London Citizens is a “Broad Based Organization” allying 160 member institutions representing faith institutions, universities, schools, trade unions and community groups across London. Since 1996 it runs campaigns in different fields such as housing, jobs, poverty, safety, environment and immigration. These campaigns aiming social justice are above all a mean to try to “unlock the power of Civil Society”. Through a participative scheme, the team of community organizers employed by London Citizens seeks to develop leaderships and find agreements between diverging interests. Individuals and communities are then encouraged to make political and economic elites accountable. The community organizer model can be traced back to Saul Alinsky’s views on organizing for mass power. This “radical pragmatist” American funded the Industrial Areas Foundation to which London Citizens is affiliated. Thanks to winning campaigns and the holding of accountability assemblies before the elections, London Citizens is more and more recognized as a countervailing force in the city’s and country’s governance. Simultaneously, community organizing has been highly publicized by the election of Obama, who famously started his political career as a community organizer in Chicago. When it comes to revive local democracy the brand “community organizing” has become highly fought for. As a significant example, a key part of the Coalition’s vision for the Big Society is the training of 5,000 ''''community organizers''''. In view of the rising interest toward this model of social action, London Citizens is intentionally professionalizing it. In 2010, a professional Guild of Community Organizers was created under the name of Citizens UK and the first MA in community organizing was launched. The aim is to create and control the tools allowing the perpetuation and sustainability of their activity as well as being the gate keeper of their community organizing model. This paper will explore the process of this professionalization and its stakes. Two of the main challenges are for this professionalized activity to stay grassroots and as financially independent as possible, which are two essential characteristics of radical community organizing. We will examine how these tensions are handled.
