Model: Congregations Organizing Communities

OCO has employs a faith-based model of community organizing that is shared across the PICO network. Through this model leaders build community organization based on the value, vision, and leadership of the member congregations. Core leadership teams are developed at each church. These leaders do extensive one-to-one listening campaigns with families of the community. Leaders begin to develop possible solutions to these issues through research meetings with institutional leaders, whether from government, non-profit agencies or businesses. Public officials are then invited to a large meeting, called an action, where they are asked to make commitments to the community to help bring about the needed change.

It is in action that the community experiences unity and exercises the power of their organization. With the perspective of faith, OCO leaders evaluate and reflect on their own development as leaders, how well they have engaged the larger community, whether their relationship with institutional leaders has improved, and if concrete results are being seen. The factor bonding people of such diverse culture, language, and religious expression together is

Using this model, OCO has developed thousands of volunteer leaders over the last 30 years though Local Organizing Committees (LOCs) at their church or school. This community-organizing model has been effectively used in more than 40 congregations and now is being utilized by several schools. Local actions involve between 50 and 1,000 people. Thousands of people have taken effective action in their neighborhoods on issues ranging from new stop signs to new affordable housing. Most OCO leaders remain involved year after year because they know and trust one another and care deeply about their families and community. Using this model, OCO has built its civic power at a citywide level and has been called the most powerful grassroots organization in Oakland.