How to Cut an Issue:
For Faith in Texas, a good issue is:
P___passion-inspiring
R___rooted in stories
A___anchored in our faith communities
W___winnable
N___non-divisive (for member congregations)
S ___specific
Issue Formula
We want [DECISIONMAKER] to do [ACTION] by [DATE]. It’s in your interest to do this
because [LEVERAGE].
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RESEARCH ACTION GUIDELINES
The Testimony of two witnesses is true - John 8:17 (NIV)
PURPOSE: In the organizing process, research actions have several purposes.
1. To understand the cause of the problem.
2. To understand what can work to address the problem.
3. To understand who has the power to change the problem.
4. To build relationships between congregation members and public officials and
institutions influencing our community.
5. To train ourselves to “act” in public arenas.
Research Actions: Meetings that are conducted between Justice Teams or Faith in Texas
Teams and people who we believe to have some knowledge about, or people we believe to
have some responsibility over the problem we are concerned with.
PICO Principles to remember while conducting Research Action:
1.
Who do you love?: We know this problem is a real concern because our
community told us so. Even if the person you are speaking to seems to be doing a great job
in addressing this problem, ask ourselves, “What is missing that so many of our community
are still concerned with this problem?”
2.
Go in dumb - come out smart: This means that we don’t assume that we know
something about a problem (even when we do), because we are interested in important
information that we don’t have, or in a particular person’s perspective on a problem. Let the
person we are visiting do most of the talking.
3.
Do homework first, then act publicly: Research actions are informational. We
don’t negotiate for solutions or make commitments for our community during a research
action.
4.
Power Rests in Relationships and Self Interest Moves People: As in all of our
work, we are engaged in reweaving relationships in our community. Research actions teach
us how to develop public relationship, i.e., relationships between our immediate community
and public institutions and people who serve and interact with them and about the norms
and rules of such relationships.
5.
“Truth is a witnessing of 2 or more”: Research actions let us hear things as
they are in a public arena. Sometimes we hear surprising information. When 2 or more
people hear this information, they then have the power to report on it publicly as “truth.”
The other side of this is conducting research alone, we are often subject to disbelief when
reporting surprising information to people.
6.
Power is often hidden. How power really operates is not always what appears on
the organizational chart.
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RESEARCH TEAM WORKSHOPS:
Education, Immigration, Economic Dignity,
Policing & Incarceration
Agenda
● Existing team members debrief past research actions, future scheduled actions.
● Generate sample questions for upcoming research action.
● Write Agenda for upcoming research action.
● Role Play research action.
● Identify Priority Research Actions for Winter and Create 3-month Calendar through Jan.
● Make a Winter meeting schedule through Jan.
● Decide what Team Roles to create and make propositions to one another
Notes:
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Writing Questions for Research Actions:
As you ponder the particular questions you want to ask a particular person, consider:
● Who is the person we are meeting with? What is their responsibility related to our issue?
What is their area of expertise?
○ What do we need to understand about their role to understand our problem?
○ What might they add to our knowledge of the problem/possible solutions?
●
Webs of relationships: how are they related to other people/institutions with whom we
are meeting/or plan to meet?
○ Who are the other people that they work with related to our issue?
○ Who do they NOT work with and why?
●
What might we want to “check out” with them that we have heard from other people or
read about?
○ E.g. Do they share the same perspectives as ____ on the cause of the problem?
Solutions? Cutting edge ideas we’ve learned about?
○ Do they challenge our own assumptions or the assumptions of others we have
talked with?
●
What do they have the AUTHORITY to do? What do they have the WILL to do to affect
the problem?
●
Are their interests the same as ours?
○ E.g. Do they seem to really care about the “groans of our people”?
○ Or are they more interested in defending their institution than in working with us
to solve the problem?
Possible Questions:
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Sample Agenda for a Research Action
1. Introductions, Credential
(A Credential is the authority we have to be at the meeting: who we are, what we
represent and work we have done that brings us to this meeting. Faith in Texas is an
multi-racial faith movement that…..)
2. Purpose:
a. Issue we want to discuss…………….
b. We thought a first step in looking at solutions to these problems would be to talk
with you and learn more about your perspective on these issues.
3. Questions:
4. “Who else should we meet with?”
5. Adjourn and Evaluate.
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How to Set up a Research Action By Phone
Get familiar with the key points below before you place the call, making any necessary
adjustments. Invite God to be with you in the conversation. Once you pick up the phone, work
on beginning a relationship with the person you are talking to and problem solving with them to
find a time that works for everyone. That’s more important than getting every detail just right!
CREDENTIAL
·
Hi, my name is _____________.I’m a member of _____________________, and am calling
on behalf of Faith in Texas. Faith in Texas is a new faith-based community organization in North
Texas made up of local congregations.
PURPOSE:
·
I’m calling because we have recently completed over ___ 1-1 visits with our members and
neighbors to learn more about their daily struggles and concerns in their communities. We are
now in the process of getting more facts about the problems and researching solutions to the
concerns that we heard.
·
We would like to set up an appointment with _____________ to visit with her/him about
one of the major concerns on the hearts and minds of people in our congregations:
_________________________________________________
o
We would like to share some of the concerns that we’ve been hearing with
______________ and gain her perspectives on the matter (or, if you are trying to meet with
someone who is a decision maker in an institution with responsibility for your problem area “to
hear what -name of the institution is doing to address these problems”).
GETTING A DATE AND TIME




Some of us are hoping to meet with her/him in her/his office during the ____ week of
January for an hour or less to get to know her/him better and to talk about these concerns.
Does she/he have times available that week? Any early evening availability?
If at least 2 Faith in Texas members can’t be present at the time(s) suggested, tell the
person that the time won’t work for our organization and ask for other possibilities.
Once you have a possible time, ask the scheduler to save the time and say that you will get
back to confirm within 2 days. Thank them for working with you and get back to them
promptly.
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Building a Strong Research Team:
●
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●
●
Team built on clear propositions: “Will you take responsibility for X?” yes/no
Interdependent Roles: we count on each other to play our part, or team breaks down!
Norms: Show up on time, do things you commit to do.
Accountability: when people don’t fulfill roles, someone points it out to them.
Sample Roles:
● On-Ramp Point-Person: have one-on-ones with people who want to be part of the
team, or find someone for them to meet with.
● Team Data Manager: keep contact info for everyone and do reminder calls for meetings
and research actions
● Scheduler: coordinate people’s schedules and book the Research Actions
● Chair for each Research Action (rotate this responsibility.)
● Secretary: Drafts agenda for planning meetings and sends out in advance, takes notes
at the debrief, sends out notes after each research action or meeting.
● Building Team Representative: updates Staff on weekly progress at a 20-minute
phone call to check in on Monday nights at 8pm.
Notes:
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