Participate in Occupy – Grassroots: Help Build From the Bottom-Up
The next Occupy – Grassroots (OCGR) conference will be this Tuesday, 12-3, at 9:00 PM eastern time, 8:00 PM central, 7:00 PM Mountain, or 6:00PM Pacific. If you have not registered, please do at http://myaccount.
There is a new Occupy initiative called Occupy – Grassroots (OCGR). Occupy and specifically Occupy Grassroots (OCGR) is part of an organic movement of “people of good will” uniting to impact our culture through organizing, direct action, education, and facilitated communication. The mission is to awaken the hearts and minds of citizens, to create sustainable communities, and to face the critical issues of our day such as climate change and the corporatization of democracy. The ultimate authority in our democracy rests with “We the People”. OCGR organizes to awaken our fellow citizens to this reality.
OCGR meets via a free conference call the first and third Tuesday of each month at 9:00 pm eastern – 6:00 pm Pacific. . If you would like to join us, please sign-up at the following link: http://myaccount.maestroconference.com/conference/register/YRIC5KXIZZCW6XV8
Our goal is to empower people through local group organizing and strategic action. This is achieved by developing a relationship between the Occupy Movement and the local community organizing model developed by the Wisconsin Grassroots Network (WGN).
This model has developed over the past five years resulting in the current membership of 26 community grassroots groups around Wisconsin that are networked regionally and statewide. WGN is facilitated by a task force of volunteers who work to realize WGN’s mission. The group is strategically focused and action oriented.
The WGN model facilitates the establishment and nurturing of grassroots community groups. These groups are empowered by individuals with passion to bring transformation to their communities. Their voices are amplified by the group. Group achievements build group commitment and assists in future progress.
WGN also collaborates with a network of issue advocacy groups called Action Work Groups (AWG). Some issue examples are Move to Amend, education, the environment etc. AWG’s are networked between individuals in different groups. This networking is built on face to face and virtual communications to forge personal relationships between the participants. The WGN website and database provide the glue to the various organizational components.
No doubt other communities are taking similar organizing and bringing their communities together. We very much want to hear other experiences in communities around the country.
Imagine the possibilities: across the country community networks form, they bring together concerned citizens, some who were involved in Occupy, others who are involved in ongoing community groups, they begin to work together in community assemblies, evaluate what their community needs, what strengths their community has to build on and they start to solve their problems. These communities share information amongst themselves, learn from each other and develop a national network built from the ground up, from community to national movement.
We hope you will join us in learning from each other and building a movement of movements on the foundation of communities working together in mutual aid.
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