PICO Has Simply Exploded!

January 2008

PICO has simply exploded!  It started thirty-four years ago as a one-town project, in Oakland, and so it was called OTI, the Oakland Training Institute.  But within a few years it reached beyond the city limits and they changed the name to PICO, the Pacific Institute for Community Organizing.  But once again the name didn’t fit their success, so those same letters were morphosed to mean People Improving Communities through Organizing.

Last year there were more than a thousand congregations and schools and families working together in 150 cities throughout our states, but there were also organizing actions in El Salvador and Rwanda!  Great success, because of a great need.

Personally I was first involved with PICO during a training summer way back in the OTI years and then not again until I helped Sacramento initiate its program, ACT, Area Congregations Together.  In my new function as Director of the Fresno Diocesan Social Justice Ministry, I am back in contact with PICO once again.  And what a great thing it is!

The first Sunday of December last year, our local action group, Faith in Community, under the direction of Julia Lerma, had what we call an “action” at St. Anthony Claret Church.  It was an attempt to encourage people who could be citizens but had not taken those necessary steps to take those steps.  It also encouraged those already citizens to be sure to vote.  It is their duty as Christians and as Americans to be part of the political scene.  About 250 people showed up for the Citizenship Fair, 174 of them filled out applications for citizenship and so far 55 have attended citizenship class orientation.  Now if every church and parish could emulate those people, we’d all be in fantastic shape.

The Catholic Bishops have urged their people to be politically active.  And that means not just voting—knowledgably— but also letting our political representatives in our Sacramentos and in Washington know how we feel about various bills.  Remember, they are our servants.  They are supposed to listen to us and help us fulfill our needs.

The middle of January I flew back to New Orleans to attend a PICO training workshop.  It was extraordinary!  Some eighty people from all over our country, multiple races and multiple religions.  One wonderful activity was the morning prayer, each day conducted by a different faith community.  Talk about opening eyes! 

Are Lutherans, Quakers, Baptists, Jews and Catholics different?  Do you mean: do we have different understandings of our faith?  The answer is yes.  Do you mean: do we have different understandings of basic human needs and basic human values?  The answer is no.  If we have the will and the no-how, we can very easily get together to work for those things our communities need for a decent living.  We can find leaders among the people and teach them how to use the power that they may not know they have together.  We can show them how to organize to bring that power to bear on their elected or appointed city, county and state officials. 

PICO is involved in unlocking the power of the people, bringing them together to improve their communities.  It says about itself that its vision is to capture the creative imagination of a people.  And when they do this, there is no limit to what the people can accomplish for its good and that of its neighbors.