Congregation-based Community Organizing

A training on congregation-based community organizing was held in St. Mary's last April 14-17 at the SMART Center. The trainers came from AFACT (Anchorage Faith & Action, Congregations Together), a ministry of the Archdiocese of Anchorage. Twenty-five people attended the training from nine villages - Tununak, Tooksook Bay, Newtok, Nightmute, Alakanuk, St. Marys, Kalskag, Emmonak, and Aniak. Participants ranged from young adults to elders.

The role of ministerial leaders is crucial in congregation-based organizing and we were fortunate to have eight diocesan staff of the region attend the training. Besides the regional staff,(Jesuit priests, religious sisters, and a lay minister), also present were a Yup'ik Eskimo deacon and his wife as well as a Yup'ik deacon candidate. A native pastor from the Assembly of God church in one of our villages also joined us in the training.

The first evening of the workshop introduced different models of organizing. Although tired from a day of travel, people showed a high level of interest and energy. Relationships began to form among people from different villages and also between native people and the mostly non-native clergy.

The first full day of training started with a brainstorm on elements of a common vision for our communities. What are our hopes and dreams? What are the deepest "self-interests" of our hearts? And how do we get there from our present reality? This opened up a discussion about power, empowerment, and how to organize around the principle of relationship. Since the heart of Yup'ik Eskimo culture is relationship, this principle of organizing resonated with the group. After dinner there was an extended exercise in the dynamics of negotiation and power relationships. Role-playing and humor were helpful in overcoming language and cultural barriers.

The next day presented an overview of the organizing process for congregations. Then the rest of the day was spent looking in detail at the various elements and stages of the organizing process. One of the tools for creating and strengthening relationships is "1-on-1 visits." This grassroots approach to organizing echoes the traditional Yup'ik custom of "visiting." Again, role-playing and humor were helpful in teaching this tool of community organizing. The group displayed much energy and enthusiasm in their participation.

The last day of the workshop continued with a detailed look at the organizing process. The listening that happens on the "1-on-1 visits" slowly creates an energy or power that eventually leads to some sort of local action after careful research and preparation. As this process continues over a period of time, what becomes clear is that congregation-based organizing becomes more like faith formation. People learn to live out the gospel in a new and concrete way. A vision of justice and compassion gets its feet.

The training was a small first step in introducing the idea of congregation-based organizing to our Yup'ik Eskimo "bush" villages. This was a small but enthusiastic group of participants who now need to digest what they heard and somehow find their own ways of "translating" the ideas and communicating them to one another. The traditional form of Yup'ik decision-making rests heavily on finding consensus. This means that it will take time for people in the villages to have the many conversations necessary for a "decision" to use the tools of congregation-based organizing. In the meantime we as diocesan staff in the region are continuing our conversations about how we can best support and encourage the Yup'ik people in their struggle for justice.

The trainers and participants felt that the training could be completed a day ahead of the original schedule. Being able to conclude the workshop ahead of schedule resulted in a significant savings of money for housing and food. Funding for the workshop came from generous grants from the Rasmuson Foundation and from national and diocesan CCHD. We hoped that the remaining grant money might be used for continuing training in organizing. At the end of October 2010, AFACT will be sponsoring a training in Anchorage especially for Alaskan natives. We hope to use remaining CCHD grant money to send people from the "bush" villages to attend this training.


Catholic Bishop of Northern Alaska
1316 Peger Rd
Fairbanks, AK 99709-5199
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info@cbna.org