There are many problems in Virginia - problems with schools, property taxes, low wages, transportation, affordable housing, forestry and discrimination on the basis of race, sex and sexual orientation to name some.

Community groups have no lack of problems to work on, but it's important to move beyond describing the problems to finding solutions.

A problem is simply a statement of what is wrong or what needs to be changed. An issue is a solution, or at least a partial solution, to the problem. The Virginia Organizing Project works on issues, or solutions to problems Virginians face by organizing people to act together to change public laws, policies and practices that are at the root of community problems.

Analyze the Problem to Find the Issue

To turn your community problem into an issue, get together a few people who are concerned about the problem and ask yourselves the following questions:

1. What would really improve the situation?

The answer (or answers) to this question becomes your goal. For example, if the lack of affordable housing is the problem, building 100 new units of affordable housing in your community would improve the situation. It's a solution, or partial solution, to the problem.

Keep your statement of the solution simple, so that it's easily understood throughout the community. You may develop very detailed descriptions of the 100 new housing units, where they will be located, and how they will be managed or financed. But for the purposes of communicating about your goal, it should be easy for anyone in the community to understand and talk about what the goal is.

2. Who has the power to bring about the improvement?

The answer to this question becomes your target, or the person(s) you meet with to make your solution a reality. For example, your local housing and community development authority may have the power to build 100 new units of affordable housing. But it's not enough to know the name of the public agency that has the power to implement your solution. People, not agencies, make decisions. The actual people who have the power to make the decision are your targets.

If you can't find a clear target, you really don't have an issue, since there is no solution to a problem if there is no one with the power to resolve it.

Community groups need to be very specific about who their targets are. For example, writing to your congressional representative or talking to a lawyer might be good things to do in general, but unless the Congressperson or lawyer has the power to build 100 units of affordable housing, they're not your targets. Groups often waste a lot of time trying to educate a variety of people about the problem without first identifying the people who can bring about a solution.

3. How important is this issue?

A small but deeply committed group of people needs to care about the issue enough to stick with it, possibly for a few years, in order to see it through. Even more importantly, a much larger number of people needs to care about the issue enough to support it and work on it over the long-term as well.

Community groups need to ask themselves if there are enough people who care enough about the issue to make it worthwhile to take on. Since there are so many problems, there are many possible issues to work on. Actively ask people how much they care about an issue before making a commitment to work on it. Ask if they'd be willing to attend a public meeting about the issue, if they'd be willing to make phone calls, if they'd be willing to get their friends and family to write letters of support.

People may think the issue is a good idea, but if they're not willing to put some time and effort into it, the issue really isn't that important to them. Community groups need to know in advance whether an issue is just a good idea, or something that is important enough to people to get them to put time and effort into working on it.

4. Is the issue winnable?

If you have a clear goal, a specific target, and wide community support, the next question to ask is how likely it is, with the support you have, to be successful in reaching your goal. There is no point in going public on an issue that you have no chance of winning. On the other hand, community groups shouldn't shy away from taking on an issue that is of deep concern and has wide support just because the targets say it can't be done.

The whole point of community organizing is to get decision-makers to use their power to bring about improvements the community wants. We do this by getting the community to assert its own power in holding decision-makers accountable for meeting needs defined by the community.

If you can define a clear goal, identify specific targets, and have a substantial number of people who care enough about a problem to put some time into working on it, you have a pretty good chance of turning a general community problem into an issue - and achieving the improvements you want. Your next step is to develop a strategy for reaching your goal, the topic of the next virginia.organizing toolbox.