Going Public by Michael Gecan - Start Local, Think National... Or Global
Written: Oct 23 '02 (Updated Aug 31 '09)
Product Rating:
Pros: short & easy read, has terrific ideas and is inspirational
Cons: sometimes frustrating reading at how our elected officials try to duck serving the public
The Bottom Line: A terrific read about how sometimes, with a little help, people can change the world for the better, even if they aren't household names and some politician takes the credit.
AliventiAsylum's Full Review: Michael Gecan - Going Public: An Organizer's Guide...
I firmly believe when writing a review it is incumbent upon the reviewer to reveal any connection they may have to the product which may make them biased. I picked up this book while doing my once-a-week visit to the offices of Long Island C.A.N., one of the organizations built by Industrial Areas Foundation - the agency for whom Mike Gecan works.
That said, I've only met him once or twice. However, I saw the books in a box and began to thumb through one of them. The Preface alone grabbed me and I asked if I could take the book home to read. The only condition was that I pass it on, rather than keeping it in my own library.
At only 185 pages, it's a relatively short read - but a good one. Some people will react that this is the work the churches and other religious organizations should be doing in our society - and others will come away from the book wanting to know how to create an organization to do the things Gecan talks about in their area. He has organized some terrific stories of just how "the little guy" managed to take back some power and demand that politicians and/or city organizations perform the jobs they were assigned to do. In one instance in the case of food inspectors, even as he sympathizes with the overworked city employees, the group manages to create a solution by taking their burden off their shoulders.
This book is a retelling of the many years of work Mike Gecan has done with Industrial Areas Foundation in their work in many areas of the country - most notably the inner cities and suburbs. Their main goal is to teach churches and other neighborhood organizations how to work together to grab power and force politicians and city and/or county agencies to do what they are supposed to be doing. Gecan's retelling is excellent - the book moves along at a great pace and lags very little. He seems to cut right to the point he is trying to make in each chapter, without putting in extraneous information. The stories inside also managed to flip-flop my opinions of two very exuberant and notorious New York City mayors.
In the Preface, titled Why Organize? Mike talks a lot about his background and how living in Chicago gave him plenty of opportunities to observe the power struggle at work. This is not just between politicians, but between the church and the neighborhood; his father and the local toughs; and various racial and ethnic groups that made up his neighborhood. He also touches on the difference between being an organizer versus being an activist, facilitator, advisor, or political activist.
The Introduction talks about the concept of power within the political system. Mike talks about the power that is in the political system in this country and the idea of how it is used. He talks about attending a hearing where people are going in and out of doors marked DO NOT ENTER while his group waits outside for its audience with the commissioners. Instead of dutifully obeying the signs, he walks in the doors with the confidence others walking through the doors has displayed and finds that the hearing they are waiting for has been postponed.
He cites this - and many other examples - as instances of making the public feel powerless and discouraged within the confines of the municipal system at work in cities across our nation. It then goes on to talk about the founding of Industrial Areas Foundation at the hands of the late Saul Alinsky
Chapter 1 is titled All Real Living is Meeting. Here Mike talks about how the one-on-one approach of getting to know the leaders of the local churches and organizations is the key to how Industrial Areas Foundation unites people and manages to work so well on its issues. In this chapter as in many of them, his prime example is East Brooklyn Congregations, a chief builder of affordable single-family homes in its Nehemiah Homes projects.
Chapter 2 is titled The World as It Is and talks a lot about dealing with the various politicians and the system. He talks about meetings where participants are railing about the way the world - or their locality - should work. But that is not what they are dealing with - they are dealing with the world as it is and have to learn how to make that work for them. One piece of advice is dealing with the various levels of staff and not letting people who are on a power-trip intimidate those seeking an audience with a particular representative. A surprise here is the meeting with Ed Koch, a mayor of New York City I had always admired. After reading about the occurrence here, I must admit I am greatly disappointed and my image of him is somewhat changed.
Chapter 3 begins the stories of actions and is aptly titled Activists on a Manhattan Street Here he talks about not allowing the organizations to fall into the traps that many other national activist organizations fall into - where the message gets lost in the action. The planning involved in any action is also talked about as ideas are thrown out and a course of action honed down.
Chapter 4 is titled Introducing Your Larger Self. It is a fascinating chapter that talks about dealing with various city agencies and figures. In one case, the neighborhood wishes to push along to completion a pool which has been closed for renovations for three years. The telling of the story of the meeting with the director of the city's major construction projects is something that will leave you incredulous. One lady refuses to be pushed around and wants the answer to the question of when the pool will be finished, not accepting all the dancing answers being given. It is this focus on changing the condition of the meeting - of not allowing people to be comfortable in the answers they give or in the positions they hold - that is at the center. Gecan advocates "stirring things up" without raising hell.
Chapter 5 is titled Merit Means (Almost) Nothing. Here he talks about the way the system is and that even the best of intentions cannot always get you what you want. He cites an overworked city board of inspections in dealing with food stores in poor inner-city areas. There are just not enough inspectors or enough of a budget to deal with these stores selling old, expired products to the poor at high prices. Mike talks about how East Brooklyn Congregations takes control of the situation on its own and forces the stores to comply with regulations. He also talks about how this played out in Chicago in an area where a school is dealing with a developer putting a high-rise condominium in the middle of a residential area.
Chapter 6 is titled Chutzpah Helps. This is the first time Gecan rally gets into a discussion of dealing with national candidates - this time during the 2000 Presidential Election. Remember that one? Both major candidates did a lot of talking about faith-based initiatives, and yet rejected out of hand a meeting with any organization in any way affiliated with Industrial Areas Foundation. Yes, despite their success at building a tremendous number of low-income affordable homes in urban areas; despite their success at pushing a living-wage bill in Baltimore; and despite the fact that their membership is made up - primarily - of religious organizations who would be at the center of these faith-based initiatives, neither Gore or Bush would consent to meet with anyone. The examples he gives of their attempts to gain the attention of both national parties left me feeling good about just what people can accomplish together, but also frustrated at the current state of politics in this country.
Chapter 7 is titled Ambiguity, Reciprocity, Victory. For the first time Gecan talks about the relationships between the Brooklyn and South Bronx organizations and former Mayor Giuliani. I have never been a Giuliani fan over the years and was actually surprised to learn how well - in general - he worked with those organizations over the years. Gecan's focal point here is the crises that erupted in New York City after the spate of police shootings of unarmed minorities and the place that the organizations had to find for themselves during that time. He talks about being in the middle between Giuliani and the NYPD versus Al Sharpton and his followers. I actually gained a great deal of respect for Giuliani from this chapter of the book - perhaps as much as I gained from him in the days and weeks following September 11th. That still doesn't mean I'd vote for him for a national office, though.
Chapter 8 is titled The Hard Edges of Effective Organization. Here Gecan talks about doing things that may not make some people happy but are the keys to having a successful organization - be it church or neighborhood. He talks about the perils and problems facing organizations - mostly involving stagnation of some sort.
Chapter 9 is titled Disorganizing and Reorganizing. In it Gecan talks about how sometimes to make an organization or congregation - more effective you have to "disorganize". That is, take a good hard look at what you're doing and whether it's working or not. As throughout all the chapters, he focuses a great deal on the relationships that intertwine the various leaders together as well as making the best use of their skills - some on short-term, one-time projects and other times getting people involved for the long haul.
Chapter 10 is titled Three Public Cultures. Gecan talks about the market culture, the bureaucratic culture, and a relational culture. It's interesting to read his take on the three cultures and how they relate to each other. Many of us don't realize how these cultures impact our daily lives. The relational culture especially is becoming buried under the other two as we interact less and less with others on a voluntary basis in our daily lives.
Chapter 11 is titled Fault Lines and Collisions. This talks about how the three cultures defined in the previous chapter collide and force change. It's interesting to read because it is hard to pin down as a liberal, conservative or socialist in it's tone, but rather more like he stated previously, just the world as it is. He talks about visions for redefining America and moving along to a new way of working and a new way of educating; of visions for the future. Though you may not agree with some of what he states here, at least I didn't get the feeling that there was an ulterior motive behind it like I do with so many other books pushing new solutions on us.
Gecan's conclusion is short, summing up why he enjoys the work he does and lamenting how are lives have changes. As he is finishing the book, lower Manhattan is still smoldering and he knows a new world has been born of that fire. His acknowledgments contain names of people I know: Sister Eileen Trainer, Pastor Tom Pranscke and Sister Evelyn Lamoureux who work wonders with Long Island C.A.N.
I enjoyed this book immensely. It is inspiring to hear that sometimes the little guy can win and get things accomplished. I will be passing it on and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to be active in the public eye and effect change.
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