Cheat Sheet: Starting with Grassroots
Key Concepts
- Grassroots Organizing: Building power from the ground up through community relationships
- People-Centered Approach: Prioritizing community needs and leadership over predetermined solutions
- Distributed Leadership: Developing many leaders rather than centralizing power
- Community Knowledge: Valuing local expertise and lived experience
- Collective Power: Building strength through relationships and shared purpose
Grassroots vs. Top-Down Approaches
Grassroots Approach | Top-Down Approach |
Starts with community concerns | Starts with predetermined solutions |
Develops local leadership | Relies on external expertise |
Builds through relationships | Implements through structures |
Values community knowledge | Prioritizes professional knowledge |
Measures success by community power | Measures success by specific outcomes |
Adapts strategies based on feedback | Follows predetermined plans |
Community Listening Techniques
- One-to-one conversations: Personal discussions about concerns and hopes
- House meetings: Small gatherings in homes to discuss shared issues
- Community surveys: Structured tools to gather broader input
- Public forums: Larger gatherings to identify patterns and priorities
- Participatory research: Community members collecting and analyzing data
- Asset mapping: Identifying community strengths and resources
Issue Selection Criteria
Criterion | Key Questions |
Winnability | Can we achieve concrete success within a reasonable timeframe? |
Community Energy | Do people feel strongly enough to take action? |
Strategic Importance | Will this build power for future issues? |
Inclusivity | Does this issue unite diverse community segments? |
Leadership Development | Will this create opportunities to develop new leaders? |
Resource Requirements | Do we have or can we obtain necessary resources? |
Leadership Development Framework
- Identification: Recognizing potential leaders through relationships and observation
- Invitation: Offering specific, meaningful roles matched to interests and skills
- Support: Providing training, mentoring, and feedback
- Responsibility: Gradually increasing leadership challenges
- Reflection: Creating regular opportunities to learn from experience
- Recognition: Acknowledging contributions and growth
Low-Resource Tactics
- Story collection and sharing: Gathering and amplifying community experiences
- Public testimony: Speaking at existing public meetings
- Letter-writing campaigns: Coordinated messages to decision-makers
- Community-led tours: Showing rather than telling about issues
- Symbolic actions: Creating visual representations of concerns
- Strategic partnerships: Collaborating with organizations with complementary resources
- Social media campaigns: Using digital platforms for visibility
Connecting Local to Broader Change
Scale | Connection Strategies | Examples |
Neighborhood to City | Join coalitions, connect to citywide policies | Linking neighborhood safety to city policing policies |
Local to Regional | Identify shared issues across communities | Connecting local water quality to watershed management |
Community to State | Translate local impacts of state policies | Showing how education funding formulas affect local schools |
Grassroots to National | Connect personal stories to national narratives | Illustrating healthcare policy impacts through community experiences |
Meeting Facilitation Essentials
- Clear purpose: Specific goals for each gathering
- Inclusive process: Methods that enable everyone to participate
- Timekeeper: Designated person to maintain schedule
- Shared agreements: Group norms for respectful engagement
- Action orientation: Concrete next steps identified
- Follow-up system: Accountability for commitments made
Remember: Grassroots organizing represents the heart of democratic participation—ordinary people coming together to shape the conditions of their lives through collective action. Some of history’s most significant changes began with ordinary people gathering around kitchen tables to address shared concerns.