3.2 The organising drive

As in a trade union at work, the basis of community power is the collective. This means that you are going to have to recruit people to your organisation, whatever it is. How are you going to do it?

The Association of Community Organisations for Reform Now (ACORN) provides a good example. It was once one of the biggest civil society organisations in the United States, comprising more than 500,000 members spread across the country and achieving change on a wide range of issues, from welfare rights to housing reform. ACORN built its membership through having one-to-one recruitment conversations on doorsteps in communities and through holding public events. As in workplace organising, the one-to-one conversation is the favoured method of not only recruiting members but also identifying the issues that matter to your constituency. This can be done by knocking on doors or making phone calls, and should always involve going to where your constituency already is.