Community Organizing Gains Cachet Among Young People
April 13, 2009 | Read Time: 1 minute
Interest in careers in community organizing is surging among college students and recent graduates, The New York Times reports.
Educators and organizers say that while such jobs were once viewed as a low-paying destination for political radicals, they have now gained cachet as a vehicle to do good works, develop leadership skills, and emulate President Obama, who has written and spoken extensively about his community work.
Last fall, 200 people, applied for a single community-organizing job at the San Diego affiliate of PICO, a nationwide organization that advocates for the poor. In the past, such a post would attract 25 to 30 applicants, the newspaper said.
And last summer, 1,200 people applied for 65 internships from the Center for Community Change, in Washington. Two years ago, just 250 people applied, the Times reports.
“Community organizing has become cool,” said Marshall Ganz, a veteran organizer and Harvard lecturer who developed a widely used community-work curriculum.
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