What is a Community Organizer?
Community organizing is the process of bringing communities together to define their visions and values and build their collective power to realize those visions, win improvements in people’s lives, and challenge the structures of oppression.
Community organizers work with communities to come together to develop the power, skills, relationships, and organization they need to collectively bring about positive social change for themselves and others in their community.
Community organizers, including those who partner with AOP, work with a variety of communities and on a range of issues. AOP develops organizers through apprenticeships focused specifically on creating social change on issues of racial, social, economic, and environmental justice, and we are dedicated to recruiting and developing organizers from within Wisconsin’s oppressed and underrepresented communities.
AOP offers apprentice organizers the opportunity to learn community organizing skills on the job with the supervision of a mentor, and to learn skills and theories form some of the leaders in the field in Wisconsin. Most AOP apprentices have been active in their communities and have a fundamental understanding of the need for progressive social change. Once accepted into the program, apprentices will work with their mentors and AOP throughout the course of their seven-month apprenticeship.
Apprentices develop written work plans, including goals and tasks, with their mentors and AOP. Apprentices and mentors should then meet regularly with each other to check in on progress of the work plan they developed together. AOP program staff members also make a commitment to meet with apprentices regularly to address any questions or concerns apprentices may have.