Thanks to Kevin at Slant Truth for organizing this day to reflect on the value, history, and diversity of community organizing. As I said already, community organizing is at the heart of American democracy, and those who belittle it reveal only their lack of trust in the democratic process and their lack of belief in our Declaration of Independence’s long-delayed promise of equality for all.

I want to share briefly for those unfamiliar with SAFER a tiny bit about what we do and why we are proud to call ourselves community organizers. SAFER’s mission is to end rape on college campuses – but that’s a pretty huge, pretty long term goal. So a lot of thought went into the question of how to accomplish that goal. What are the things on campuses that would have to change for that to happen? And the two biggest answers were the students’ beliefs and the administrations’ policies.

Community organizing was the best method to work towards both of those goals. Community (or campus) organizing for us is when a group of students come together and decide that they want to change how their campus treats sexual assault. They figure out what the big issues are on their campus by reaching out to other students and asking for their input and their involvement. (No one who is not there can decide what matters most to a community, and that sensitivity to local issues and local needs is one of the big hallmarks of community organizing for me.) The community organizers (because, let’s be real, even in the best situation, not everyone is going to have the time or concern to equally participate) then investigate what changes would respond to the needs students perceive on campus. And then they demand those changes from the administration with the support and participation of as many students as they can muster.

(This is where I think some conservatives like to spin a bad rap for community organizers as “hooligans,” with their “violent protests” but almost all of the pressure applied to administrators comes through negotiations and lobbying tactics. And many community organizers are dedicated to nonviolent tactics. Community organizers are kind of a lot like lobbyists, in fact, its just that they are lobbying for their community’s interests, not the interests of some corporation. And they are getting their community to show up to lobby for their own interests – how much more like a democracy can you get?)

Putting the power to discover the change that is needed and to make that change in the hands of the students who most need that change is what community organizing does. It teaches that people are not powerless in the world, that working together does make a difference. It shifts attitudes and opens minds – when people see that others in their community care, they begin to take sexual assault more seriously.

SAFER’s role in all of this is as support staff for campus/community organizers. We don’t go to campuses and say “this is what you need to change” – that wouldn’t be real community organizing for us. We offer an activist guide, training sessions, a database of effective and not effective sexual assault policies, and one-on-one mentoring relationship with experienced organizers. I invite you all to check out our programs, and if you know any campus activists in need of a little support or any thinking-about-becoming campus activists in need of a little push, please send them our way. We’re proud to be organizers and proud to help organizers.