A how-to guide for ROP’s Kitchen Table Conversation format for facilitating community-based dialogues on tough topics.
Archives: Organizing Tools
Living Room Conversations Guide
A how-to overview of ROP’s “Living Room Conversation” format for political education.
Kitchen Table Activism
First launched in 1998, Kitchen Table Activism (KTA) is a monthly project of the Rural Organizing Project. Often building on quarterly themes, short actions are described in each KTA. The theory is that basic steps and tasks can lead to powerful collective results as small groups of people gather to complete the same action throughout the state of Oregon. ROP works to keep the basic tasks easily achievable so that groups with other projects or groups with limited immediate energy can still manage to complete the KTA each month.
Capacity Building Toolkit
ROP’s most important work is to keep each Human Dignity Group vibrant, healthy, and growing. ROP supports the formation of new groups and builds the power of existing groups through leadership development, capacity-building, and strategic planning. While the work is ever developing, there are some best practices that have been developed over the years by and for small-town leaders. ROP’s Capacity Building Toolkit offers suggestions on starting, nurturing, and structuring a human dignity group.
The Democracy Grid
Developed in the mid-1990’s, the “Democracy Grid” is one of ROP’s cornerstone organizing tools. Using the World Book Encyclopedia’s definition of democracy, it supports the analysis of issues from a values framework, asking: does this issue help advance the core tenets of democracy?