Organizing

KIWA is a base-building organization and recognizes that worker organizing and leadership development are core drivers of enduring social and economic transformation. At the heart of our leadership development efforts is the one-on-one “house visit,” which connects our staff and volunteers to workers and their networks. This approach of deep relationship building leads to facilitating their leadership development and their deep involvement with our core activities.

More importantly, by developing the leadership skills of our members, they can be spokespeople for the organization and further help build our network. To build this base, KIWA organizers meet workers where they are–at work, at home, and in the community. Bringing together people most affected by a problem to analyze it and together forge and bring about solutions: this is the heart of KIWA’s theory of change.

By integrating these with strategic campaigns (all of which incorporate enforcement strategies), policy innovation and advocacy, community-based research, communications, civic engagement, coalition building, and critical services, KIWA has consistently found ways to win concrete changes impacting the lives of workers and residents and to contribute to longer-term movement-building.