AMOS Ecumenical Rural & Small Communities Organizing Strategy
On October 5th, 13 ecumenical faith leaders from across the state will co-organize a Building Bridges & Organized Communities Seminar in Perry around our shared interests in supporting rural Iowa congregations and communities. This day-long event will include
- Facilitated small group conversations to share stories of lived pressures impacting families in rural and smaller communities
- Workshop by Iowa State University Rural Shrink Smart to understand our state’s changing demographic context and best practices for thriving communities
- Reflection by denominational leaders on the role of the church given these socioeconomic pressures facing families and communities
- Vision from Perry and AMOS leaders about how local broad-based organizing has been/can be a vehicle for churches to grow in relationships and act together effectively
- Next Steps: Help launch deepened ecumenical organizing efforts in Perry & invitation to other rural communities to learn/engage further
Our hope is this training will not only deepen the leadership capacity of Perry citizens but also open new organizing opportunities with other rural communities in the coming years.
Perry is a town of 8,000 people located 45 minutes outside of Des Moines in rural Dallas County. In the fall, Perry faith leaders began exploring a relationship with AMOS to imagine how grassroots, institution-based organizing could strengthen the leadership and ability of Perry congregational members to improve the economic security of families. Residents shared stories about the high cost of rents, unaccountable landlords, lack of transitional housing services, and limited mental health and dental services. While one-third of Perry residents are Latino, few are in formal leadership roles in the community, and there is a desire to grow more diverse community leaders.
Since the start of the year, the school shooting and closure of the Tyson pork processing plant have magnified the pressures facing families. But also highlighted their resiliency, grit, and imagination as community leaders explore their future. In the midst of these crises, Perry clergy have said that now more than ever they want to build relationships of trust across the racial and socioeconomic lines of the community to together self-determine the future of their community.
The socioeconomic pressures impacting Perry are not unique to Iowa’s smaller and rural communities, nor is the appetite to learn and work together to make our neighborhoods flourish for all families.
Local congregational leaders need support and formation to have different kinds of conversations across historical lines that divide, and they need connection to other congregations to have the capacity to address the systemic socioeconomic pressures impacting local families.
AMOS (A Mid-Iowa Organizing Strategy) has a nearly 30-year track record of developing the leadership of citizens in congregations and local organizations to be able to act on their own behalf. This organizing work strengthens the relational connectivity within local congregations and equips members to act on their faith beyond the walls of the building.
Using this approach, the 40 member congregations and community organizations of AMOS have addressed pressures impacting urban and suburban Des Moines metro residents. Diverse church and community leaders have successfully advanced the vision and voice of those on the margins to change systems including mental health services, job training, infrastructure, restorative justice, and affordable housing. Together, these organizations raise the funds to hire 1-2 professional organizers who provide training, mentorship, and imagination in support of their local work.
AMOS seeks to grow this organized constituency in rural Iowa and develop rural citizens’ ability to act on the local and regional pressures impacting their families, with urban residents standing in solidarity. Our hope is that the organizing effort in Perry can become the first in a larger, long-term strategy to grow rural power and build relationships of trust and solidarity across the rural/urban divide.
10-20 congregations and community institutions in identified rural communities like Perry, in partnership with one another and the backing of AMOS, judicatories, and other community allies, could begin to organize around the concerns most pressing to their families.
In the first 1-2 years after the October 5th learning event, AMOS could work with Perry and other rural communities to together
- Engage in 200 1-1 relational conversations to surface community leaders with an appetite to relate in new ways
- Organize 50 small group listening sessions “house meetings” to share stories of socioeconomic pressures and imagination within and across congregations
- Training 75 congregational leaders from rural communities in relational organizing practices, including sending at least 5-10 to intensive week-long IAF organizing training
- Begin to surface issues of common concern in local communities and a winnable strategy towards making change led by local residents.
Good formation takes time and attentiveness. Relationship building, training and developing congregational leaders, and shared action on local pressures impacting rural families will require resources to allow AMOS to dedicate ongoing professional organizers to work closely with Perry and rural communities. Rural communities often don’t have the financial resources to invest in organizing in the way Des Moines or Cedar Rapids could. This strategy will require the support and partnership of larger institutions that see the inherent value of these communities including judicatories, dioceses, foundations, businesses, and supportive individual donors.
AMOS seeks to raise $100,000 per year to be able to expand organizer capacity to focus intensively on rural communities. This is primarily for salary, benefits, and mileage for a professional organizer, but would also include local training expenses and scholarships for rural leaders to attend regional IAF organizing training.
