Ebook The Intentional Exercise of Power: Community Organizing in Camden, New Jersey
Fashions in social science—such as empowerment and social capital—often insinuate action, movement and practice, but too often the action in these orientations is in their conceptualization rather than their implementation (DeFilippis, 2000; Perkins, 1995). This story of praxis can be understood from several social science perspectives, but from the perspective of Camden Churches Organized for People (CCOP), and for us authors (who worked with CCOP), it is about the intentional exercise of power.
CCOP, a community organization that is affiliated with the Pacific Institute for Community Organization (PICO), a national network of community organizations, is located in Camden, New Jersey. Camden’s reputation is inauspicious—in 1995 Camden
had the dubious distinction of being the murder capital of the US, with almost 80 murders in a single year and it often ranks as one of the most dangerous cities of its size in the US and for having one of the highest child poverty rates in the US (O’Leary Morgan & Morgan, 2002). Camden, located across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, has a population of about 80,000. Over the last 40 years, industrial decline has left poverty and squalor in its wake. According to the 2000 Census, Camden has a per capita income of $9,815, making it the poorest city in New Jersey and one of the poorest in the US (US per capita income in 2000 was $29,760 according to the US Department of Commerce). The census also reports that about 18% of the housing stock is vacant (according to the 2000 US Census, 9% of the housing units were vacant nationally).
CCOP is a non-profit organization that builds community organization by drawing on faith communities as the base of its organizational membership. Though CCOP is not a religious organization, CCOP works with people of faith who draw on their beliefs and values to guide their efforts in addressing community problems. CCOP teaches community organizing skills to 18 Camden churches which, together, have federated to become CCOP. CCOP’s approach to community organizing, based on the PICO model of community organizing (Speer & Hughey, 1995), is anchored in a fundamental orientation that social change, as compared to social services, is necessary to address the causes of problems faced by individuals and families. CCOP explicitly holds that change comes about only through the exercise of power. For citizens and communities to exercise power, this model requires that citizens come together collectively through formal organizations; this perspective views voluntary, non-economic organizations successful only to the degree that they develop relationships among members within a community.
Download
Ebook The Intentional Exercise of Power: Community Organizing in Camden, New Jersey
Posted in :
