Since the mid 1990s, Randy Stoecker has created and shared the awesome Comm-Org list-serve. At a time when e-groups were new and (in Australia, at least), sharing resources about community organising was radical pioneering work, Randy collated, curated and disseminated a growing collection of case studies, a calendar of workshops and conferences, and research papers written by and for organisers. Comm-Org has been an inspiration to the Change Agency team. Randy visited us in Australia in the mid 2000s for a holiday and to lead workshops with community organisers and activist academics.
Randy recently shared the news that his regular newsletter will cease and that the future of the extensive Comm-Org archive – hosted by the University of Wisconsin – is uncertain. If you haven’t scanned the collection before, now’s the time.
Thank you Randy, deeply and sincerely, for your lifetime commitment to and passion for organising. Comm-Org has made a huge contribution to the practice and understanding of community organising, and to the lives of community members here and around the world.