YS 615 - Community and Youth Organizing 3 Credits

Prerequisite: None
This course gives a historic and contemporary analysis of community and youth organizing models in social change movements. Students will gain an understanding of what community and youth organizing is; articulate its value and purpose; roles of an organizer at different phases of a project; explore strategies, introduction of skills (consensus building, listening sessions, needs and asset mapping, etc.), activities and tactics of organizing; identify their own strengths and challenges; and think about evaluation and social justice marketing. This course will incorporate case studies of contemporary activist movements (both local and national), talks from prominent activist-scholars, skill-building workshops, and online engagement. Students will be asked to think deeply about the intersections of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, religion and (dis)ability as it impacts organizing as well as consider how the current socio-political context is influencing youth and community organizing efforts.