Breakout 3B: Community Organizing to Impact Environmental Justice

(Macro Social Work CE)

Community organizing is a specialized field of social work that is devoted to restoring democracy at the grassroots level. A community organizer seeks to empower their community members through mobilizing efforts but is there a right way to organize for Environmental Justice? How can social workers ensure that their efforts are met with action? Picketing, fundraising, coalition building, canvassing, boycotting, sit-ins, petitioning, and electoral politics are ways in which a social worker can work toward meaningful change. Understanding what community organizing is can be aided by understanding what community organizing is not.