Organizing's Iron Rule 

by Moriah Williams

            By teaming with members from the First Presbyterian Church of Pomona, my class mates and I were given the unique opportunity to extend our knowledge of community organizing through participation in the Inland Empire Sponsoring Committee (IESC) of the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) network.  Although our roles were not quite young activists who jumped at the internship with fire in our bellies to organize rallies, sign petitions, go door to door, and fight legislation, we, on the other hand, were able to learn some of the most effective and powerful techniques to build a community of people through relationships, organize common interests through personal meetings and connecting others, and learn that the people who are going to make the most change are the members of the community themselves.  Interning at IESC provided me with a new outlook and approach to community organizing through the observation of Pomona city members who advocate change in their neighborhoods by meeting with one another to voice their concerns and to collaborate for action.  This included the experience of having to schedule one-on-one meetings to discover the significance of establishing relationships, and the learning environment in which I was able to read, discuss, and reflect on how to build a people of power.

            After numerous meetings with Bob Linthicum (community organizer and interim pastor at First Presbyterian Church of Pomona), my class mates, and community members from Pomona, four important aspects of community organizing have begun to plant and root themselves in my mind.  The first is the Iron Rule, which states, “Never do for others, what they can do for themselves”.[1]  Do not take away the powers that people already have in them, but help them identify it, allow them to use it, and watch them rise.  The second aspect is, the best way to connect with others is by doing it relationally.  One of the most important steps in community organizing is building relationships so that the people will begin to find significance with one another.  The greatest possible way to build those relationships is by doing it relationally!  The third facet is reflection, reflection, reflection!  Reflection is the key in community organizing because not only does it allow for critical evaluation, but after seeing what you may have done wrong or right, you know future steps will be taken in the right direction after some good critical evaluation.  Finally, do not fear what some may call failing.  If there is an issue that you see needs to be addressed, but the community does not want to act upon it, let the people win, give up.  Never, never be the one doing the work for the people and never, never be afraid to lose a battle.  You cannot force your own ideas on a community and expect the same results as if they were derived from the members themselves.

            “Never do for others what they can do themselves”.  I learned this rule by reading Bob Linthicum’s book, Building A People of Power.  The Iron Rule seems so simple, yet extremely effective.  The only way a community is truly going to succeed in making change, after meeting with one another, is to decide what needs to be done, what is going to be done about it, and then doing it!  As a community organizer, it is not my job to advocate for a people because they have voices themselves.  My job is to meet with people, establish connections among members of the community, and invoke questions like, “Well, what are YOU going to do about this?”  My job is not to make decisions for the people, but to support them in whatever decisions they see fit to make and are willing to work for.

            One of the most valuable experiences I had was performing individual meetings (one-on-ones) with people from my community.  About halfway through the internship, we were required to schedule meetings with individuals to find out their likes, aspirations, joys, issues, concerns, worries; essentially, we were to establish a relationship with this person.  This was a valuable skill to enhance because not only is it key to community organizing, but it is the first step in which relational power is built.  After identifying the dominant issues members bring up, you can then connect people with common interests so they may have the chance to build relationships with one another.  This system works because the power is not implemented by a hierarchical structure, but is evenly distributed among the people and change originates from the community itself.

            While interning at IESC, we had the opportunity to attend various meetings addressing health care, workforce development, crime and safety, education, and the development of a waste transfer station.  The meeting I attended was a cluster meeting where members from each institution associated with IESC discussed issues that affected the city of Pomona.  This meeting provided me with insight on how decisions are made in a communal setting and how reflection is used as a tool for evaluation and planning.  This past year I have learned the importance of reflection, reflection, reflection!  Immediately following the cluster meeting, there was a time for evaluation so members could discuss what went right, what went wrong, and how things could go better next time.  Without reflection in community organizing, action would be missing its other half, its counteractive force to progress substantively for transformation.  Reflection and action go hand in hand.

            The last aspect of community organizing that I found most helpful was that of knowing when to give up.  It is so important to remember the Iron Rule, “Never do for others what they can do for themselves”.  If a community sees a problem but does not wish to address it, this is not the time for you to make change for them, but to step away, and let them decide what they want to do.  Community organizing is not about setting the agenda for a group of people but empowering a group of people to find the leadership in themselves so they may transform one another in a life-giving way, invest time to address their own concerns, and share experiences as they grow together creating a capacity for change.

            Finally, one of the most important things I learned interning at IESC is that when transformation in a community takes place, the people create a type of plenty and communal power that everyone can access.  They begin to see what is right and just for the common good and work towards the wealth of the entire community, not just those at the top or those at the bottom.  So with that I would like to end with a quote that I see very suitable when a people of power finds itself:

“Abundance is a communal act, the joint creation of an incredibly complex ecology in which each part functions on the behalf of the whole and, in return, is sustained by the whole.  Community not only creates abundance – community is abundance.  If we could learn that equation from the world of nature, the human world might be transformed.”[2]

Executive Summary:

            In my time at the Inland Empire Sponsoring Committee (IESC), not only have I learned the techniques and importance of being a community organizer, but have found the value in human relationships for the purpose of building a sustainable, abundant and powerful people.  Through personal meetings with Bob Linthicum, the interim pastor at First Presbyterian Church of Pomona, cluster meetings with members from the IESC, and the reading material, I have found that the greatest power a people have is the power they have in themselves, individual meetings are key to building relational connections, and reflection is essential for effective action.  Once the community identifies its own power and uses it to make change, the people begin to see the importance of the common good and will continue to find wealth in each other.

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