When I grow up I want to be a Community Organizer.

[dnalexander]

I am totally serious asking this question. What is a community organizer? I keep hearing this term used to describe Barack Obama's first job out of college. I don't mean what did he do specifically. I can look that up pretty easily. If someone said they want to grow up to be a fireman, lawyer, baker etc. I would know what they meant. I could write a job description of those jobs. I know the meaning of community and organizer but not this job title. If someone was a closet organizer I would know what they did. Alright I hear you all snickering. Secondly, is the job title the same in Chicago, Kansas City, New York? A baker is the same in all those cities. Lastly, am I the only one completely at a loss for knowing what a community organizer does? Or did I just fall asleep on career day?

David

[Diane Amberg]

Around here a community organizer might be employed by someone like the American Heart Association to do outreach work on making information available to civic associations and fairs and such on heart disease and strokes.They organize booths and do talks for groups and get the right people together to get things done. They are problem solvers. The Elk Konnected group is an example but as far as I know they are volunteers.  Some do fund raising for their group or they may be like the people who help Red Cross find people in need after an emergency. They are sort of a middle man for any organization or Government unit connecting people to what they need..

[sixdogsmom]

Good reply Diane, it takes a talented person to be sucessful doing that. Especially in areas where people are less educated and are lower income.

[dnalexander]

Community Social Worker, Community Activist? Seriously, I have never heard of the job title until during the election. After your description I bet I live in the land of the Community Organizer. I bet San Francisco State and USF both have a degree in Community Organizer. Sometimes I think we try too hard when we think up job titles. Must look better on the business card.

David

[pam]

I just had to reply to this one.........................a community organizer gets resources together and hooks the people who need them up with the process of gettin them.

Here are just a few thru history before you ridicule it too much....................
Mother Teresa,
Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Adams, George Washington.....if they hadn't organized the colonists we would still be british subjects 
Lord Baden Powell, Juliette Gordon Lowe, Boy scouts and girl scouts
Clara Barton, the American Red Cross
William Booth, the salvation Army
Martin Luther King Jr, the others organizers of civil rights
Somebody just posted about Susan B Anthony and the other women who stood for womens rights
Mother Teresa, Cesar Chavez, Harriet Tubman who organized the Underground railroad.
JESUS was a community organizer for pete's sake. And before anybody has a cow, NO I"M not comparing Obama to Jesus or any of these other amazing people for that matter. Just trying to make the point that just because you don't like a person who has been a community organizer don't paint everybody who has been one with the same paint brush.

Community organizers have done a LOT of good down thru history and will continue to because they generally don't care what the popular opinion of what they are tryin to change is, they just keep pluggin away at what they believe in and get it done eventually. There are a lot worse things to be.

[dnalexander]

Here are just a few thru history before you ridicule it too much....................

Nowhere did I ridicule anything in my post. I asked a serious question. I have never heard of that job title, Also, checking O-net and the Department of Labor OCS systems for job classifications "community organizer" is not listed.  From what I got from Diane's explanation it is a social worker. That job is listed. Do not read into my post what is not there.

David

[Diane Amberg]

David, I think a true "social worker" has licensing requirements that may not be needed for a community organizer. I'm not sure, but I think I may be right.

[flo]

I think I'll become a community organizer and see if I can lead some of the forum folks to peace and harmony.

[dnalexander]

David, I think a true "social worker" has licensing requirements that may not be needed for a community organizer. I'm not sure, but I think I may be right.

Diane you are thinking of a Licensed Clinical Social Worker that does counseling similar to a psychiatrist. During the years I worked at the county hospital and for the Mental Health Dept. our community organizers job title was social worker.

David

[Wilma]

I am going to tell my youngest daughter that she is a community organizer.  She is a case manager with a degree in social work and basically what she does is find resources for her clients.