Organizing Is An Art And A Discipline

In our work, leadership development is not simply a set of skills or learned behaviors.  Rather it is a dynamic process of becoming. This process of becoming goes beyond the mere learning of organizing skills and extends into other areas of a person’s life.  As people become leaders, they are transformed; they become bigger people.  Their lives become a more true reflection of their human dignity. - Jim Keddy

Jose’s family roots from San Juan de la Montaña, Jalisco and Aguascalientes, Mexico

Nephesh Organizing provides technical and strategic support for organizations and individuals that want to build real grassroots, leader led political power to influence policy.

Through Nephesh Organizing, I seek to partner with organizations and individuals committed to improving society, grounded in values that call for building power and cultivating new leadership. I also love supporting individuals who are looking to deepen their personal leadership formation and refine the mindsets and practices of community organizing in their work.

Organizing is not a skill acquired overnight. It demands time, training, mentoring, reflection, and discipline before one truly begins to think like an organizer. And, as with any rigorous profession, mastery comes gradually through practice, persistence, mentorship, and growth. Until one day, one develops into a professional of the craft.

My calling lies in helping people and organizations make the odyssey of moving beyond staff driven activism and advocacy toward grassroots, leader led movements. In doing so, we become not only more effective at transforming civic society, but also more powerful in shaping and uplifting the lives and capacities of people themselves over the long run.

- Jose N. Arenas