With the 2024 election now in our rearview, elected officials, political analysts, and everyday voters are still weighing in on the down-ballot, issue-based referendums, the election of new local and state leaders, and, of course, the reelection of Donald Trump as the 47th president. Emotional responses to the election have varied as people continue to process the results, and many—particularly younger voters who cast their ballots for Vice President Kamala Harris—are naming feelings of fatigue and dejection.
In many ways, those feelings indicate how election seasons can drain energy and collective power. By vesting all of their hopes and anxieties into the four-year election cycle, many become resigned or find it difficult to channel their concerns into longer-term efforts that can still yield change around the issues that animated them in the voting booth. Meanwhile, those interested in entering into organizing spaces may feel overwhelmed or unsure of how to start. Scotty Brown, a Washington, D.C.-based organizer, told Prism there is a difference between organizing and mobilizing. While mobilizing might be showing up to a protest, organizing is the long work of community building.
“Organizing is getting to know people,” said Scotty. “Understanding what the needs of the community is, and then doing long-term strategic work to get [those] needs met. I do think that organizing is a lifelong commitment. It’s not something that’s going to be over when Trump is out of office.”
Prism spoke with Scotty and other organizers across the country to gather insights and advice for those interested in engaging in organizing work for the first time.
Tap in to your community
Organizers in spaces ranging from reproductive justice to youth justice noted the significance of tapping into existing work in your community. Research their work to better understand their vision for the future and assess if it aligns with your values.
Dr. Frankie Ramos, the director of campaigns and organizing at Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice (CURYJ), said the best place to start is to look for collective actions taking place as locally as “your own backyard,” and then venturing out further to your county or the next town over if needed.
“One of the things that we’re going to have to do more of is knowing who our neighbors are and trying to take care of each other, kind of like [during] the pandemic [when] I know a lot of us had the experience of talking to neighbors for the first time,” Ramos said. “I think that really good mutual aid is rooted in actually getting to know people and what they are bringing to the table— not just what their needs are, but also what their skills and strengths and assets are and how they can be of service so that way we’re working together. I think that’s really, really important and very fulfilling at the same time.”
J Vasquez, the policy and legal services manager at CURYJ, noted that volunteering or attending a public event can be a great way to start forging relationships with local organizers. For those struggling to find existing community groups, Vasquez encourages checking in with other types of institutions, such as places of worship, that may be doing social justice work.
However, Scotty said that in addition to learning what type of work community groups are doing, we should also learn more about the community itself and honor it by humbly entering into new organizing spaces. They recommended learning the history of the community, who lives there now, who lived there before, and why neighborhood demographics may have shifted.
“If you’re going to join an organization, there’s lots of ways to get involved that are pretty entry-level and don’t really require you to know everything,” said Scotty.
If people feel intimidated by concepts like abolition, imperialism, or capitalism, more tangible efforts such as distributing food or building gardens can be a simpler way to get involved as they learn.
“But keep in mind that if you’re coming into a space that has existed for a long time, it’s good to spend a lot of time listening and asking questions before you start putting forward your own ideas or trying to take the lead on something,” Scotty said.
Recognize interconnected struggles
In the reproductive justice space, organizers in states like Louisiana and Kentucky say they have been dealing with a “post-Roe” political landscape long before the 2022 Dobbs decision. These organizers can be guideposts for organizing and strategizing on hostile and challenging grounds. Advocates say it’s important that those who are looking to engage around issues like abortion access recognize that reproductive justice extends beyond abortion, and that reproductive justice doesn’t get isolated from the other issues that it intersects with.
Savannah Trebuna, the abortion fund director at Kentucky Health Justice Network, said reproductive injustice is something that affects many other points of oppression, including racial injustice, economic injustice, and climate injustice.
“Instead of siloing repro and maybe focusing solely on abortion rights, it helps [to] connect the dots into this larger picture of what liberation really looks like,” Trebuna said. “I sincerely believe that liberation comes in a coalition. I don’t think you can advocate for abortion without advocating for people having clean drinking water and stuff like that.”
Tyler Barbarin, director of development at Louisiana Abortion Fund, said, “Sometimes abortion feels like the center of the bullseye, but that’s not really the case.”
Abortion is one of many reproductive choices people make for themselves. It’s therefore important to center the work of protecting people in a whole host of ways, Barbarin said, such as supporting their economic well-being and providing comprehensive sex education.
“That’s, I think, the best and clearest way for us to continue to support our community no matter who’s in charge politically,” Barbarin said.
How existing organizations can engage new members
At this moment organizing spaces might find themselves tasked to develop new strategies to welcome in new members and ensure that the public understands what kind of work they engage in. CURYJ leadership says that moving beyond social media and the echo chamber it creates can help connect new members to organizing work. Also crucial is assessing people’s needs and their capacity to engage.
“Definitely be visible, be outside, be where the people are at, but [also] meet people where they’re at,” Vasquez said. “Because a lot of times, I think even when people want to get involved, they might not be in the best space to do that.”
For instance, he said, if CURYJ were trying to rally around a campaign to end long probations for children, it might encounter people passionate about the issue but unable to afford their bills or food.
“It’s hard for people to really get engaged in a way that they may want to because of these other needs that are not being met within their own personal and very real lives,” Vasquez said. “So when you meet them where they’re at, it’s like, ‘Okay, well, how can we support you in that need? We can work together on these other goals, and at the same time, these are some of the ways you can plug in.’ It goes a long way and builds relationships and helps people get involved in community organizing.”
However, it’s also crucial that organizing spaces don’t carry the burden of opening themselves up to every potential new interest. Offering mentorship to people and guiding them to develop their own projects may be better than having organizations swell their membership, which could potentially undermine the quality of the relationships within the group.
“There’s often a huge influx of people in times of crisis, and then there’s not actually capacity for the organization to meaningfully build relationships with all those new people,” Scotty said. “Those new people end up just being worker bees and don’t actually feel very seen or cared for and I think that’s what leads to a lot of conflict, harm, and feelings of disillusionment about community organizing for people.”
Scotty said that existing organizations may be better off thinking about how to create spaces where people can start their own initiatives.
“Everybody can start their own neighborhood mutual aid [or] their own immigrant solidarity network; there doesn’t have to be these centralized organizations that manage everything,” they said.
Advice to your younger self
Like any lifelong commitment, organizing brings its own host of learnings, both about the issues one may be advocating for and points of self-reflection. Organizers shared some of these learnings and what advice they would want to offer their younger selves.
Ramos from CURYJ shared how the roles one engages in as an organizer will transform over time and that the adjustment may not always be easy, especially when family obligations and other limitations redirect priorities.
“It’s painful because sometimes I want to do more,” Ramos said. “I want to do the type of work that I was really excited to do at a different time in my life, and that feels the most urgent and the most impactful…To this day, some of my elders are still organizing, and they’re in their fifth or sixth decade [of organizing]. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.”
Meanwhile, Barbarin of Louisiana Abortion Fund emphasized the importance of shifting our relationship to the idea of “winning.”
“When I first started doing this, I think my youthful optimism thought that being on the side of justice and liberation meant only wins were going to come my way,” Barbarin said. “I didn’t realize sometimes you have to engage in a back-and-forth dance. Sometimes it feels like you’re taking a step backwards, but that’s really just part of it.”
Barbarin said those new to organizing should know that just because things don’t immediately change, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re losing or that things won’t ever get better.
“Hold on to optimism because it’s a beautiful thing,” Barbarin said, “but know it’s going to be tested and tried at one point or another.”
