Project Salvador
PICO Community Organizing
Document Attachments:1.- Report about COFOA supporting El Salvadorian families impacted by Hurricane Ida. (Spanish)
2.- Cuyultitan Newspaper Article (Spanish)
3.- PICO Central America Annual Report 2009 (English)
4.- COFOA Activity Report June 2008 - October 2009 (Spanish)
5.- PICO El Salvador Report March 2010 (Spanish)
PICO--COMMUNITY ORGANIZING TO
SOLVE LOCAL PROBLEMS
By
Board Member Tony
Gasbarro
PICO
is a national and international, nonpartisan multicultural network of
faith-based community organizations working to create innovative
solutions to problems facing urban, suburban and rural communities.
Founded in California 1972 PICO has successfully worked to increase
access to health care, improve public schools, make neighborhoods
safer, build affordable housing, redevelop communities and revitalize
democracy. The PICO model became active in El Salvador in
2006
where it operates under the name of COFOA Spanish initials that stand
for “Communities of Faith Organized for Action”. Project
Salvador
supported COFOA with a $10,000 grant last year and we will renew our
support with another $12,000 grant for 2010. Both grants have
been used for the training of community leaders.
The
most important objective of COFOA is the “formation of leaders
conscious of the values of their faith who, acting as true Christians
in public life, facilitate negotiation and dialog with the authorities
in order to seek solutions to their problems and avoid intolerance and
violence that only result in pain and resentment”. COFOA is helping
engage ordinary Salvadorans, especially youth, to participate in public
life to bring about change.
The
most important tool in organizing for change is “one on one” or “uno a
uno”. The goal of “uno a uno” is to initiate and/or deepen
relationships with families through individual family visits in
congregations or communities in order to understand their needs and
concerns - with the notion that once there is understanding of the
needs of their families, community members will be more likely to join
together to address issues in their communities.
In
COFOA’s congregation-based community organizing model, congregations of
all denominations and faiths serve as the institutional base for
community organizations. Rather than bring people together simply based
on common issues like housing or education, the faith-based or
broad-based organizing model makes values and relationships the glue
that holds the organizations together. COFOA builds community
organizations based on religious congregations, schools and community
centers, which are often the only stable civic gathering places in many
neighborhoods. COFOA helps congregations identify and solve
local
neighborhood issues before addressing broader issues at a city, state
or national level.
COFOA
provides intensive leadership training that teaches people how to use
the tools of democracy to improve their communities. COFOA
teaches the art of compromise and negotiation. As a result
ordinary people, who have learned to successfully use the levers of
power to bring resources and political attention to their communities,
lead community organizations. COFOA brings people together
based
on faith and values not just issues or anger. COFOA does
public
business in public through large action meetings. As a result, COFOA
organizations gain the reputation for being able to gather together
large numbers of people to hold themselves and public officials
accountable.
The
preceding describes what COFOA is all about and its basis of
operation. In the following section I will describe COFOA in
action at a community meeting that I witnessed in June 2009.
This
past June COFOA leaders brought together over 600 residents from 7
parishes and two civic organizations to engage with civic authorities
and press them to solve public safety and environmental problems within
the community. One of the problems is the lack of the
enforcement
of traffic regulations and the absence of pedestrian
overpasses.
During the past 8 months 8 people have been killed and 39 have been
injured trying to cross the major highway that passes by the
community. Another problem is the lack of potable water due
to
the contamination of the Pedro River which runs through the
community. Improperly disposed industrial wastes and raw
sewerage
are the sources of this contamination.
On the afternoon of June 13, 2009, 600 residents filled the cathedral in the community of Zacatecoluca. Two youth volunteers trained by COFOA ran this meeting. They introduced the civic authorities such as the National Police and the Mayors of various communities. They also presented Bishop Elias Samuel Bolaños of the Catholic Diocese of Zacatecoluca and 3 members of the national legislature. The Bishop gave a brief introduction about COFOA and then the volunteers introduced two members of the community, representing those most impacted by the lack of clean water and unsafe highway conditions. One of these speakers was the father of a young girl killed before his eyes by a speeding car. He spoke with a passion that brought tears to the eyes of many of those present.
Each
of the three members of the Salvadoran national legislature presented
their reaction to what they heard and spoke about what they would do to
try to solve these problems. Members of the audience acted
with
roaring applause when the three congressional representatives from
different political parties agreed to introduce legislation that would
lead to the construction of several pedestrian overpasses and water
treatment plants. After the speeches the three congressional
representatives signed an enlargement of an agreement indicating that
they would resolve the problems presented at the meeting.
The
COFOA youth volunteers did an excellent job in managing the entire
meeting especially by keeping all of the speakers within the time
allotted for their presentations.
Inside the cathedral with about 600 community members
Youth leader trained by COFOA speaking before the community with community leaders/officials to her left.
Youth leader tained by COFOA helping speaker to keep track of their time.
David Rodriguez a national legislator representing the FMLN party speaking before the community
One of the legislators signing the enlarged agreement.
The enlarged agreement.