Starting from Within

Long-time organizer Scott Reed on the formation of organizers.

Last week we dropped another episode of Fundamentals of Organizing. This time with veteran organizer, and longtime Faith in Action Director, Scott Reed.  

I first met Scott in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. At that point the community organizing networks in this country rarely worked together. If they could agree on one thing it was their dislike for the other. The financial crisis, and a generational shift in leadership, created an opening for us to change that. Agreeing there was too much at stake to operate alone, National People’s Action, Faith in Action (then called PICO), the Alliance for a Just Society, the Southeast Industrial Areas Foundation, and Right to the City came together to take on the banks. Faith in Action was the strongest of those organizations and Scott’s wise and grounded leadership was a big reason we were able to break with old norms, and forge a new alliance.

Scott Reed has been a organizer since the early 70’s, working with leaders, clergy and staff to build organizations throughout the country so everyday people are able to advance their values and interests. For more than 40 years, he helped build the PICO National Network, renamed Faith in Action in 2018. Faith in Action organizes people through faith-based congregations in over 150 American cities, and multiple other countries. Scott stepped down as Director in 2018. 

Some highlights from the conversation. You can listen to the full episode here.

When you think of organizer training, what questions guide you?

“How do you begin to develop the people, the capacity of your effort to contend for power? And to disrupt what's going on, to unmask it, if you will. What are some of the skills that need to be brought to the table? So there's knowledge, there's skills, and then there's judgment. What do I need to do at this moment? What are the choices I need to make at this moment?”

You use the term “organizer formation.” What do you mean by that?

“An organizer begins to look at the world through a pretty complex set of lenses that try to look at the deeper reasons as to what we're experiencing in life. And put them into a context with what that person wants to be, and why. And so when I think about formation, what I'm really trying to think about is the development of the whole person and the way in which they see and act in the world, not simply a set of skills or techniques.”

The greater purpose of organizing.

“To understand that we belong to each other. To feel a deeper sense of value about what is right and what is wrong, about a sense that I'm on earth to do something with impact for others.”

What happens to people in the organizing process?

“… it's both about bringing a moral commitment into the world around us and about acting with agency, but intentionally, to build power to confront what is, in order to make a difference. But to do it in a way where we really grow. And we become, if you will, a better version of who we are.”

Organizing as a means of expanding one’s sense of what is possible.

“I think this question of, “to what extent are we equipping people to be able to imagine a different future, and still have the skills to both build and contest for power?” So, you know, the crises that we face, whether it be in the economy, on wealth distribution, whether it be climate change, whether it be in the polarization that is going on in our country, I do think that there is an ontological element to this charge, I do think that people's values and kind of sense of who they are and who they'd like to be, is a huge wellspring. We have not yet learned how to tap it effectively.”

You can listen to the conversation here. For more from Scott, read this interview from 2018 with NonProfit Quarterly. You can learn more about Faith in Action here.