The Community Renewal Society 3-Day Community Organizing training will challenge your presumptions, confront your priorities, and move you to reflect on who you are capable of being as a community builder. The training identifies key organizing principles, how values influence those principles, and how you can become an effective organizer and leader. Civic Action Network staff and guest trainers will lead participants through challenging sessions focused on organizing skills and faith-based principles.

CRS's flagship training provides an intensive 3 days of skills building and personal leadership development. The cost is only $300. Leaders from CRS member congregations who wish to attend should meet with their local organizers for a discounted rate.

Space is limited and registration fills up quickly, so register now!

Due to the large number of people registering for our last training, we have scheduled our next two training sessions. 

Register for the June 21-23 Training. 

Register for the September 19-21 Training.

Why would you want to attend the CRS Community Organizing Workshop?

• Because its time somebody in your faith community learned how to be more effective in addressing community social justice issues.
• Because its time you and your faith community learned what the possibilities really are in recognizing and living your “call” to “do justice” as individuals and as a faith community.
• Because its time your community heard a prophetic voice.
• Because it’s time.

“…and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” Micah 6:8

The Sessions

• The Melian Debate: you’ll experience the 3000 year-old dilemma of Melian islanders as they are forced to confront Athenian domination of the Aegean Sea.  Join the negotiations and experience how power works.  Try to resist dealing with the world as it is, and perhaps learn that if you want to change the world you have to change your relationship to power.
• History and Principles of Organizing: Learn where organizing comes from and how change occurs.
• Values: Reflect on your own values and development as a person and how you can live them out more fully in the world.
• One-on-Ones: Learn the communication skills of active and empathic listening that will uncover a person’s self-interests and build trusting relationships.      
• Agitation: Learn to lovingly challenge yourself and others to move beyond fear, cynicism, and hopelessness to act on their values in the world.
• Base Building and Leadership Development: Learn to build a more powerful organization by developing yourself and others and leaders.
• Cutting Issues and Taking Action: Learn how to pick targets and tell the difference between a problem and an issue.
• Power and Power Analysis: Learn how to identify the who, why and how of a social problem in your community, and how to use that knowledge to shape a strategy.
• Actions: Learn how to hold exciting public actions that win change.
• Effective meetings: Learn what it takes to have a meeting work as a tool for organization building.
• The Analysis Session: Put it all together! Experience an organizing challenge and shape a response to it within a small group.

Check out photos and video from our last training on facebook.

For more information visit the 3 day training page or contact Alex Wiesendanger (awiesendanger [at] communityrenewalsociety [dot] org) at 312.427.4830 x 3840

We look forward to sharing with you our knowledge of community organizing principles and values.