on a life of its own -- still, because of our unwritten but strict rule, of respecting everyone in the neighborhood and everyone who came into Dorothy's, we operated as an "island" within the "island of Chinatown"... and so it continues today...
The point of this "redevelopment rambling" is to emphasize a couple of essential points: 1) As you begin to serve, be humble, listen to the story of "your place". Know the story of the buildings as much as the stories of the people. And know, too, that your presence will now be adding to the neighborhood story (not replacing it). 2) Stay awake! Redevelopment will inevitably show up: it doesn't have to be thought of as your "enemy" -- but if you are "awake", your advocacy for the folks you are serving can take the "long view" of building towards a Place of Possibilities for the Poor: happiness, safety, health, and a "welcome home" might really be possible: shall I say, somewhere "East of Eden"?
So Who Funds a rEvolution and the Eternal Question of Power
If you have been giving serious thought to these ruminations, surely you've realized that -- while everything depends upon grace -- it is some sort of capital that gets the rubber on the road. This is where prayer really comes in: rooted in service and kindness, "tie a request for help" to a statue of St. Joseph (or your chosen patron) -- a simple handwritten note will suffice... This fundraising strategy employed by Dorothy Day will be a challenge to both your community and your Board of Directors (assuming you went ahead to receive non-profit status), yet it is key for maintaining the core vision: without it, alternative strategies will manifest and steadily influence and overcome the ability of both Board and community to steer the course: maintain the essential integrity of the original vision.
Traditional non-profits are organized around the Board of Directors and the positions of Executive and a Development Director (the Pyramid of Power): but there will be no rEvolution with this remnant of the dominator paradigm in place! Alternatives are possible! I recommend an organization that is structured around the idea of "interest groups" with coordinators facilitating the actions and interactions of these groups: and the coordinators together serving as "stewards" of the organization: of the ministries of service and action, and of the on-going development and implementation plan of the organization. If you are a non-profit, you will want an engaged Board serving first as members of the various "interest groups" -- this service will give focus on the priority of the vision. The single greatest threat to the demise of the vision is the path of Executive Director and a fundamentally disengaged Board.
Issues of power have destroyed far too many organizations -- and dreams of a meaningful life and community service. The most basic value is rooted in the "Grail Question": whom does the Grail serve? (Research the myth of the Fisher King as to what this means.) Does the power in your organization tend towards domination or liberation? Don't fall into the trap of explaining away this issue! It can't be explained away! The power that is not shared -- especially with the marginalized -- is the power that corrupts. The power that is centralized in an Executive Director is a power that is always at odds with both the vision and the way: the vision is always towards the creation of another manifestation of the "Beloved Community" and the way of implementation is the daily practice of inclusion, of dialogue, of mutual aid, and of a "solidarity spirituality". "Easy" and "quick" are the bugaboos of decision-making: it is possible to create a means suitable to the end of the Beloved Community!
One example of power sharing that does work is that of "Leadership Team". "Interest groups" can operate with a coordinator serving as animator or facilitator. These groups, for example, could include "Guest Services" -- everything in the realm of daily service and including representatives of those served; "Spirit and Life" -- everything in the realm of nurturing the well-being of volunteers, community, and staff; "Neighborhood Outreach" -- everything in the realm of neighborhood and city relations; and, "Resources" -- everything in the development and fundraising realm. [Note: there could be any number of "interest groups" according to the needs of the organization.] A "Leadership Team" is comprised of the coordinators of the interest groups. The Team membership could broaden to include the Board President and others as determined by the organizational guidelines. While being only a brief overview of a viable alternative to the many contradictions an Executive Director brings to an organization dedicated to the creation of the Beloved Community, the point is simply that there is a better way that is consistent with your essential community values.
While it is a generalization to say that men tend to think linearly -- looking for the clearest path from here to there -- and women somewhat in circles -- aware of the inter-relatedness of both people and journey: my experience would strongly urge that you seek a combination of the two and think as a spiral: a clear direction, but with curves... Leadership is the conscious, active, cultivation of vision, core values, and implementation plans: understanding that every aspect of an organization is connected to the "full development and liberation" of every member into "excellence" or radiance. Programs are always people dependent... happy people are much more inclined to work well, serve well, and stay well! And "program guests" are likewise much more inclined to assistance, reflection, conversation, and the eventual development of their own liberation plans if they are met everyday with grace, hope, and enthusiasm.
So, who funds a rEvolution? When your organization reflects your core values, when it creates viable structural alternatives to domination, and when it fosters inclusion and power sharing, that very good news will spread and confirm your place in your community: you will be supported because people will see and intuit your integrity and commitment and they will want to donate: they will come to volunteer: and some will stay to help you change the world...
Be warned: even if your vision is that of an integral spirituality that requires the steady practice of service, justice, and nonviolence, you will find it, nevertheless, steadily eroded by the creep of the dominator paradigm: if you do not vigorously and steadfastly walk the way through a clear daily intention, remembrance, and mindfulness (with the active support of others on the same path). You must come to excel in the effort of inclusion. You must come to excel in the effort of nonviolent decision making. You must, in short, strive to be a servant-leader in your little portion of the rEvolution: should a mystic-activist seek anything less? [The leadership principles outlined in this section also apply to organizations that decline to seek non-profit status.]
"The greatness is not what we do, but unavoidably it is always in how we do, what we do." (Swami Chinmayananda) In other words, the gift of our service actions must in every facet reveal our motivating values: and transparently so! So, if you are beginning a soup kitchen that will serve the homeless and marginalized of your area, your process for decision-making is just as important as the recipes you will use: which are just as important as the way in which the bowls of soup are handed to your guests! You can create and sustain an organization of vision and the highest of ideals, while at the very same time operating in a "sleek" and "professional" manner in which every one can both excel and thrive: by little and by little the world changes as our small individual and organizational acts of beauty, kindness, and compassion add up!
"We were created by Love, for Love, to become Love." (Simone Weil)
To be continued...
[In upcoming weeks, this article will expand to include ideas on intentional community formation, building a base of community support, the creation of an intentional and focused Board of Directors (if going the non-profit route), and self-sustaining cooperative possibilities such as art / music programs, galleries, and "random acts of beauty", outreach to local / county schools, outreach within the local faith communities, nurturing volunteers, and organizing youth immersion experiences...]
John Steinbeck's great novel "The Grapes of Wrath" is an anthem to the human spirit: the willingness and ability to make another's suffering one's own: this is, fundamentally, all that the organizer needs to begin. Without empathy, compassion, and a vigorous sense of justice: the "American" (the human) does not yet truly exist. We have long understood that we rise and fall together. We have long understood that there will always be those who interpret the "right to be happy" as meaning they can ride roughshod over the rest of humanity and all of creation. In "The Grapes of Wrath" we read of times very much like ours: the rich seemingly have no limit to their avarice: and the poor (which is most of the rest of us) are pushed into the "corner" of experiencing life as injustice, oppression, and very limited opportunities. Right there: at that moment: people like Ma and Tom Joad always seem to appear: and then there comes a "Rose of Sharon" who stunningly affirms by constructive action the value of the life with no obvious value: and the rEvolution is momentarily manifested: and then it awaits our moments and our contributions...
Cesar Chavez was a farmworker, human rights leader, and labor organizer. He believed in the power of active nonviolence as a force for social change -- in 1962 he founded the National Farm Workers Association, which later became the United Farm Workers of America. For more than three decades Chavez led the first successful farmworkers union in American history, advancing the cause of justice in the fields that fed America. Through door-to-door, person-to-person, organizing Chavez built a union and social justice movement from the bottom-up. Using all the tools of nonviolence, such as strikes, boycotts, educational campaigns, theatre, art, music, fasting, and marches, Chavez became one of the most important and effective civil rights leaders in American history. Having grown up in Salinas, I was able to witness firsthand the plight and struggles of the workers in the fields of the fertile Salinas Valley, the "Salad Bowl of the World"... and having had the privilege of marching with Chavez, helped set in motion the founding and operation of the Catholic Worker Community in that same city and valley. Now, over thirty years since that founding, I want to reflect upon some of the elements of organizing that might be helpful to those entering upon the path of sacred / social activism.
Beginning
The activist must become informed and inspired by those who have "cleared the path". An essential reading list should include: Occupy Spirituality, by Adam Bucko and Matthew Fox for starters, and then:
The Hope, by Andrew Harvey
Long Walk To Freedom, by Nelson Mandela
Loaves and Fishes, by Dorothy Day
An Organizer's Tale, Speeches by Cesar Chavez
The Revolution Will Not Be Funded, edited by Incite! Women of Color Against Violence
Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story, by Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Story of My Experiments With Truth, by Mahatma Gandhi
Give Me Liberty, by Naomi Wolf
Rules For Radicals, by Saul Alinsky
Reveille For Radicals, by Saul Alinsky
Urgent Message from Mother, Jean Shinoda Bolen
These books will provide the necessary framework for the construction of YOUR contribution to the movement for social transformation for peace and justice and reverence for the Earth. Of particular interest to the aspiring activist would be the following pages on this website: How to Unleash the Activist in You and Gandhi Forward. Rooting all activism within the heart -- within a vibrant intention to pursue personal transformation -- is essential -- because the power of the dominator paradigm is deeply rooted within every person!
Recognizing that education will be on-going, the aspiring activist need not wait forever before opening the front door for a serious gaze up and down the street -- that gaze is meant to be both informal and informational. What do your friends think? Do you have a family, a partner, or a tribe even of like-minded folks? I began by putting a notice in a local newspaper: "Are you interested in starting a Catholic Worker House in Salinas? If so, come on over at 7:30 pm..." A number of folks actually showed up! And then begins the "getting to know each other" process, discussions and the identification of local issues and personal skills and commitments.
We intuited that "doing something" was of vital importance -- one can talk until the cows come home -- and still there will be someone somewhere hurting... In Salinas, there was (and still is) a "Chinatown" -- historically the local center for drugs, prostitution, gambling, etc. Growing up in Salinas, I was always aware of folks in the gutter on Soledad Street -- and its continuing "last stand" of the Wild West... so it was obvious to us that making some sandwiches and taking them out to the homeless would be a good beginning... (and those first 65 sandwiches have multiplied to over 2 million meals served since 1982)... "Organizations need action as an individual needs oxygen." (Saul Alinsky, Rules For Radicals). Everyone in America has a birth certificate -- including the President of the United States! -- but we are not really born until we have a purpose greater than our individual life and breath. Free service is the ticket to purpose!
After your first service-action, it is time to start a newsletter... or as Gandhi used to call it, a "viewspaper": nowadays that includes starting a website. Getting the word out, especially connecting the vision with "How You Can Help" columns is fundamental. And then connecting specific local issues to national and international issues is of great importance. Distribute your paper everywhere! Catholic Worker.org is an excellent resource as are all of the other websites listed on the "Rumi University" page on this website.
A Solidarity Spirituality
"Beginnings are always exciting", so said Dorothy Day... and every Catholic Worker and intentional community organizer has repeated those words since. A "solidarity spirituality in service" is one of the unique contributions of the Catholic Worker movement. In its essence, this means "service only for the sake of love", not "service with the intention of changing the person being served". To stand with the person who is suffering, and to freely give in a humble spirit that honors the dignity of the other, is a solidarity spirituality... and when that spirituality is coupled with the solidarity of justice-living (see the Recipe for a Planetary Transformation), then one's life becomes a sacred witness, a prophetic breath once again upon this Planet... this is the meaning of radical...
Funding a rEvolution
Essential reading for the servant-radical is "The Revolution Will Not Be Funded -- Beyond the Non-Profit Industrial Complex" edited by "Incite! Women of Color Against Violence". I wish that this book had been out way back when we started our project in Salinas! We lived and worked for a number of years literally hand-to-mouth. We were shocked at our ability to pay rent on the first of every month -- oftentimes it wasn't until the very last minute due... and, somehow, the first 65 sandwiches grew to become hundreds every day... and then soup... and then pasta... and then a full-fledged Kitchen and dining room... and on and on... but always there was the question of money. Within a few years of our founding, community volunteers began suggesting that we apply for official non-profit status... and after much debate, we opted to move in that direction.
After a quick, self-taught, course in 501 (c) (3) applications, the paperwork was submitted to all the proper authorities... and after due consideration, the non-profit status was granted... and an entirely different world opened up to us. A Board of Directors was formed: well-intentioned folks from the surrounding area intent upon personal affiliation with a caring, service oriented, intentional community steadily volunteered. Blessings upon blessings came our way -- but so did "ump-teen" headaches and heartaches... not the least of which has been the fact that "well-intentioned folks" have a very difficult time with talk (and action) of / for social change! "Radical" is seldom in the vocabulary of bankers! With each step closer and closer to the state, there is the temptation to "tone down the witness"... and advocacy for justice slowly becomes muted. Lawyers and accountants tend to be more interested in "community image" and balance sheets than in making the political connections between the soup line and systemic injustices... This is a tough but necessary paragraph because these are the very issues you will have to deal with -- Dorothy Day was radically consistent: she refused to play the non-profit "game". Her witness was a struggle to be sure -- but she held to her ideals and her visions throughout nearly fifty years in the New York Catholic Worker. Adopting a strategy of the pros in the non-profit world will be important: complete and study a "cost / benefit analysis" of this step... at the very, very, least: make a list of every imaginable "plus" and every single possible "minus". And then consider... and breathe... and wait... and fast...
Thinking of all the many thousands of lives that we touched, and some very significantly (like the homeless women who found safety and family in our shelter), I would probably find myself on the very same path that I have walked... yet, if I had known that an alternative was possible, I would like to think that I'd have taken up that alternative... so please consider the integrity of your vision of personal and global transformation... and then consider building up the alternatives now -- rather than waiting for systemic change coming down from on high -- study and consider the power and possibilities of co-ops... what are your gifts and skills? What are the gifts and skills of everyone in your group? What are the gifts and skills of those whom you have been serving and advocating for? It is highly likely that if you pause with these considerations, you will discover hidden wealth in your poverty -- and you will, at the same time, discover that it will be possible to sustain your vision by implementing cooperative social change ventures... Cooperation is the seed-bed of radical social transformation! (I can bless myself for having initiated an intentional community and organization that has fed over two million people in Salinas -- but there will be millions more indefinitely into the future -- but, god-dammit, what I've wanted and prayed for has been a revolution! How much hunger must there be? How much suffering must there be? How much longer will we passively accept the dominator paradigm in control of our economies, our politics, and our religions?)
Options! Consider options and possibilities! Consider deeply your vision: where are your dreams leading you? Where do you dream your efforts will take this precious blue Planet? How close to the bone can you live -- and still be happy? These are a few questions well worth pondering, especially as you consider the "long-haul" of a life of activism...
Sacred Place and Redevelopment
For the mystic / activist, a life of community service will oftentimes run right-smack-dab into issues of "Place": the official terminology is usually "redevelopment": a nice way to say, "Gee, there's gotta be some money here somewhere." Have you read John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath" and "East of Eden"? If not, please do so! Of course, Steinbeck is another Salinas' native son... but the books are important because a theme of both books is that sense of place: and of how moneyed interests can wrest a place from the people and of how that loss drives and informs both character and community... and also of our place in the "big-picture" flow of life and events that we may have very little say in... In Salinas, with its long history of big-money agriculture, worker exploitation, racism, and violence in the midst of varied "city" commercial interests this core issue of "place" is of vital importance...
As a child growing up in Salinas I was aware of Native Son Steinbeck -- the first time I heard his name was in regards to the fact that he didn't want a newly built high school to be "burdened" with his name. Sitting in our family auto and counting the railroad cars as they passed at the crossing on Market Street was always interesting: looking off to the right, there were folks sitting on the sidewalks, very scantily-clothed women on the corners, and a general look of "something wild" going on... Growing older, reading the local newspaper became a daily ritual: according to the swings of the agricultural seasons, prostitution was either up or down... busts for illegal gambling were frequent with rumors of Chinese tongs and secret underground tunnels running throughout Chinatown... occasionally there would be a tong shoot-out... the brothels were especially troublesome for city officials... still, that didn't stop a Mayor from getting cited for picking up a prostitute... Of course, all of this interesting activity was on "the other side of the tracks"...
"Speeding up traffic" was a good reason to build a by-pass: besides, who really wanted to be able to look at the goings-on in Chinatown? So the long, slow, process of "redevelopment" began: first downtown -- just a few stone- throws from Chinatown: closing down the old flop-house hotels (the newly homeless poor moved to Chinatown) and closing the bars throughout the area (the primary source of community for the folks in the hotels) with the effect of concentrating "low-scale" access to alcohol and drugs in Chinatown. Of course, gambling and drugs had long been big-business in Chinatown -- but a business that was mixed with high-quality restaurants and "entertainment" that appealed to wide cross-section of folks with some real money to spend. But once the "redevelopment dog" starts sniffing around everything is subject to change: with the new "island" that was now Chinatown, it could be walled off and forgotten -- unless folks got a bit too rowdy... the last of the old brothels finally left town... the bars were closed... the shops boarded up... everyone pretty much moved out: except for the new street gangs who had discovered the enormous amounts of money that could be had from drugs: so into the mix of homeless, came a steady line of truckers and Mercedes either trying to stay awake or find a creative outlet for too much cash...
So, a long-time on this part of the story, but it is important because every place has a story -- every place is a story. This briefest of possible overviews to the story of Chinatown-Salinas does not do it justice: early on during our time of making food in our home and transporting it down to Chinatown to give away on the corner of Soledad and Market, a Hollywood film crew came in and painted a number of the buildings for the TV miniseries "East of Eden" starring Jane Seymour... but all the paint faded after a few years... and the grind of "showing up" became the call: that, and endless meetings about use- permits, city disgust with the "blight" of homelessness, and the progress of what became the "National Steinbeck Center", anchoring a downtown that had driven out the poor, just like the Joad family in "The Grapes of Wrath": but "progress" never ceases: it always looks for whatever could be next...
In Salinas, that "next" was Chinatown. As "founder" of Dorothy's Place Community Kitchen I was a "stakeholder" in the future of Chinatown. Negotiations extended for over a year with the conclusion of "Dorothy's Place" moving across and a bit further up the street -- but every negotiation came with a loss: the new Mayor, surveying Soledad Street with me shortly after our move, said matter-of-factly: "Now we're going to clean-up the street." He didn't mean establishing anti-litter patrols. He meant the city intended to sweep the streets clean of homeless folks. Negotiating with redevelopment brought us a tired old hotel -- which we re-furbished to become "Dorothy's Place Hospitality Center" -- but which salved the conscience of the city and so began a relentless drive to "sweep" Chinatown clean. These police sweeps had the effect of destroying the community that had been the reality of the homeless in Chinatown and dispersing the majority of them throughout the city -- and some as far away as the Salinas River bottom a few miles out of town. It also had the effect of eliminating the "public eye" on the drug trade which then began to truly take on a life of its own -- still, because of our unwritten but strict rule, of respecting everyone in the neighborhood and everyone who came into Dorothy's, we operated as an "island" within the "island of Chinatown"... and so it continues today...
The point of this "redevelopment rambling" is to emphasize a couple of essential points: 1) As you begin to serve, be humble, listen to the story of "your place". Know the story of the buildings as much as the stories of the people. And know, too, that your presence will now be adding to the neighborhood story (not replacing it). 2) Stay awake! Redevelopment will inevitably show up: it doesn't have to be thought of as your "enemy" -- but if you are "awake", your advocacy for the folks you are serving can take the "long view" of building towards a Place of Possibilities for the Poor: happiness, safety, health, and a "welcome home" might really be possible: shall I say, somewhere "East of Eden"?
So Who Funds a rEvolution and the Eternal Question of Power
If you have been giving serious thought to these ruminations, surely you've realized that -- while everything depends upon grace -- it is some sort of capital that gets the rubber on the road. This is where prayer really comes in: rooted in service and kindness, "tie a request for help" to a statue of St. Joseph (or your chosen patron) -- a simple handwritten note will suffice... This fundraising strategy employed by Dorothy Day will be a challenge to both your community and your Board of Directors (assuming you went ahead to receive non-profit status), yet it is key for maintaining the core vision: without it, alternative strategies will manifest and steadily influence and overcome the ability of both Board and community to steer the course: maintain the essential integrity of the original vision.
Traditional non-profits are organized around the Board of Directors and the positions of Executive and a Development Director (the Pyramid of Power): but there will be no rEvolution with this remnant of the dominator paradigm in place! Alternatives are possible! I recommend an organization that is structured around the idea of "interest groups" with coordinators facilitating the actions and interactions of these groups: and the coordinators together serving as "stewards" of the organization: of the ministries of service and action, and of the on-going development and implementation plan of the organization. If you are a non-profit, you will want an engaged Board serving first as members of the various "interest groups" -- this service will give focus on the priority of the vision. The single greatest threat to the demise of the vision is the path of Executive Director and a fundamentally disengaged Board.
Issues of power have destroyed far too many organizations -- and dreams of a meaningful life and community service. The most basic value is rooted in the "Grail Question": whom does the Grail serve? (Research the myth of the Fisher King as to what this means.) Does the power in your organization tend towards domination or liberation? Don't fall into the trap of explaining away this issue! It can't be explained away! The power that is not shared -- especially with the marginalized -- is the power that corrupts. The power that is centralized in an Executive Director is a power that is always at odds with both the vision and the way: the vision is always towards the creation of another manifestation of the "Beloved Community" and the way of implementation is the daily practice of inclusion, of dialogue, of mutual aid, and of a "solidarity spirituality". "Easy" and "quick" are the bugaboos of decision-making: it is possible to create a means suitable to the end of the Beloved Community!
One example of power sharing that does work is that of "Leadership Team". "Interest groups" can operate with a coordinator serving as animator or facilitator. These groups, for example, could include "Guest Services" -- everything in the realm of daily service and including representatives of those served; "Spirit and Life" -- everything in the realm of nurturing the well-being of volunteers, community, and staff; "Neighborhood Outreach" -- everything in the realm of neighborhood and city relations; and, "Resources" -- everything in the development and fundraising realm. [Note: there could be any number of "interest groups" according to the needs of the organization.] A "Leadership Team" is comprised of the coordinators of the interest groups. The Team membership could broaden to include the Board President and others as determined by the organizational guidelines. While being only a brief overview of a viable alternative to the many contradictions an Executive Director brings to an organization dedicated to the creation of the Beloved Community, the point is simply that there is a better way that is consistent with your essential community values.
While it is a generalization to say that men tend to think linearly -- looking for the clearest path from here to there -- and women somewhat in circles -- aware of the inter-relatedness of both people and journey: my experience would strongly urge that you seek a combination of the two and think as a spiral: a clear direction, but with curves... Leadership is the conscious, active, cultivation of vision, core values, and implementation plans: understanding that every aspect of an organization is connected to the "full development and liberation" of every member into "excellence" or radiance. Programs are always people dependent... happy people are much more inclined to work well, serve well, and stay well! And "program guests" are likewise much more inclined to assistance, reflection, conversation, and the eventual development of their own liberation plans if they are met everyday with grace, hope, and enthusiasm.
So, who funds a rEvolution? When your organization reflects your core values, when it creates viable structural alternatives to domination, and when it fosters inclusion and power sharing, that very good news will spread and confirm your place in your community: you will be supported because people will see and intuit your integrity and commitment and they will want to donate: they will come to volunteer: and some will stay to help you change the world...
Be warned: even if your vision is that of an integral spirituality that requires the steady practice of service, justice, and nonviolence, you will find it, nevertheless, steadily eroded by the creep of the dominator paradigm: if you do not vigorously and steadfastly walk the way through a clear daily intention, remembrance, and mindfulness (with the active support of others on the same path). You must come to excel in the effort of inclusion. You must come to excel in the effort of nonviolent decision making. You must, in short, strive to be a servant-leader in your little portion of the rEvolution: should a mystic-activist seek anything less? [The leadership principles outlined in this section also apply to organizations that decline to seek non-profit status.]
"The greatness is not what we do, but unavoidably it is always in how we do, what we do." (Swami Chinmayananda) In other words, the gift of our service actions must in every facet reveal our motivating values: and transparently so! So, if you are beginning a soup kitchen that will serve the homeless and marginalized of your area, your process for decision-making is just as important as the recipes you will use: which are just as important as the way in which the bowls of soup are handed to your guests! You can create and sustain an organization of vision and the highest of ideals, while at the very same time operating in a "sleek" and "professional" manner in which every one can both excel and thrive: by little and by little the world changes as our small individual and organizational acts of beauty, kindness, and compassion add up!
"We were created by Love, for Love, to become Love." (Simone Weil)
To be continued...
[In upcoming weeks, this article will expand to include ideas on intentional community formation, building a base of community support, the creation of an intentional and focused Board of Directors (if going the non-profit route), and self-sustaining cooperative possibilities such as art / music programs, galleries, and "random acts of beauty", outreach to local / county schools, outreach within the local faith communities, nurturing volunteers, and organizing youth immersion experiences...]
