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Organizing
Community development relies on policies, resources, and recognition that were won by decades of organizing—and organizing remains essential to face new threats, preserve existing wins, and continue to fight back against the big lie that the way things are is inevitable.
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How State Coalitions Are Advancing Community Ownership of Housing
In recent years, housing coalitions promoting community land trusts and real estate cooperatives have formed in multiple cities and states—and they are achieving results. Nonetheless, a lot of work is needed to achieve the policy changes these groups desire.
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In Memoriam: Jon Kest
Jon Kest, director of New York Communities for Change, a founder of the Working Families Party, and former head organizer for the New York chapter of ACORN, died of cancer […]
Fifty Young Progressive Activists Who Are Changing America
In the next decade, America will be transformed by a new wave of progressive activism, led primarily by organizers, thinkers, and politicians born after 1960. It is already bubbling below […]
Stumbling to Solidarity
It’s been an exciting year in labor organizing, between the Chicago teachers strike, Port of Oakland shut downs, Wal-Mart walkouts, and New York City’s multi-chain fast food workers’ walkout. Healthy, […]
Lesson from Sandy: Better Disaster Planning Needed for Housing
As storms become more violent and damaging, even if not necessarily more frequent, public housing organizations must update their disaster planning and build more resiliency into their organizations.
Solutions After Sandy: Rebuilding the Right Way
All around America, we've watched the devastation of Hurricane Sandy with a sense of shock and heartbreak. For millions of people who suffered from the storm, some of the hardest […]
How Hurricane Sandy Can Change Perceptions of Homelessness
Dramatic advances in medical treatments emerge in times of war. How might the housing crisis created by Hurricane Sandy advance our housing systems? The storm-related housing emergency that currently exists […]
Marijuana Legalization and Tenant Screening
Jokes abound about the legalization of marijuana use in Colorado and Washington. But it's not always a laughing matter. Affordable housing advocates have been passing around this link on the […]
Tenants Do Vote, Or at Least They Try
One of the canards about why homeownership is so wonderful is that it increases all sorts of beneficial behaviors, including civic participation. We can argue about which of these are […]
Déjà Vu All Over Again?
Amidst the recent plans of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and Bank of America to offload substantial portfolios of foreclosed properties to well-capitalized investors, Oakland, California is in many respects […]
Candidates’ Silence on Housing Issues Elicits Frustration
How do you convince somebody to fix a problem when they are seemingly blind to the overwhelming evidence that the problem even exists? Today, 11 million Americans owe more on […]
Community-Based Organizing Must Change. But How?
I grew up in rural Iowa. During my childhood, my community was shaken by the collapse of family farms, the dismantling of the labor movement and the brutal restructuring of […]
Putting “Community” Back in “CRA”
The Community Reinvestment Act and regulators have been unable to hold banks accountable to distant and distinct local communities—so nonprofits have stepped in to do the heavy lifting.