Community Series · Free handbook
The Community Organizer's Handbook.
For calling the first meeting and keeping the record afterwards. Borrow the practices civic publishers have always used; skip the org chart. No officers, no committees, no fellows.
Chapter 01
Calling the first meeting
A short script for the doorstep, a one-page agenda template, and the email you can copy and paste. Three doors is the minimum useful number; six is enough.
Chapter 02
Running a 45-minute kitchen-table meeting
Start on time. End on time. One question on the wall. Five minutes per voice. Decide the next decision before anyone leaves.
Chapter 03
Dividing the work without a chair
Lists of names and tasks, signed in the same color pen. No officers. No nominations. The Records Series carries the templates.
Chapter 04
Speaking as a group at a hearing
One speaker, many supporters in the room. The Hearing Survival Card scales to a group — each supporter holds a single question on a card.
Chapter 05
Keeping the record after the decision
Print the After-the-Hearing Debrief. File it in the binder under Tab A. The block's first field report writes itself within the week.
Chapter 06
When to bring in a lawyer, planner, or journalist
Use the Response Directory by discipline, not by name. No endorsements; only the right kind of help for the question in front of you.
A note on personalities.
This handbook never names a lead organizer. The publication's editorial line is to spotlight communities, not individuals. A meeting that depends on one person ends when that person moves. A meeting that depends on the printed record continues.
Use the Neighborhood Starter Kit for the first three doors, the Meeting Packets for the meeting itself, and the shared workbench for the group's local record.