The European Community Organizing Network (ECON) was formed at a meeting in January, 2008 in Cesky Tesin, Czech Republic following two annual international community organizing trainings held at the Le Pont Meeting Center of Protestant Churches in Paris, France. The founding of ECON represented the growing interest in community organizing in Europe and the growing network of relationships between people and organizations in Europe who are seeking practical and effective strategies for great citizen participation.

Since its founding, ECON has held four-day Annual Meetings and Training in Paris, France (2008); Debrecen, Hungary (2010); Szczecin, Poland (2011), and Chisinau/Cantemir/Cahul, Moldova (2012). ECON has conducted numerous local trainings and consulting visits in over a dozen European countries. Over two dozen site visits have been organized, allowing community organizing staff and volunteers to share experiences and best practices. Since 2009, over three dozen community organizers from the United States have visited ECON members, providing training and consulting, and by the end of 2014 over fifty European will have done internships with community organizations in the United States. ECON helped in the production and publication of the "Handbook on Citizens Participation - Community Organizing as a Tool for Enhancing Citizens Participation" and has translated training and other materials into numerous languages.

With assistance from ECON, its members have formed community organizations in a number of countries that have engaged hundreds of citizens and solved issues related to infrastructure improvements, more activities for young people, garbage removal, creating and preserving city green spaces, parking opportunities, social assistance reform, and more. ECON has also assisted its membership to raise funds to support the work of community organizing and to build long-term and democratic citizen organizations.