Discussion Forum

»Community Organizing. American-Style Community Mobilization«

featuring John Kornblum, former American Ambassador, Professor Leo Penta, Catholic Academy for Social Studies in Berlin and Manfred Rekowski, Superintendant of the Dioceses of Wuppertal.
Moderated by Arnd Henze, Deputy Director of International Programmming, WDR Television.

President Obama is the most famous community organizer in the world. His famous credo, "Change we can believe in“ kicked off the period in which he was an organizer in Chicago, where he worked to build a community that would assume responsibility for its surroundings.

In the US, community organizing has a long tradition that has also been seen in Germany where citizens have changed their cities using community organizing methods. The do not understand think of it as a makeshift solution for needy cities, but as an important way to organize communities to address political and economic issues. Leo Penta, Minister and Community Organizer from the US, brought community organizing to Germany ten years ago. Under his direction, several successful erfolgreiche community initiatives have taken root and flourished: from Berlin to Hamburg and Wuppertal.

In Germany, unfortunately many politicians still do not believe in community organizing "because they think that the government should operate alone“, says John Kornblum, former American Ambassador in Berlin. "We need, however, a strong, active and professional civil society.“

In cooperation with the Bürgerplattform Wuppertal, the National Bank AG and DICO - the German Institute for Community Organizing