drewastolfi | Community Organizer Genealogy Project

Drew Astolfi

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Work History

Start Year	End Year	Organization	Position
1991	1993	DQ University	other Organizer
1993	1993	South Bronx Churches	Organizer
1993	1996	Organization of the Northeast	Organizer
1995	1999	Anti Displacement Project	Lead Organizer
1999	2001	NTIC- National Training and Information Center/National People's Action	Organizer
2002	2003	TICO	Director
2003	2004	Center for Community Change	Coach / Consultant Organizer
2005		Faith Action for Community Equity (FACE)	Director

Organizer Profile

Share 3 lessons you have learned through your work in organizing.:

If I really had to boil it down.

It doesn’t matter how strategic, smart, or sensible something is…what matters is who is saying it.

Problems should be solved by people that see them.

People change in the midst of action, not by talking. The world changes that way too - and no other way.

The common denominator for successful organizers is not race, class, anger or commitment - it is personal alienation.

Who has inspired you in your organizing?:

Kate Astolfi, Ana Garcia Ashley, Bob Nakata, Buck Bagot, Greg Galluzo, Alan Mark and Kim Harman for everyday work

Thomas Jefferson, William Morris, Leon Trotsky, John Trudell, Lehman Brightman, Andre Breton, and Abbie Hoffman for revolution

JRR Tolkien and Joe Strummer get me through...

What movements or political moments have most influenced your organizing career?:

I was strongly influenced by left politics as a young person - especially as they worked themselves out in the brief, but beautiful cultural revolution that was punk rock. Growing up in Worcester, Mass during the early 80's made me angry. Living in Scotland during the Poll tax gave me a name to my anger.

That got me to D-Q University, a product of pan-Indian nationalism. D-Q turned me into a permanent radical. My experience there showed me what life long commitment looked like.

Share an accomplishment or list accomplishments from your career in organizing.:

Starting FACE Maui
Saving Kukui Gardens
Rebuilding Faith Action for Community Equity
South Carolina the People's Agenda for Economic Justice - no matter how crazy it was...
Winning Housing First! ($4 billion) in New York City - if you can make it there...
Building the A-DP
Watching the faces of all those MF's as we stormed into their offices over the years
Watching the faces of our people as the spiritual alchemy of action moved through them.

What are the barriers to successful community organizing in this country? How can we overcome these barriers?:

I think the biggest limitation in our field is the weakness and rarity of organizers.

Jim Drake once said to me that Organizing is a lot like a guild. Thinking about that now I take that to mean the following: Organizers have an apprenticeship (be a key leader, work for an organization, learn to do one on ones, learn about power, learn to identify leadership, and build a base), go forth as a journeyman/woman (learn to agitate leaders, run an issue campaign {not nearly enough supposed masters can actually do this}, be a supervisor, negotiate with a target, manage your own base, develop first rate leaders, learn to raise money), and become a master (maintain and run an organization on a day to day basis, take an organization from recognition fight to Governance, create a new organization from scratch, train and develop a staff from apprentice to journeyman/woman, leave an organization to someone else, and leave well).

I'm sure I missed some key things in my off the top of my head list, but I think that overall this process takes about 5 - 10 years. And at the end of it you may have a master organizer - but that dosen't mean they have digested their experiences in a way that allows them to help anyone else get there.

I think we as a field need to become better about intentionally walking people up this ladder.

Are you still in organizing? If not, in what other fields have you worked? What are you doing now?:

Yes. Still working at FACE in Hawaii.

Genealogy

Visualize Drew Astolfi's organizational relations

Drew Astolfi's Trainers

Who developed and/or trained you as an organizer?

Person	Organization
Drake, Jim	South Bronx Churches

Drew Astolfi's Coaches

Who has mentored, coached, or consulted with you in your organizing career?

Person	Organization
Pierce, Greg	Organization of the Northeast

Drew Astolfi's Peers

Which of your peers influenced your development as an organizer?

Person	Organization
Bagot, Buck	freelance
Borden, Kevin	CCC
Gonzalez, Gabe	Northwest Neighborhood Federation (Chicago)
Harman, Kim	UNITE-HERE
Kimball, David	Interfaith Leadership Project
Murray, Caroline	ADP

Drew Astolfi's Trainees

Whom have you developed or trained as an organizer? (Please list people who have stayed in the field or a related field for at least three years.)

Person	Organization
Bain, Rev. Stan	Faith Action for Community Equity (FACE)
Fried, Leah	ONE
Kettering, Brian	ONE
Parrish, Tara	NTIC- National Training and Information Center
Wohleb, Sarah	ADP
Yang, June	Faith Action for Community Equity (FACE)
Zukemaura, Patrick	FACE

Drew Astolfi's Coachees

Who did you mentor, coach, or consult with you in your organizing career? (Please list people who have stayed in the field or a related field for at least 3 years.)

Person	Organization
Erwin, Terri	FACE Maui
Watanate, Cade	Unite HERE/Hawaii