Interview with Ai-jen Poo, Director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance
Ai-Jen Poo has been organizing with domestic workers for over 15 years, helping in New York to win some of the first statewide labor protections for occupations often exempt from labor laws, and expanding this campaign to a nationwide vision for a strong caregiving workforce and infrastructure for elder care. In 2014 she became a MacArthur Fellow, but this was hardly her first award.
Winning a Land Bank We Can Trust
Lessons from Philadelphia's Campaign to Take Back Vacant Land
Affordable, But for Whom?
How a box of felt pieces helps organizers help New York communities advocate for their real affordable housing needs
Cross-Community Collaboration on NYC’s Municipal ID Program
Lack of identification hurts many different groups in different ways—from the homeless to immigrants, and they all need to be considered in the fight for an alternative.
Social Innovation and Civic Participation
We have some insight from Sonal Shah, the head of the new White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation, who is advocating...
Don’t Call It a Comeback for Neighborhood Schools
In the face of widespread school choice, some D.C. residents are advocating for an equitable system of neighborhood schools. But what's the chance that will become a reality?
Review of The Tenderloin: Sex, Crime & Resistance in the Heart Of San Francisco
I learned about the history of the Tenderloin, San Francisco’s maligned neighborhood, through walks in it with my Great Uncle, Milton Hendrick, and listening...
Changing the Game
London CITIZENS fights for permanently affordable housing in the shadow of the Olympics.
Did the GOP Attack on Community Organizing Backfire?
In a column on September 14, titled “Community Organizing Changed Fishery,” John Corrigan, the fishing writer for the Concord Monitor, explained that “anybody...
ACORN Facing Significant Problems
With state and local chapters of ACORN all over the country considering forming their own groups as the national organizing feels the effects of...
What Matters to a City? Thoughts from Detroit
In the last few months, Neil Peirce's Citiwire.net has hosted several pieces highlighting positive things happening in Detroit along...
A Hero on the Bench: WI Judge Takes on Real Impacts of Highway Expansion
When we go looking for the heroes and heroines who defend our freedoms, we tend to look backward: George Washington,...
FHFA: Orphaned No More
Since being taken into conservatorship, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two U.S. housing mortgage giants, have been treated as unwanted orphans. The massive...
Hard-Earned Victories Recognized by NLIHC
Its gratifying when you’re recognized by your colleagues for hard work, and that happened this past weekend when The...
We Can’t Be Pegged
The Catholic Campaign for Human Development, a funder of community organizing, defies right and left stereotypes to focus on justice.
Shelterforce Stands in Solidarity with #F17
Today, the Shelterforce/NHI office is standing in solidarity with the February 17th General Strike, a national day of action being observed by organizations and...
Hurricane Evacuees are Forcibly Evicted in Miami
More than 60 Miami families, many undocumented, have been homeless since last week’s hurricane and were forcibly removed last night by local officials.
When the Homeless Took Over
As the homeless and affordable housing crises become a focus on local and national campaigns, we must remember the rich history and critical contributions of homeless organizers.
Walking the Walk
In a city full of problems and promise, I'm taking the first steps toward learning up close what community organizing can accomplish.
Task Force Calls for $4 Billion in NSP Funding
Editor’s Note: The following is from the National Foreclosure Prevention and Neighborhood Stabilization Task Force. See the bottom of the page for a list...