What schools/majors to study Community Organization and Advocacy

kids9396 · October 4, 2012, 1:13pm

My DD would like to study Community Organization and Advocacy. She is also doing the International Baccalaureate (IB) program and is a Junior. My question is what colleges/universities have this major or close to it, where she could also get credit if all goes well with the IB program. She is also interested in maybe Studying abroad after a couple of years. Although we would prefer her to say in the Western U.S, any state would be fine as long as it would be a good fit. Thank you for your reply.

zapfino · October 6, 2012, 12:52pm

There are many pathways to careers in community organization and advocacy. While you might find some directly related undergrad degree programs, my best advice is that your daughter focus on getting into the best college program that will accept her and that she can afford, and focus less on a specific major. She can always do internships and volunteer work for experience in community organization and advocacy. Also, shell find more options to get more specialized training in community organization in a masters program in a variety of fields.

Having said that, majors to consider are the following:
Social work (probably the most directly related, but limited opportunity to specialize at the undergrad level); urban studies/planning; urban education (or, related community-focused programs in schools of education); public policy; sociology; social justice/peace & justice studies (or, similar titles—fairly common at some Jesuit and other Catholic-affiliated universities); communication/
journalism/public relations (for advocacy); ethnic studies; public health (possibly); and, womens studies. At public land-grant universities, you might find relevant majors in community development (in what used to be rural sociology depts.) and in schools of human ecology/consumer sciences (for consumer issues, some public policy areas).

Of course, Id ask organizing and advocating for what? I think getting expertise in an area—whether that area is the environment, health, education, food & nutrition, poverty, employment & labor, etc.—is more effective than generic unfocused activism and advocacy. So, a lot depends on particular issues that interest your daughter.

Here are some undergrad programs that might coincide with her interests:
[Portland</a> State College of Urban & Public Affairs: Nohad A. Toulan School of Urban Studies & Planning | B.A./B.S. Community Development](<a href=“http://www.pdx.edu/usp/babs-community-development]Portland”>http://www.pdx.edu/usp/babs-community-development)
[JMU</a> - Advocacy Major Concentration](<a href=“Communication and Advocacy (M.A.) - Overview - JMU”>Communication and Advocacy (M.A.) - Overview - JMU)
[School</a> of Education | Community Organizing](<a href=“http://www4.uwm.edu/soe/academics/ed_policy/comm_org/]School”>http://www4.uwm.edu/soe/academics/ed_policy/comm_org/)
[Degree</a> Programs | Emory & Henry College](<a href=“http://www.ehc.edu/community-service/degree-programs]Degree”>http://www.ehc.edu/community-service/degree-programs)
[Social</a> Science | Oregon State University ? Cascades](<a href=“http://www.osucascades.edu/academics/social-science]Social”>Social Science | OSU-Cascades)
[Educational</a> Policy and Community Studies](<a href=“http://www4.uwm.edu/soe/departments/ed_policy/]Educational”>http://www4.uwm.edu/soe/departments/ed_policy/)
[Majors</a> | University of South Carolina](<a href=“http://www.sc.edu/admissions/learn/majors/socialwork.html]Majors”>http://www.sc.edu/admissions/learn/majors/socialwork.html)

Many schools also will let you develop your own interdisciplinary major, if an existing major doesnt fit your needs.

Some programs are non-degree certificate programs offered outside universities:
[CAREERS</a> IN SOCIAL JUSTICE AVAILABLE IN COMMUNITY ORGANIZING WITH DART! - Peace and Collaborative Development Network](<a href=“PCDN - : PCDN”>PCDN - : PCDN)
[Careers</a> in Community Organizing for Social Justice | University of Louisville Louis D. Brandeis School of Law](<a href=“Home — Louis D. Brandeis School of Law”>Home — Louis D. Brandeis School of Law)
[GAMALIEL</a> > Our Work](<a href=“http://www.gamaliel.org/OurWork.aspx]GAMALIEL”>http://www.gamaliel.org/OurWork.aspx)

Heres another link:
[Community</a> Organizers: For a Change*](<a href=“http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/socwork/ecco/cocareer.htm]Community”>http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/socwork/ecco/cocareer.htm)

kids9396 · October 8, 2012, 11:23am

Thank you for the reply Zapfino. My dd is very interested in helping people. Her first interest was becoming a social worker (management role), but she really wanted to do more on a bigger scale. I think her ideal career would be to work for a large non profit organization or working on building communities. 
Portland State is on our list and we are doing a campus visit there soon along with Western Washington University.

CThoosier · October 9, 2012, 12:56pm

This is pretty far from the west coast, but I’d also consider Indiana University’s School of Public and Environmental Affairs – students can major in nonprofit management and learn from some of the best faculty in this area – while the undergrad program doesn’t have ranking systems for these things, the grad program is #2 in the nation and #1 for NP management. If she finds she’s more interested in policy around certain areas (education, the environment, tax policy, healthcare) SPEA has a number of other majors that fit these areas.

[School</a> of Public and Environmental Affairs | Indiana University Bloomington](<a href=“Indiana University Bloomington”>Indiana University Bloomington)

kids9396 · October 17, 2012, 12:33pm

Thank you for your response CThoosier. It would be a big jump across the country. We did visit WWU and it was a definate no. Visited UW and it is a possiblity. Decided that Portland state was too much of a commuter school. We will need to look at more schools that have non profit management.

What schools/majors to study Community Organization and Advocacy

CONNECT WITH US