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
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..
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.
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
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 :P
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.
Quote from: pam on September 07, 2008, 12:42:26 PM
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
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.
I think I'll become a community organizer and see if I can lead some of the forum folks to peace and harmony.
Quote from: Diane Amberg on September 07, 2008, 01:12:01 PM
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
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.
Actually, those social workers are now called case managers where I used to work, now that Wilma brought that up. I guess their new business cards will say Community Organizer.
David
p.s. Pam welcome back. I knew you couldn't stay away for long. I look forward to your posts.The conversation was already missing your point of view and passion.
Quote from: flo on September 07, 2008, 01:15:56 PM
I think I'll become a community organizer and see if I can lead some of the forum folks to peace and harmony.
Flo, sometimes we definitely need that. I think to be successful you will have to work harder than Mother Teresa. I think she is up for Sainthood isn't she. ;)
Pam, I loved your reply! Being a community organizer would not be an easy job in my estimation, trying to energize people who have never dealt with government to stand up for themselves must be exasperating at the least.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_organizing.
"Community organizers work actively, as do other types of social workers, in community councils of social agencies and in community-action groups. At times the role of community organizers overlaps that of the social planners.[1]
[1] http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761563084/Social_Work.html#p5
Thanks for your help. Between you all and my own research my question has been answered.
David
;D ;D ;D got a question? Find your answer on the Forum ;D ;D ;D
There is actually a community organizing group called Communities In Schools, whose primary job is to assist children who need the help with resources that are provided by the businesses out in the public sector. Another community organizing operation is the United Way, for whom some very dedicated people work. However, they would never generalize themselves with the non-descript label of "Community Organizer". That label is reserved for those who do work that doesn't fall under any specific heading. And, no, I'm not poking fun at the label...yes, there have been some heavy hitters who were 'community organizers'...it's just that they did that activity under the auspices of a different heading...Nun, civil rights activist, Red Cross worker, Salvation Army volunteer/member, etc. Genuine jobs have genuinely recognizable labels, genuinely backed up by genuine credentials.
I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and I have been in private practice doing mental health counseling. During my first colleege experience at KU, I studied social work. At that time the social work professors taught community organization but a social worker did not need a licence to do community organization. That was in the 1960's. I believe this is true now that one does not need a license to do community organizing. Obama had a law degree and the knowledge to do community organizing. He may have taken some social work classes along w3ith his law degree. Don't get me wrong I am no fan of Obama. But he did help the communities by doing work with those who really needed his help. Clara Barton was a good example of a community organizer and social workers have a long history of this kind of work. Susan
I stand corrected, Susan...thank you for your post...I will openly admit that I have never delved into the Social Work or Psychological/Psychiatric areas, so was unaware that those courses of study existed. I have to wonder, as you point out, whether or not Obama took some of those courses on that topic, since he ended up doing that line of work for awhile. They say that it's a day wasted if you don't learn something...so today was a good day! :laugh:
Thanks Susan! ;)
When I typed the subject line to my original post I did it as a catchy title to get people to read it. You all answered my legitimate question as to a job title I heard a lot about recently and had no ideal what it was. After I read your posts and researched I learned a community organizer is a social worker and social planner.I knew a LCSW is similar to a psychiatrist and does counseling. I did find everyone to be a little uncertain or incomplete as to what the community organizer job title meant. Together with your info and the links I posted I hope we all know more than we did yesterday. Thanks for the info. I look forward to anyone that can expand on our knowledge. Ironically to my catchy title I find I did grow up to be a paid community organizer for a time. Now my mental health volunteerism makes me an unpaid community organizer.
David
I thought I asked a simple question at first and then had my answer, which I did. Then I looked up a list of licensed social workers and I only knew of about 5 of a list of 20+. My inquisitive nature was overwhelmed by all the variations of licensed social workers. I had to stop otherwise I would spend 2 years looking at all the variations. Thanks to everyone for all your knowledge. Time for bed so I have to stop or I be up researching all of this for the next two years ;D :o That would cause a world record insomnia.
David
Quote from: dnalexander on September 07, 2008, 11:09:46 PM
I thought I asked a simple question at first and then had my answer, which I did. Then I looked up a list of licensed social workers
You're giving up to soon, David. Social worker...smerker... Here's a few more very intelligent answers from some members here in Wonderland. I asked them this question... "When David grows up, he wants to be a Community Organizer? What is it and what does a Community Organizer do???"Betty Lou says:Everyone seems to be making fun of community organizers, but I want you to take a look at a few communities that didn't have community organizers and see what happened to them:
* Sodom and Gomorrah: Smote by God.
* Chicago, 1871: Set on fire by a cow.
* Atlantis: So disorganized by lack of a community organizer that people even forgot where it is.
* Rome: What caused the fall of the Roman Empire? They got rid of their community organizer.
* The Ewok Village: Occupied by a rebel alliance and forced into a war that didn't concern them.
* Gotham City: Terrorized by a guy dressed like a Clown and the only one to turn to is some wacko dressed like a BAT.
[Speaking of CLOWNS, If only these communities had an Al Sharpton or a Jesse Jackson, think how much better off they'd be.... Warph] Bubba says:"Community organizers are rabble rousers and nothing more. The Obama dude is a COMMIE bastard! You know, 'what's yours is ours and what's mine is mine' "
Pinky says:"Doncha love comments that can be taken either way? What about the Italian Mafia? Or the Russian Mafia? Or the Crips and Bloods? Or the Skinheads, Bubba? They organize their communities. In the end, it matters less that you can fight. What you fight for is the real test - John McCain."
[
Okay Pinky, whatever that means.... Warph] John says:I hate community organizers like the Red Cross, Churches and those other freaks help the poor. Lets crush every non-profit that helps disabled people, unemployed people and the poor!!! Crush them all.
The only good community organizers are the KKK.
Love this... never met so many like-minded folks who hate as much as I do.
[So what do you like best about the KKK? The alliteration? ...Warph] Ivan Tarankov Dranov says:"I was born and lived 30 years behind the IRON CURTAIN - "community organizer" is a Communist Party Representative whose job is to keep track of everyone in A community. NO one should be his own person and act independent of Communist Party agenda. Everyone who visits you is put on "community organizer's" list of suspects and traced down for investigation.
Community organizer put everyone under his hill for the "common cause and benefit" which in fact is a HORRIBLE LIE.
Everything you have is taking away to be "equally distributed" - in fact the Communists live in mansions and closed neighborhoods as kings - you can't even walk in their "community" and they are NOT ACCOUNTABLE to ANYONE.
You have the RIGHT to FREELY PRAISE their Party BUT if you question their action, ask questions or disagree with them PUNISHMENT is necessary to "protect the common good" If you stay tall Communists KILL YOU.
America has NO CLUE what life was under Lenin, Stalin and all the way until the Berlin Wall came down .... that is the CHANGE You CAN BELIEVE IN!
Give this Barack Hussein Obama time and freedom and America will go backwards CHANGED in what Eastern Europe was in the LAST Century.
This is NOT a joke. This is NOT just another election. This is NOT American Freedom at work - BE WATCHFUL NOT to pass the POINT of NO RETURN.
America will be what RUSSIA was since 1917 ... will take Millions of dead Americans to turn back to the America OFFERED by the Forefathers AND 99% chances are that IT WILL NEVER get back its fredom."
[Wow, Ivan... I don't know what to say except I'm glad I'n not a Community Organizer in Russia! ....Warph] Rocky says:Ivan wrote: "....behind the IRON CURTAIN - "community organizer" is a Communist Party Representative whose job is to keep track of everyone in A community."
"Ivan, it means the same thing in America. People who have experienced the horrors
of communism like you and other see through the deception of the American left.
Thank God for you."
Fred says:"They had a ex-community organizer on the radio the other day. The guy said his only job was basically a low level peon for the Chicago democrat party bosses. Community Organizers are basically just the guys who knock on your door, and ask if you are a democrat. If yes, they make sure you remember you need to put the crack pipe down, and go out and vote for the democratic ticket. It's just a fancy name for a door knocker."
Sally says:"Obama calls himself a 'Community Organizer' because 'community' sounds better than 'communist'. Don't forget- another popular 'community organizer' among the Obama supporters was Che Guevarra. His communities were organized. ...very organized."
Harry says:Yes, we should all elect Obamuhhhh our God-King because he was such a faubulous community organizer. Why, just look at how successful he was in Chicago!"
http://cbs2chicago.com/local/chicago.summer.shootings.2.810166.html
Fred says.... again:"My comments about what a community organizer was in Chicago sounded a lot like how a community organizer works in Communist Russia, according to Ivan. The only difference is that the democrat community organizer can't actually have you killed, so he just invents a system where he can prevent you from having a job, or receiving social services.
It is weird that the communist and the democrats would deploy a similar system to control the people. It is almost like they studied the same core social philosophies."
Horace says:"Community Organizer? Someone that organizes organs in a community."
[Now I'm confused.... Horace is it? Is that music organs or body organs? ...Warph] Jerry says:"Connect the dots! If Obama, the Community Organizer is elected...
- the SCOTUS (Supreme Court of the United States) will be packed with radical left-wing judges effectively repealing the Constitution.
- Obama has said that he would reduce the 'waste' in the military. He would render it impotent! Why do we need 8 nuclear carriers?...
- Obama will raise any and every tax he and his leftist filibuster-proof Congress can raise, sending the economy into a depression. 'Slavery reparations' will be imposed as a means of redistributing wealth to favored organizations.
- The Democrats will re-employ the 'Fairness Doctrine' which will cut off dissent from radio broadcasters leaving him and his henchmen with complete control of news via the current useful idiots in the MSM. America will become a de facto one-party political system. Likewise with the Internet! Gov't licensing of sites and computers & high taxes which will cut off all but an underground of an Internet. Why do you need a computer anyway?
- 'Public Allies' (Google it) and other government sponsored quasi-military 'voluntary' organizations will counterbalance the American military. The C-I-C will appoint his own high ranking officers to lead the military as well. Wesley Clark sound familiar?
- Gun control will be total throughout the US. Confiscation will be employed as one measure of enforcement. The population will be, at least legally, disarmed. The SCOTUS is his and they decide what is Constitutional. The MSM will barely report it in anything but flowery terms. So now the US is an unarmed mass of 300 million people at the mercy of these 'Public Allies' leftist government groups, probably heavily armed and in control.
- Nationalization of major production not by confiscation but by 'windfall profits' taxation. In other words, the government takes the profits. Period. No messy admin headaches, simply appoint a friendly manager and give him a profit quota! (or else)
I'm sure I left out some dots here.
I find it hard to believe that a slick black hustler who calls himself a Community Organizer is a nit smarter than the other Chicago pusher's and pimps came up with this by himself! "
[Wow, Jerry.... no, I think you connected all the dots, buddy.... Warph] YouareHatefulScum says:"You people are seriously making fun of the hard needed work that community organizers do? Have you ever been to a poor community. Let me just say that you people are a bunch of a**holes and your VP pick is the biggest, stupidest bitch I have ever seen.
Your crazy, fanatical, inane religious poophead of a pick will never become the vice president of our country. Take that and suck on it. You are hateful scum bucket, Warph."
[That's because I didn't have a community organizer to alphabetize me or whatever they do. -Warph.] FriendofYouareHatefulScum says:"YouareHatefulScum is telling the truth!
I grew up in Beverly Hills, and I don't know what we would have done without our community organizer!"
Seanmahair says:"Liberals. No sense of humor. Not only do they have no sense of humor they have no perspective. Ever notice that when Conservatives disagree with someone they endeavor to give reasoned, logical facts as the defense of their positions. Liberals simply start name calling. Who is it again that are ignorant, biased, simple minded rubes? Could it be the profanity screeching, lying, dirty minded, spelling challenged Liberal Democrats (known pseudo- affectionately as trolls)?
Of course not, they only went to one university and it was "first rate". They didn't let anyone who thought different in. Talk about elitist. Oh and speaking of that someone look up where Osamabama went to high school in Hawaii. I have it on good authority this wasn't just any old school. No public school for the "messiah."
[yeah, I've noticed, no sense of humor.... trolls, huh? ....Warph]
(http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk84/TANUJ_17/157.gif)
Very Funny!!! ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Thanks for all your responses. Susan
Warph...... you are definitely the king and one of a kind..
Loved it! Just what I needed about right now too.
(http://th202.photobucket.com/albums/aa54/coppier/Laughing/th_Laughing_Chimp.gif)
Warph
David. Social worker...smerker...
[/quote]
Actually at the time Warph my job title was Health Applications Operational Systems Analyst. Another job title I never heard of before. I can't tell you how many times I heard the response " a what?".
Shoot, David...just sounds like you're overly qualified to be the next President of the United States! :laugh:
Deborah's US Liberal Politics Blog
By Deborah White, About.com Guide to US Liberal Politics since 2005
My BioMy BlogMy ForumAdd to: iGoogleMy Yahoo!RSSWhat's Wrong with Palin Sneering at Community Organizers?
Monday September 8, 2008
Sneered Sarah Palin in her Republican Convention speech that dripped with gleeful sarcasm, "I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a 'community organizer,' except that you have actual responsibilities."
Palin was, of course, referring to Barack Obama's early years working with churches to help low-income communities in Chicago.
FYI, Ms. Palin: Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., recipient of the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize and of the 1965 American Liberties Medallion by the American Jewish Committee for his "exceptional advancement of the principles of human liberty," was a community organizer.
King worked with communities to secure jobs, economic parity and labor rights for disenfranchised African-Americans, as well as for the right to vote and other basic civil rights. King was paid little for his work, which was the mission of his life.
And Cesar Chavez, posthumous recipient of the U.S. Medal of Freedom, was a community organizer for his entire adult life.
A decade after joining the Community Service Organization, Chavez founded the United Farm Workers Association in 1962, which still works to obtain decent wages and humane working and living conditions for migrant farmworkers and their families, most of them Latinos.
Community service was also the life mission of Cesar Chavez, who never owned a home, and never earned more than $6,000 in a year.... unlike mayors, Ms. Palin, who earn a decent salary, great benefits, and rarely work more than a forty-hour week.
Buzz up!
Who are Community Organizers? What Do They Do?
Most community organizers, though, are unrecognized, unsung heroes. They volunteer, or earn low wages, helping the downtrodden to improve their own community conditions in areas as education, jobs training, employment, health care, neighborhood clean-up, and starting small businesses.
Community organizers are social workers and teachers, nurses and doctors, and yes, pastors, rabbis, priests, nuns, and other religious leaders. Community workers are usually ordinary people who reach-out to help others help themselves.
Community organizers commonly work with those in need in homeless shelters or living on the streets, in migrant farm camps, on Skid Row, and in blighted and low-income neighborhoods.
The rich irony in Republicans dissing community workers is that the purpose of community organizing is to teach self-help to the down-and-out, and to encourage them to stand-up for themselves. To become more self-sufficient, and less passively reliant on the government.
What's Wrong with Palin Sneering at Community Workers
There's nothing inherently wrong with Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin being unfamiliar with the concept of community organizing.
While her unfamiliarity does betray a lack of deep understanding of U.S. history, her home state of Alaska may have little need for community organizers. Alaska is the third least-populated U.S. state, and per Wikipedia, is about 70% white, with 85% of all Alaska households speaking English at home.
What's wrong with Sarah Palin arrogantly mocking community organizers is that she's sneering at something she admittedly doesn't understand, rather than first making an effort to find out what the term means.
Sarah Palin's "shoot first, look later" approach smacks of someone who doesn't do their homework, despite her lack of knowledge. And she does so solely for political gain.
And after eight devastating years of the "shoot first, look later" Bush Administration, the U.S. doesn't need another "go-it-alone" leader who prides himself or herself on governing from the gut rather than doing their homework. Or rather than working collegially, respectfully with others.
Ms. Palin, if you need another example of community organizing, one more relevant to your own life, try this one skyrocketing around the internet:
Jesus Christ, the central figure of your Christian faith, was a community organizer. Pontius Pilate, who ordered Christ's crucifixion, was a Roman governor.
(Photo taken on March 18, 1966: National Archive/Getty Images)
Related Reading
Cesar Chavez Fought for Fairness and Human Dignity of Farm Workers
Lesser Known Words of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Obama 101: Civil Liberties & Rights
Buzz up!
This thread is really worthless, you can go out on the internet and find as many pro as cons on this subject. I am sure the truth is somewhere in between, and I am even more sure that virtually noone in Elk County really cares what the truth is or what Barack Obama's real reasons were for being a "Community Organizer".
Why is it worthless?
Quote from: frawin on September 10, 2008, 06:27:28 AM
This thread is really worthless,
Uncle Frank, Ouch that hurt. Still love you. :angel:
David
With 31 replies and 496 views it is the most active post (in Politics) in the last week since the Sarah Palin (the biggest story nationwide) thread started a week ago.
http://www.cascity.com/howard/forum/index.php/topic,5542.0.html.
David, I meant to say that Post and not that Thread, sorry, forgive an old man. I don't want to spend much time on what I meant, it was that the specific Post was worthless as you could go out and find a dozen articles that were pro and a dozen that were Con, I think the truth was probably somewhere in the middle,main point, you can define what a Community Organizer's Job Description is, but that doesn't mean that is what the individual will do or did, and we had dwelled to long on that one anyway. I am really growing weary of politics and wish the election was over and Mccain and Palin were in DC getting it done for the nation. It is going to be a long two months and lots of mud slinging. Fortunately my family, friends, business associates, and neighbors are majority conservatives and Republicans.
Y'know maybe if enough people hollered at their reps and said enough with the bull, tell me some stuff I need to know, both parties would get their you know what together and give us what we really want which is hard answers.......I know........never mind..............................just sufferin from wishful thinkin again..................