Roots to Power: A Manual for Grassroots Organizing

by Lee Staples

You can control corporate polluters, rebuild your neighborhood, develop good jobs, restructure public welfare, improve schools, or change the treatment that you receive from local police, landlords, or public administrators. Roots to Power shows you how to organize with other people to resolve problems that arise from everyday situations--not just to win one special reform or institutional change at the present time, but to build a long-term, collective power base with a capacity to win battles in the future by tapping economic, electoral, and direct-action sources of power.

Genres: Nonfiction, Activism, Social Justice, Political Science

234 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1984

Reviews

[Jeffrey Pedro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lee Staples shares invaluable information regarding grassroots organizing and maintaining their relevance. While written in 2004, there is so much that readers can still learn and adopt when thinking about creating an organization or joining one. Topics included:

•using research to determine the need for organizing
•how gatekeepers play a role in reaching out to members of a community
•the importance of face-to-face/ door-to-door communication in establishing a core base of organization members
•membership dues and how to motivate members to contribute
•keeping organizers engaged in social issues and how to avoid losing momentum
•tools and kits organizers can use to apply pressure on their targets
•anticipating how your targets will react to your tactics
•different methods of applying pressure and the best ways to get targets to respond to your demands
•the importance of direct action
•coalition building and associated strengths and weaknesses
•the do’s and dont’s of community organizing

Due to the year of publication, some of the information regarding technology was a little outdated. Overall, a solid manual for anyone interested in grassroots organizing!

[Robert Furiel · Rating 5 out of 5]

While community organising is (and should be) a practice, not theory, this book gives your practice good foundation, new ideas and puts together aspects you might have never seen written down before. It's not too easy to read (no diagrams or pictures, lol) but it can be a good theoretical back-up to any menior CO.

[Wench · Rating 5 out of 5]

So I'm a little biased because I have the pleasure of knowing Lee, but this is a really good, thorough manual on community organizing. Lee doesn't just give you basic steps, he walks you through the theory behind organizing and how to apply it. I love the treatment of power dynamics and insider-outsider organizer concerns. If you are organizing anything social justice or community-related, I highly recommend this book.

[Jaime · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lee's incredible. Humblest person I've ever met.

[Toby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lee is awesome...so is the book. I especially enjoy the emphasis on one-on-one's.

[kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

For my Public Health class.