What is Community Organising? @ the People's Bookshop

Week one: What is Community Organising?

In the first half, this session will introduce some of the different definitions of community organising in use & explore some community organising models, both historical & contemporary. In the second half, it will focus on local examples and how they could be built & developed.

Session structure:

1. Opening: Getting to know each other - introductions.
2. Overview, asking the question ‘what is community organising’ and outlining some models.
3. ⁠A discussion, exploring some of the possibilities & issues presented by these models, drawing on participants own experience.
4. ⁠Break.
5. ⁠Activity: think about some of the community organising happening locally - what works well & not so well?
6. ⁠Identify some projects or potential community organising projects that could help supported or developed. What would the first steps be?
7. ⁠Closing: action - what are we going to take away to work on?

More info about the Political Education @ the People's Bookshop programme: 

The People’s Bookshop are hosting a series of political education workshops, using the motto, ‘The Past We Inherit, the Future We Build’ as a guiding theme. The workshops will run along two tracks: one, based around community organising skills (on the fourth Sunday of the month) and another, more discussion based session, taking place on the second Sunday of each month. The workshops will take place from 4 ‘til 6, and each will have a focus on action as well as learning. All welcome.

More info about the Community Organising Track @ the People's Bookshop

Week One: Sunday 25th October 2026 4pm – 6pm

What is Community Organising?

This first session will cover the basics of community organising, definitions & models & how they have been used. It will also explore some local examples of organising and how they can be supported and built.

Week Two: Sunday 22nd November 2026 4pm – 6pm

Keeping the heat on: Alinsky-style organising

This session will look at the methods of Saul Alinsky, which have been very influential in community organising practice since the late 1960s. It will outline and discuss some of the main principles of his pragmatic model of community action.

Week Three: Sunday 3rd January 2027 4pm – 6pm TBC

Strands of anti-racist community organising

This session will look at the various ways to organise against racism in communities, looking back at some of the methods used by anti-fascist organisations and test them against today’s political environment.

Week Four: Sunday 24th January 2027 4pm – 6pm

How do we organise locally?

This session will invite a community organiser from the County Durham Coalfield to share their organising and campaigning methods and ask what we can learn from each other as we build community power in the region.

Week Five: Sunday 28th February 2027 4pm- 6pm

Community Wealth Building

This session will look at Community Wealth Building models – globally, nationally and locally - to explore the power of economic democracy, land ownership, co-operation and local finance.

Week 6: Sunday 4th April 2027 4pm – 6pm TBC

Subject TBC

Week 7: Sunday 16th May 2027 4pm – 6pm TBC

Subject TBC

Week 8: Sunday 27th June 2027 4pm-6pm

Subject TBC