The Organizer Mailing: Valuable Resource for Activists

[Michael Eisenscher <meisenscher@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

{Apologies for multiple copies generated as a result of cross-posting.}

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At the risk of being charged with crass commercial promotion, I am posting
information about a little known but highly valuable resource for organizers
and activists - both labor and community - The Organizer Mailing (TOM).
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The Organizer Mailing (TOM) is a publication of The Organize Training Center
in San Franisco (a non-profit institution providing services to labor,
community & religious organizations for more than 25 years).

In its 10th year of publication, TOM is an important resource for
organizers, leaders of community and labor organizations, and other social
activists.

Each quarter, TOM compiles the best material in a number of areas from a
variety of sources:  reports about both labor and community organizing;
thought provoking articles on economics, politics, culture, society and
religion; discussions of trends and problems in organizing; and lots more.
It combines many of the best features of think tank analysis, a clipping
service for activists, and a social issues briefing digest.

The publication is mailed in loose-leaf format, making it easy for
subscribers to select particular stories or articles for reprint themselves.

TOM subscribers pay either $45.00 (individual rate) or $55.00 (institutional
rate) a year for the publication.  The renewal rate is about 80%, attesting
to the value of the publication.  The typical issue includes 75 or more
articles, running 150 pages.

Comments from TOM readers include the following ---

"We are putting some piece from TOM to work most days of our working lives."
        Bill Arfmann, Director, Nebraska
        Association of Public Employees/AFSCME.

"We who organize others for united action have created virtually no
successful means for communicating among ourselves.  TOM is it--and it is
very good.  It brings news of work across lines of organizing schools and
networks.  It offers insights and stimulation from the arts, history and
religion.  It is eclectic and refreshing and has helped introduce us...to
new ideas for issue campaigns and leadership development."
        Kenneth A. Galdston, Staff Director
        Merrimack Valley Project, Inc.

"We almost fight over who's to get the first crack at the latest TOM!  For
us, it's an invaluable tool.  You've done the hard work of gleaning the
best, most interesting stories of citizens in action...."
        Frances Moore Lappe & Paul Martin
        Co-Directors, Center for Living Democracy	

"We use TOM in the training of new organizers, for its book reviews, and to
keep abreast of current organizing theory and organizing efforts around the
country.  There's really no publication like TOM for organizers; it's been
invaluable to us."
        Lydia Ferrante, Executive Director
        Tenderloin Senior Organizing Project

"This is to let you know that our School for Leaders program uses TOM
regularly in our training and consulting on community organization with
groups here in Milwaukee...I personally find TOM rewarding because it has a
larger premise about the scope and implications of organizing than I have
found anywhere else, and encourages me to think in those broader terms as
well as about the strategy and tactics of it.  The layout makes TOM easy to
scan, and I routinely find several pieces that I copy for inclusion in
mailings and for use in workshops."
         Paul Bloyd, Coordinator
         Milwaukee Associates in Urban Development

"I've found TOM to be a useful source for innovative tactics and organizing
strategies.  As someone who has been involved with organizing for nearly
twenty years, I read with interest the organizing stories of my brothers and
sisters in community groups and churches...What TOM provides isn't available
anywhere else."
         Michael Votichenko, Organizer/Senior
         Representative, Laborers' International Union


To subscribe to TOM:

Send a check payable to --
The Organize Training Center
in the amount of $45.00 (individual)
                    or $55.00 (institutional) to
OTC
442-A Vicksburg St.
San Francisco, CA 94114

PLEASE PASS THIS ALONG TO A FRIEND AND SHARE WITH YOUR NETWORK OF SOCIAL
ACTIVISTS.