In our discussions in the last few months in the urban areas targeted for Assemblies the question has been frequently asked: what will this organization add to this community. Most frequently, organization has been attempted before, without enduring results.

The purpose of the Assembly is to strengthen neighborhood institutions and leadership at the grassroots level by expanding and disseminating a community leadership development program nationwide. One of the great concerns of United States communities is their deterioration, along with the deterioration of the functions they are to fulfill. Not only are social services by urban areas making little or no progress, but also there has been a notable decline in institutions such as public schools, and remedies appear not to be readily available.

To arrive at such a solution, one must begin with an understanding of its cause. What, for instance, is the cause in the decline of public education in our school system.

William Raspberry, in an op. ed. article for The Washington Post on May 24, 1996 comments on a booklet written by David Mathews, president of the Charles F. Kettering foundation, former President of the University of Alabama, and President Ford’s Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare. Mathews states that the problem with the schools in a city like the District of Columbia is ‘the disengagement between the schools and their public.’"

Raspberry continues:
The public he is talking about is more than a collection of people such as you might find in a shopping mall, more than members of the same audience, more even than people who live near one another. He has in mind people who have a particular sort of relationship: who are committed to common purposes, who know they need one another even when they might not particularly like one another.

THE IDEA OF THE ASSEMBLY

What is an Assembly? It is a structure of organization, which brings people of an entire community into a systematic relationship with each other for the purpose of solving individual and community problems. It is the organization of a community in such a manner that if a great many people wanted to do a particular thing, they could do it. It is a means, through a formal structure, through a logical, systematic organization, of connecting masses of people; a means, through such systematic organization, of establishing a channel of communication between the Assembly’s elected leadership, and the last man and woman in the community; a means by which large numbers of people may engage in a common effort. In addition to possessing a logical refined structure, it follows certain rules of logic: in order for masses of people to enter into collective decision-making they must be organized prior to any decisions having been taken. That means that for any anti-poverty effort, structure must be established prior to the creation of any program; otherwise one hazards the possibility that programs will be designed and controlled by persons outside the community.

Under an Assembly organization, each county or city is organized like a country but instead of being divided into Congressional districts it is reduced to districts of fifty people, or in cities fifty households. These districts, these manageable atomic groups, are called Conferences. The Conference provides a setting where citizens can bring their problems (ranging from disparities in governmental services, need for job training, school problems confronted by their children) to the group for discussion and creative problem-solving.

The representational dimension of the Assembly enables it to function community-wide. Each Conference elects one Representative to the Assembly. For example, if there are 5,000 adults (in cities, 5,000 households) in a given community there will be 100 Representatives representing 100 groups of 50 people (in cities, 50 households). If there are 10,000 adults (households), there will be 200 Conferences, and so forth.

The efficiency of this channel of communication is best understood by a studious discernment of the internal structure of a Conference. The Representative is not in touch with all 50 persons in his or her constituency. Each Representative is in touch with his or her fifty members through seven Committeemen, each of whom in turn communicates with six other members of the Conference.

The Assembly technique requires, first, that a channel of communication be established between "leadership", and the larger community; and, simultaneously, that a structure of organization be put into place to assure communal action.

Initiative takes place when it is directed, usually by a smaller group called the leadership. Yet initiative cannot be effective if the leadership has no means of reaching its larger constituency. A channel of communication must be created to reach the larger community. Under the Assembly plan the organization of the community is so complete that the resulting community organization, called the Assembly, reflects and articulates the problems and priorities of the poor. Thus, the Assembly technique does not begin with program, but begins with structure. The structure induces self-help initiatives, which in turn creates programs which are fitted to that community’s needs.

Other anti-poverty techniques: program ------------->induces self-help

The Assembly technique: structure------->induces------->creates programs

An Assembly is a means of inducing the low income people of entire counties and cities to deal with their own individual and community problems. By a logical structure of organization, the habits—the whole way of life—of a community can be completely altered in a short space of time; and large numbers of people, knowing what they want, but not precisely how they might accomplish it, can join in collective action and mutual aid, lessening the burdens on public institutions.

The arrangement known as the Assembly is not intended as a temporary expedient, but as a permanent institution. It is not organized around issues, but according to an abstract structure. It is not organized toward any fixed objectives, but has a rigid pattern of organization which seeks to deal with whatever problems emerge, and the community’s capacity for dealing with problems and needs increases over time.

Participation by individuals is greatest in smaller popular units, such as a ‘town meeting.’ In such a setting, the people participate directly in decision-making. On the next level of a community organization, they do not participate directly in decision-making. A larger community necessarily involves another level of organization in which those individuals are represented, and thus participate to a lesser extent. With each level of organization, with each turn of the wheel, the vigor and intensity of participation by individuals on the primary level diminishes. Ultimately this explains why large groups lack unity of purpose. An organization which recommends itself is one in which there is some degree of participation, active decision-making on the part of individuals in small popular units on some initial level, plus representation of each of those units on some secondary level, and not too many turns of the wheel thereafter. Such a notion reflects Jefferson’s "subdivision of the counties into wards"; networks of community clubs; in any given municipality, a collection of town meetings, an aggregate of tiny communities or "block clubs" each of which is represented in a community parliament.

In creating the organization known as the Assembly, these notions were taken into account. Organization means making a whole of interdependent parts. Organization implies an arrangement of some sort, also the establishment of something more or less permanent, to deal with some matters over time, implying the creation of some type of institution. Our experience taught us that greater participation will occur when a county or city is broken down into units of organization and, since a county or a city is usually too large for all people to participate directly, by representing those units in a central decision-making body. This is the structure of an Assembly which organizes all those with common interests in a community. There is a certain interrelationship which must exist among a group of people which, if absent, we may say there is no community, and no means of doing anything collectively. This means a community must be created, even if such creation is considered artificial, that is, not naturally evolved. The Assembly can create that relationship. It creates a means of doing things collectively by a large group of people, a means of creating self-help on a community-wide basis. It creates a community where before none existed.

The incentive for the poor to engage in this complex arrangement is the mechanism for identifying and offering a solution for individual problems, and a means for determining those community problems which are of priority to be solved by the community, and solving them as well.

CREATING A COMMUNITY

It might seem obvious that people with common problems have some scheme of communication. Some do on a neighborhood level. Some do in social organizations, in churches, and so forth. They seldom have such scheme of communication on a community-wide level; and seldom have that sense of community one might find in some European cities. People of disparate backgrounds migrated rather suddenly from other nations. Those who emerged suddenly from bondage were held together in church communities. Prior to the existence of the community organization called the Assembly some local grassroots organizations have been undertaken. All sense a common problem, the problem confronting blacks in the country as a whole. But splinter groups develop. Though all might agree on ultimate objectives, they will disagree on the methods of obtaining them. The result is factionalism, and inaction.

"We can’t get our word out," said James Hill of Prince George Virginia. "We need to be able to reach our people on every road. We need to build up a network of manpower, but we can’t seem to get anything done." Getting people to work together toward common goals vital to them, was a problem here, as in many communities. Something was missing. Prior to the establishment of an Assembly, it is probable that some attempts to deal with some problems will have been made. This means that there will always be pre-existing groups. What will not be present is a community-wide structure so that all of these groups, working together, can reach their objectives, that the entire community can deal with problems which affect it.

In such a community, the Assembly provides the community-wide structure in which all sectors of the community are represented. This means that from the very beginning the existing ‘natural’ leadership is involved in organizing an Assembly, and, at a later stage, systematically, the entire community. The history of the Assemblies affirms Madison’s premise that, because of inherent, competing interests, one cannot hope to eliminate factionalism; but by including all those interests within one community-wide organization one can reduce factionalism. In the case of the Assembly, the organization is extensive enough to reach the larger population, systematically, democratically. Ultimately the people realize that structure is the main thing that the Assembly provides, and through that structure, communication with a larger population.