# Presentation: 011073

## Culture Organizing and Developement

- Syd Beane
- Senior Community Development Specialist
- Center for Community Change
- 160 Sansome Street, 7th Floor
- San Francisco, CA  94104
- Tel: 415 - 982-0346 Fax: 415-956-688-

## Paradigm Shift

- In living systems, what is healthy is a dynamic balance, what is unhealthy is imbalance - over emphasis of one tendency or neglect of the other.
- We should not replace any one view of the world with another but establish a better balance between them.

## Old Paradigm       New Paradigm

## Development

**Indian Center, Inc.**
**Organizing and Development Model**

- Lincoln Community Development Partnership
- State Housing Commission
- Nebraska Equity Fund
- Ritual and Ceremonies

- Task Force Organizing
- Tenant Organizing
- Coalition Organizing
- Rituals and Ceremonies

- CDC Development
- Affordable Housing Development
- Economic Development
- Ritual and Ceremonies

- Community Based Org
- Community Needs Assessment
- Long Range Strategic Planning
- Ritual and Ceremonies

**Development**

**Strategic Planning**

**Public Policy**

**Organizing**

## Organize

- Organize Community Support for Development
- Develop Financing and Project

- Organize Development Committee
- Complete Development Concept Plan

- Organize Development Corporation
- Select Development Team

- Organize Community Visioning Meetings
- Identify Development Needs

**Organize**

**Organize**

**Development**

**Development**

## Culture and Organizing

- Culture is a system of feeling, values, and beliefs which determine how we think and act.
- Communities will share certain values and differ in others.
- Those in power sometimes deliberately manipulate values to suit their own purposes.
- When people do not understand the real values of their group, they are likely to accept the myths  that are created for them.

## The myths created by people in power maintain the status quo cut people off  from their real history and culture of individual pride and collective action.
Rediscovering our own history and vulture helps us to restore the real value of our communities.
A priority of our organizing activities must be to elp the different member of our organization rediscover their own histories and cultures

- Rediscovering our own history and vulture helps us to restore the real value of our communities.
- A priority of our organizing activities must be to elp the different member of our organization rediscover their own histories and cultures

## Organizing strategies and tactics will not be effective unless they are acceptable to the culture in which we are organizing.
Organizers should become familiar with their own history and cultural values before organizing with people of other cultures.

- Organizers should become familiar with their own history and cultural values before organizing with people of other cultures.

## Culture as an Organizing Context

- Organizing with people is not only about building an organization. It is reestablishing peoples culture.
- The organization is creating a shared sense of history and beliefs which provide a cultural context for developing strategies and tactics.
- The organization and organizer in the process of helping people rediscover their historical values develops a vehicle for creating a new system of feelings, values, and beliefs.

## Building Culture into Daily Organizing

- Personalize and communicate cultural values during on-to ones and through organization materials.
- Build culture into meetings.
- Actions should include activities which preserve the history of the organization and its events.
- Through the creation and re-creation of symbols.

## Ceremonies and Rituals

- Ceremonies and rituals are the residue of culture which allows us to give expressions to personal experiences and beliefs while connecting with community and all things.
- Rituals and symbols help us to rediscover things we may need to see differently.
- Ceremonies link and mental expressions and allow us to act out our feelings and beliefs.

## Major Components of Ceremony- 	Story- 	Symbol- 	ActionOther Elements of A Ceremony- 	Personal Preparation- 	Involves the Senses- 	Encourage Group Participation- 	Physical Object- 	Sacred Place- 	Reinforcement of beliefs at all levels; body,                	mind and spirit- 	Language Use- 	Music

## Sustainable Development

- Sustainability is meeting current economic social and cultural needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.
- And underlying premise of sustainability is that economic development, social equity and environmental quality are inextricably linked.

## Sustainable development Principles:

- Develop land in harmony with natural ecosystems
- Use water, energy, lumber and other resources efficiently
- Conserve plants, animals endangered species and natural habitats
- create development opportunities which are equitable for all community partners

## Focus investment to preserve and revitalize communities
integrate space-based community economic development with sector-based high growth business development
Integrate the development of community businesses, housing and schools

- integrate space-based community economic development with sector-based high growth business development
- Integrate the development of community businesses, housing and schools