Direct Action and Research Training Center

The Direct Action and Research Training Center, commonly known as DART, is a national network of congregation-based community-organizing groups in the United States. Rather than operating as a conventional consumer brand, DART functions as a training, consulting, and organizing network: it helps local faith communities identify problems affecting their neighborhoods, develop leaders, build alliances, and conduct public actions aimed at changing institutional decisions. The network is organized around the principle that residents can exercise collective power when they connect personal experience, congregational relationships, research, and disciplined public action. DART’s roots lie in Miami. In 1977, religious leaders and community participants formed Concerned Seniors of Dade in response to the unfair treatment of older residents. The organization became known for mobilizing large numbers of people quickly and consistently in order to press municipal officials for more equitable treatment. After the 1980 Miami unrest that followed the police killing of Arthur McDuffie, leaders associated with Concerned Seniors of Dade broadened their agenda and helped establish People United to Lead the Struggle for Equality, or PULSE. PULSE subsequently won campaigns involving unemployment fairness, minority hiring, and racial inequities in the justice system. The experience created a model that could be adapted by congregations in other cities. The DART Center was established in 1982 to provide that model with a wider training and support structure. During the 1980s, affiliated organizing expanded within Florida and into Ohio and Kentucky. During the 1990s, DART helped build or support additional organizations in Florida, Indiana, and Virginia while strengthening its leadership-development curriculum. In the 2000s, it developed a national approach to recruiting and training professional organizers and continued to add affiliates. More recent expansion reached South Carolina, Tennessee, Kansas, and Georgia. DART’s affiliates work on locally selected issues rather than following a single national campaign platform. Common subjects include racial justice, public-school improvement, criminal-justice reform, health-care access, affordable housing, public transportation, and immigrant rights. The network’s local groups are congregation-based and interfaith in character, allowing clergy, lay leaders, and residents from different religious communities to collaborate on civic issues. The reference material describes 23 affiliated organizations across nine states: Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. Together, DART and its affiliates employ approximately 50 professional community organizers, according to the cited reference. Training is a central part of DART’s operating model. The DART Organizers Institute combines a four-day classroom orientation with approximately five months of field training in an organizer’s assigned city. Participants work with selected congregations while studying community-organizing principles through recurring reading and written assignments. Early skills include articulating an organization’s mission, conducting one-to-one relational meetings, understanding participants’ motivations, managing time, leading meetings, building networks, planning over the long term, collaborating with clergy, and developing issues for public action. Ongoing professional development includes training and planning retreats, staff retreats, and regional sessions. The available reference states that DART has trained more than 10,000 community leaders and 270 professional community organizers since its founding. By 2007, it was described as the fourth-largest congregation-based community-organizing network in the United States. Its identity is therefore best understood as a nonprofit civic-capacity and organizing institution rather than a commercial product brand. DART’s principal offerings are training, organizer development, research and consultation, and network support for affiliated local organizations.

DART developed from a sequence of Miami-based community-organizing efforts. In 1977, religious leaders formed Concerned Seniors of Dade to respond to inequitable treatment of senior citizens. The group demonstrated that a coalition rooted in religious congregations could bring substantial public pressure to local government. Its organizing capacity became especially significant after the 1980 Miami unrest that followed the police killing of Arthur McDuffie. Leaders from Concerned Seniors of Dade expanded their focus and helped create People United to Lead the Struggle for Equality, known as PULSE. PULSE built a record of campaigns concerning unemployment, minority hiring, and racial inequities in the justice system. Its work attracted attention from communities that wanted to address local problems but lacked a systematic approach to identifying issues, developing leaders, and organizing public action. In 1982, the Direct Action and Research Training Center was created to transfer the lessons of the Miami experience to other faith-based community organizations. Expansion first occurred in Florida and then reached Ohio and Kentucky during the 1980s. In the 1990s, DART supported the creation or growth of additional groups in Florida, Indiana, and Virginia and broadened its leadership-training curriculum. During the 2000s, the network adopted a more national strategy for recruiting and preparing professional organizers. Subsequent growth extended the network into South Carolina, Tennessee, Kansas, and Georgia. DART affiliates are congregation-based organizations that generally bring together multiple religious communities. Their agendas are locally developed, but recurring areas of work include racism, public education, criminal justice, health care, affordable housing, public transportation, and immigrant rights. The network’s model emphasizes research into community concerns, relationship building, leadership development, issue selection, and carefully organized public actions directed at decision-makers. A major institutional component is the DART Organizers Institute. The program begins with a four-day classroom orientation and continues with roughly five months of field training in each participant’s assigned city. Organizers work with selected congregations while completing a weekly reading and writing curriculum. The training covers mission development, one-to-one conversations, motivation, meeting facilitation, time management, network building, long-range planning, clergy relationships, and issue development. Professional development continues through recurring training and planning retreats, summer staff sessions, and regional trainings. The cited reference describes DART as a network of 23 local organizations across nine states and reports that its affiliates and central network employ approximately 50 professional organizers. It also states that more than 10,000 community leaders and 270 professional organizers had been trained since the organization’s founding. As of 2007, DART was characterized as the fourth-largest congregation-based community-organizing network in the United States. No reliable current headquarters, executive roster, financial data, or official website is identified in the supplied material.

• 2000

  National organizer-recruitment strategy develops

  [1]Direct Action and Research Training Centeren.wikipedia.org

  In the 2000s, DART develops a national strategy for recruiting and training professional community organizers.

• 1982

  DART Center is founded

  [1]Direct Action and Research Training Centeren.wikipedia.org

  The Direct Action and Research Training Center is created to provide training and organizing expertise to faith communities in other cities.

• 1980

  Miami organizing expands after the McDuffie unrest

  [1]Direct Action and Research Training Centeren.wikipedia.org

  Following the unrest after the police killing of Arthur McDuffie, leaders associated with Concerned Seniors of Dade help establish PULSE and broaden their work toward racial and economic justice.

• 1980

  Expansion into additional states

  [1]Direct Action and Research Training Centeren.wikipedia.org

  During the 1980s, the organizing model spreads from Florida into Ohio and Kentucky; the reference also describes continued expansion during later decades into Indiana, Virginia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kansas, and Georgia.

• 1977

  Concerned Seniors of Dade is formed

  [1]Direct Action and Research Training Centeren.wikipedia.org

  Religious leaders in Miami establish Concerned Seniors of Dade to challenge unfair treatment of senior citizens, creating the organizing experience that later informs DART.

DART positions itself as a practical training and organizing resource for faith communities seeking to build local leadership and pursue public action on issues of justice and community improvement.

• Professional organizer training · 1982

  DART Organizers Institute

  DART’s organizer-development program combines a four-day classroom orientation with about five months of field training in the participant’s assigned city. Trainees work with selected religious congregations, complete recurring reading and writing assignments, and develop practical skills in relationship building, leadership recruitment, meeting management, issue development, network building, and long-term campaign planning. The program is designed as on-the-job preparation for faith-based community organizing.

• Leadership development · 1982

  Community leader training

  DART trains volunteer leaders in affiliated congregational organizations. The training supports the identification of local concerns, development of leaders, communication of organizational mission, one-to-one conversations, coalition building, public meeting preparation, and collective action directed at public institutions and other decision-makers.

• Community-organizing services · 1982

  Organizing consultation and network support

  The DART Center provides consultation and expertise to local faith-based organizations. Its support model helps affiliates research community issues, build participation across congregations, plan campaigns, work with clergy, and sustain professional organizing capacity through retreats, regional training, and continuing staff development.

1. 1Direct Action and Research Training Centeren.wikipedia.org