Come learn why a house meeting is a great way to connect with people in your organization and in your neighborhood. You will participate in a house meeting and be prepared to facilitate one in the future. We will provide a brief overview of Broad Based Organizing and our campaign. Participants can receive a $50 stipend for participating..
A house meeting, or listening session, is a “relational conversation” between 8 – 12 people who sit down together to share their stories, concerns, and dreams. A house meeting campaign is a large series of these meetings that seeks to build and strengthen a vibrant, caring community with the capacity to act on the needs and values of its members in the following ways:
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Foster a common identity, mission and vision: create the opportunity for many members to discuss what they want their organization to be, what they want it to do, and what common values and concerns they want it to take action on, and to become invested in that common story.
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Cultivate networks of people who can work together.
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Identify common concerns for action: involve enough members to identify the widely held concerns, values, and interests that people are sufficiently passionate about that they would be willing to take action together on them. These issues, people’s “self-interest,” become the focus of organizing campaigns.
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Identify new leaders: identify people willing to get involved and take action on the community’s common concerns, values, and interests.
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Challenge leaders: call on leaders to bring people together for a shared conversation and to build stronger relationships that lead to action – in other words, to lead rather than simply acting on their own.