My life as a community organizer

Realistically, there is no formal training required to become a community organizer. I have found myself in this role at the Friends of the Middlesex Fells Reservation. How did this happen?

In 2009, I helped to start a community lecture series on topics of natural and cultural history. I wanted to learn more about the Fells myself and I figured that if we invited people out to free lectures, they'd come. After all, I wanted to go. I polled the public online and over half (about 60+ people) said they would be interested in coming to such events. After that, it took one meeting between myself, our volunteer hike leaders, and my organization's executives to decide that lectures would be cool ... now, eight events later over 150 people have attended these programs.

I believe this to be a thinly-veiled example of Lappé's living democracy. Participating in free education is rightly outside of election and market forces. Although the events take place in government buildings (DCR-managed state property), they are set-up, broken-down, and performed by individuals who are dedicating their unpaid work time to the cause of free environmental programming, as are those leading our hikes. I have to admit that having facilitated an event series where 10-40 people reliably show up, no matter the topic, is a personally powerful experience. I didn't make it happen; we made it happen. We lived, and continue to live, the democratic process and made possible these experiences of socializing over science and environmental history. I learned, more deeply, that education is a key to fostering deep environmental consideration. Community organizing is my new job; unpaid, but incredibly real.