Reddit mentions of Building Powerful Community Organizations: A Personal Guide to Creating Groups that Can Solve Problems and Change the World

!!!!!

Well, if it's a local issue, there is an elaborate, but thin, set of skills that are required to pull this off. I was confused at first, because I thought you were referring to a generic "national" issue, which is, while important, totally off-the-table. (But then again, this is /r Lostgen)

The primary thing I would consider is

• Who is the decision maker that is needed to be persuaded?
  
• What would it take for that person to be persuaded?
  
• ...and if the person won't negotiate, then what kind of "stick" can you poke at him to persuade him.
  
  I have as much expectations about Americans in politics as do Children in politics, so people get "shocked" when it is stated openly.
  
  But one of the things to consider is that if a party isn't coming to the table to negotiate, that nonviolent repercussions are necessary to encourage negotiation.
  
  For instance, doing the stuff of the Civil Rights movement in 1963 would get you locked up in 2015 still, but we encourage the former while condemning the latter.
  
  Momentum is useless; contact information is what is valuable. Everytime you get a phone number, consider that a follower + 3-7 sympathizers.
  
  If people show up at a meeting, and are enthused, that means nothing to me, other then I picked a good place to do a speech.
  
  But if I have contact information....
  
  ...let me put it this way. I worked in DC for a bit, and it takes about ~12 dedicated people to control a district of 550,000 people. These people then network with networks, until they are capable of getting the congressman elected.
  
  Furthermore, it doesn't take a tremendous amount of work to pull this off, but again, the average american isn't even CAPABLE of admitting the need for leadership, so the Dem and Reps are "the one eyed leading the blind."
  
  There are so many question marks, my mind is racing, but I would think of it this way.
  
  
• Build a solid core of "organizers."
  
• Have those organizers create a network between "interest groups"
  
• Find a clear objective with a clear "opposition" to that goal, and get them to agree to that demand.
  
  Fuck. If you do those three things at a larger and larger scope, you form an entire political appartus, and get a footnote in history.
  
  http://www.amazon.com/Building-Powerful-Community-Organizations-Personal/dp/0977151808
  
  Get this book. I wish I had known you were referring to local issues, then I would have given an entirely different set of answers. "Protesting" means something different then Organizing.