Thank you to Studio Books and NetGalley for the eARC! I think this book is a pretty good introduction into community-led, or grassroots, organizing for change. It is straightforward and easy to understand. I appreciate the intersectional lens the author aims to discuss organizing through and actually went beyond the book to read/listed to some other bodies of his work. This ultimately helped flush out some of the ideas presented in this book! I also enjoyed the format and the reiteration of ideas, sometimes that can be repetitive, but for this book I think it was more useful than anything. Specifically for the format: the inclusion of cartoon sketches, underlining throughout the chapters, and bolding the final takeaways from each really helped keep my interest — beyond just the content. Definitely a useful book that lays a framework out through “field notes” in order to most compassionately serve communities in growing, rebuilding, or simply just existing. Thank you again for this eARC!

Favorite Quote: pg. 39 - “Change spreads over time, like a positive contagion.”

I picked this one up as a quick non-fiction read and it caught my eye with the word 'community' - a couple of the books I've read this year and last year have involved aspects of community building so I was hoping for a look at the practical side of things.
This guy definitely knows what he's talking about, and I don't doubt the amazing work his organization has done, I would have however enjoyed some concrete examples to go along side his theoretical field notes. I am sure there are probably some difficulties there with not openly sharing specific case notes - but also he kept referring to "the work in Reading" but I feel like I have no idea what actually went on there.

I liked this book. It was a bit repetitive, but I did find it very insightful regarding both the processes for community-led change truly suggested by the connected Institute and differing methods used by other practitioners/funders outside of the organization; plus, the repetition helped make the main themes 'stick' and last. Not only did the author challenge these alternative methods with respect, but rationale/reasoning and suggestions for improvement were provided. The chapters, while fairly brief, provide a great amount of points and questions to ponder at different points in one's reading journey, if not between points of their civic discussions, as well. Good stuff.

Thank you to Studio Books for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.