Organizing II class lays further groundwork for future growth

The SMART Education Department held its Organizing II class in Chicago, Ill., during the week of May 13th. Organizing II focuses on strategic research and application and dives deeper into the strategies and tactics learned in Organizing I, such as salting, voluntary/internal organizing committees, and top-down, bottom-up and pressure campaigns.

Throughout the department’s three-class organizing sequence, participants develop, revise and initiate an organizing plan in consultation with their business managers. In Chicago, participants worked together to research their companies and began putting together detailed organizing plans focused specifically on their selected companies. Each of the 26 attendees presented the research they found on their companies and the organizing strategies they plan to implement. They were also the first group to receive the new Herrmann Whole Brain assessment and training to help them understand how the way people think can impact their success as organizers.

“A special thank you to the SMART Strategic Campaigns Department for supplying research materials for each participant for their selected companies,” said SMART International Instructor Richard Mangelsdorf.

Attendees will continue their work in December in Organizing III, where they will explore the final component for their organizing plans: how to effectively impact their selected companies through partnerships with community, political and economic organizations.