The Six Questions
The arc of organizing at neighborhood scale, as six questions a group of neighbors can actually ask each other — from 'who are my people?' to 'are we stronger now?'
Organizing is leadership that enables people to turn the resources they have into the power they need to make the change they want (Marshall Ganz). At neighborhood scale, that arc becomes six questions, asked roughly in order and then asked again:
- Who are my people? The first question an organizer asks — not "what is my issue?" This is expansive: in a place, your people are the people who live there with you, not just the ones who agree with you. You find them one conversation at a time.
- What do we care about? Values, not issues, come first. We find shared values by trading stories — especially the choice points in our lives — and weaving a story of self, us, and now.
- What resources do we have? Every neighborhood is built on the gifts of its people. Before asking what's missing, map what's there: skills, spaces, associations, institutions, stories (asset-based community development).
- What could we do together? Strategy is turning what you have into what you need to get what you want. Pick a goal that is concrete, winnable, and builds capacity — then say your theory of change out loud in one sentence.
- What commitments do we make to each other? Power comes from commitment, and commitment is made person to person: a hard ask, a clear role, a date on the calendar, mutual accountability.
- After our collective action: how did it go? Are we stronger now? Win or lose, debrief and celebrate. The test of an action is not just whether it worked — it's whether the community that took it is now larger, more skilled, and more connected than before.
Each question has practices on this shelf that answer it, stories that show it, and tools you can build for it.
Details
- questions: Who are my people?, What do we care about?, What resources do we have?, What could we do together?, What commitments do we make to each other?, After our collective action: how did it go? Are we stronger now?
- source note: The six-question frame is RTP's arrangement for neighborhood-scale work; the underlying practices are from the Ganz organizing framework and asset-based community development.
- practice kind: framework
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Recipe
A Strategy You Can Say Out Loud
If we do TACTICS, then CHANGE, because REASON. If your neighborhood campaign's theory of change doesn't fit in one honest sentence, it…
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Build prompt
Build: A Debrief That Asks Both Questions
A starter build: an after-action tool that scores the goal honestly AND counts whether the community got stronger — new people, new…
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Build prompt
Build: A Living Asset Map
A starter build bridging both new shelves: an asset-based community development map where the assets are neighbors' own declared gifts,…
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Build prompt
Build: A Public Narrative Workshop
A starter build: walk a neighbor through the Story of Self / Us / Now worksheets — choice points, challenge-choice-outcome, and a hard ask…
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Build prompt
Build: A Relational Map for Your Block
A starter build: a consent-respecting tool for answering 'who are my people?' — track your 1:1 conversations, what people care about, and…
Contributed by Relational Technology Project, after Marshall Ganz · Organizing: People, Power, Change (2014), adapted from the work of Marshall Ganz, the Leading Change Network & the New Organizing Institute
See something to fix or add? Suggest an edit on GitHub — the commons lives in git too, and its history is the changelog.
community-organizingorganizing-frameworksix-questionsquestion:who-are-my-peoplequestion:what-do-we-care-aboutquestion:what-resources-do-we-havequestion:what-could-we-do-togetherquestion:what-commitments-do-we-makequestion:are-we-stronger-now