BENEFITS
- Expands the base
of community support for the organization
- Brings new volunteers
who otherwise might not get involved in your organization
- Deepens the analysis
of transformation and provides an opportunity for the organization and
individuals to evolve
- Creates public
presence/pressure to change laws, policies and practices that a single
individual could not accomplish or may be at risk to accomplish
- Infuses new energy
into the organization
- Promotes community
ownership for a problem and expands the base of support for work
- Offers an opportunity
to work in partnership with progressive men in the community
- Creates strategies
that are effective in reaching underserved populations and communities
of color
- Helps organizations
develop new leadership skills in the area of community development
- Helps promote
sustainability for work (beyond funding cycles for projects) and long-term
commitment to a social change movement
- Helps all of us
celebrate positive change in our communities
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CHALLENGES
- May create tension
for the organization - including deciding how much authority will be
given to activist groups to decide agenda
- May create backlash/tension
as a result of a more direct action agenda
- Requires leadership
skills that may not readily exist within the organization
- Requires expanded
personal commitment from people doing the work, i.e. walking the talk
- Can open the door
to new constituencies/communities - Is the organization committed to
what it takes (e.g. dealing with institutional racism)?
- To develop requires
commitment of resources and leadership - community mobilization may
be perceived as less important than direct services
- May bring up internal
tension because agenda can challenge the status-quo mindset of the organization
- Challenges the
organization to decide what kind of partnership it wants in working
with men at the community level - may require new training program for
women and men working as allies
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