Five years ago, Rosalia Piñon, a 37-year-old mother of four, never would have imagined herself speaking in front of 4,000 people. Recently, however, at a public forum in Sacramento, to a crowd including state legislators, Piñon delivered personal testimony about the benefits of the low-cost children's health insurance program, Healthy Families. It was the Orange County Congregation Community Organization's (OCCCO) leadership development process that prepared her for that moment.

OCCCO, a community organization based in 14 Catholic churches, is a branch of a national faith-based organizing network, the Pacific Institute for Community Organization (PICO). PICO-California's recent statewide wins include state funding for an innovative teacher home-visiting program and the federal go-ahead to allow California to extend Healthy Families to parents.

"Our leadership development is a simple process," says Corey Timpson, the PICO organizer for Orange County. "There's no book. We work through a body of principles [see box] to guide people through situations." The learning is "on the job and participatory."

Parents usually learn about OCCCO through their local church, a place that provides safety and a built-in community. Faith motivates some to participate. "People of faith have a calling to be socially involved," says Alma Vergara, OCCCO's organizer in Costa Mesa. Jose Pinjero, a 39-year-old father of two, says his wife signed him up at their church, Sacred Heart, in Santa Ana. "Through OCCCO's program, I'm implementing my Christian mission," he adds. Piñon says she first joined because "I was looking for social change in my community and family."

Advocating for change is a step-by-step process for building parent leadership.

Talking one-to-one: A first step can be the one-to-one conversations OCCCO activists hold in people's homes. They ask family members what type of pressures they're facing, what they think the community lacks, and what would make the community more productive. "They could bring up anything, from the need for more stop signs to a better health care system," says Vergara.

Picking an issue: From these conversations, parent leaders hear community concerns. They then pick an issue and devise a plan of action in their monthly meetings. "They can work simultaneously on different issues at one church," Vergara points out. When Piñon first got involved with OCCCO, the group was working for a program that would allow high school kids to get credit for working while attending school. Piñon, who has 17-year-old twins, felt close to the issue and says, "I identified with the group and I liked the idea of working with a community of people who want to make a change."

Planning a strategy: At the monthly meetings, the organizer conducts a 20-minute training session about how to reach the people in power, for example, a school superintendent. With the aid of the organizers, parent leaders also devise a list of questions for research on an issue. "They may have a vision of what the school district should be like, so they come up with questions as a group," says Vergara. By doing the research and planning the strategy, parents take ownership of the process and learn how systems like health and education work.

Building support: They also use the one-to-one method to get neighbors involved in a particular issue. Pinjero remembers when the city of Santa Ana wanted to shorten the hours of the local library. He and other OCCCO leaders walked the neighborhood, knocked on doors, and signed up people for a meeting at the church to discuss how to maintain the regular hours. "I realized through this process that being united we can do something," says Pinjero.

Going public: The next step is a big one. Parents take the issue to a public forum, at a local church, school or town hall, or in Sacramento. In these meetings, they try to get a key decision-maker to commit to something on the spot. Last year, for example, Piñon was involved in a meeting where the superintendent of the Newport Mesa Unified School District agreed to submit a grant application for a teacher home-visiting program. The district got funding for the program.

At the meetings, parents present reports on research findings, prepared with the help of the organizer, who's always present at the meetings. Recently Piñon delivered information to 700 people, including the superintendent, on a plan to restructure K-6 schools into two separate units, K-3 and 4-6.

Parent's personal testimonies are also important in these meetings. Piñon has encouraged many other parents to tell their stories in public. For many Costa Mesa parents, mostly low-income and Latino, speaking in front of others can be intimidating. "I tell them how this is going to benefit the kids and help their future," says Piñon.

Evaluating the outcome: After the public meetings, the final step is to evaluate what worked and what didn't. "We use our evaluation for work in the future," Vergara says. "It's a constant building process."

A stronger, healthier community is the final outcome of OCCCO's work. There are also more personal gains. "The OCCCO program has made me more positive, more motivated. I can communicate better with my family, people in the community, the health and education systems. I learned I can be on equal playing grounds with people of power," says Piñon.

Pinjero concludes, "I feel more educated and I have a voice."

Keys to success

• Recruitment through churches, where members feel comfortable as part of a community
  
  
• One-on-one conversations that bring out people's ideas and get them involved
  
  
• Professional organizers who teach clear principles of organizing
  
  
• Participants getting involved based on their own experiences
  
  
• Community members "owning" the organizing: choosing issues, researching subjects, planning strategy, speaking in public
  
  
• Every step is part of leadership development.

Seeking justice: PICO principles

Organizing

1. Organizing is about people, not issues.
2. People act out of self-interest.
3. Stay close to your people.
   
   

Leadership development

1. Never do for others what they can do for themselves.
2. Leadership is developmental.
3. One cannot be held responsible for what they don't understand.
   
   

Power

1. Power rests in relationship.
2. Power is organized money/people.
3. Power is taken, not given.
   
   

Change

1. Change involves tension.
2. Real power is often hidden.
3. The [success of the] action is in the reaction [by those in power].