Occupy Your Block

Occupy Your Block began as an initiative to showcase the work being done to fight economic injustice all over NYC. We coordinated teach-ins with community based-organizations, tying their issue-specific work into the broader message of OWS, in an effort to recognize the diversity within the 99%, while working to recognize our commonalities and stand united.  We also provided resources for individuals who wanted to organize and reach out to neighbors and friends in their local communities.One of the goals of the outreach working group is connecting people with the general assemblies happening in their communities. Not everyone is able to participate, however, and it is crucial for those people to feel a part of the movement, which requires more options than sending donations or passively supporting the movement from afar.

Occupy Your Block strives to empower these people to in turn inspire and empower their friends and neighbors. People are far more likely to become involved if they are hearing about the movement from someone they know and trust. We speak to many people on the street who not only understand, but are living, the grievances laid out in the OWS declaration, yet they don’t believe mass mobilization will make a difference. They don’t yet have the information and inspiration that will bring them out in the streets, convinced that people power can, has, and will change the world.

We look at this as an opportunity for education, discussion, and organizing. We are working on gathering and creating resources that will allow people to host informal social gatherings, and reach out to those closest to them. We are also going to continue with the Subway People’s Mics in an effort to maintain the public presence of OWS during times abundant and scarce, and continue discussions in one of the few spaces in NYC where all members of the 99% can be found. We hope to support all of these gatherings in a way that can help build towards community building and action, with block parties happening all over the city. Our dream is that, by that point, people will be able to plug into general assemblies, eviction watches, 99% school classes, and other community-centered activities that give people a way to be a part of social change every single day.