May/Jun 2000
Issue #111
Renewing Bonds
Affordable housing was once seen as an issue that could unite the poor and working class like Social Security does today. That was largely thanks to the support and involvement of organized labor. In many communities around the nation, labor is once again calling for affordable housing as it seeks allies to support the battle for living wages and other vital benefits. If you work at a CDC, a tenant organization or a homeless advocacy group, trying to understand your connections to all of today’s “movements” is a challenge. How exactly do you fit into the labor or environmental movements? What do you have to do with smart growth or regionalism? In “Back to the Streets,” Miriam Axel-Lute shows us why it is, in fact, in our own self-interest to support the movement for global social justice and why U.S. activists fighting for fair labor and environmental standards in the rest of the world need to be involved in the fight for fair and affordable housing, living wages, and social justice here. Each of these articles shares one message – for progressive change to occur, alliances must be forged.
All the Issues in Workers’ Lives
Challenging the notion that unions should limit themselves to workplace concerns, breaking new ground on how to connect labor and community issues, exploring the relationship between the fight over economic issues and racial justice, and creating what some think actually has the look, feel, and smell of a social movement.
Back to the Streets
April 15th was a busy day in Washington, DC this year. A week of rallies, protests, teach-ins, nonviolence trainings, and preemptive police action was reaching its peak, and mass protests […]
Congressional Report Card
The Republican Revolution that captured control of Congress in 1994 resulted in sweeping changes in the way the federal government treats America’s poorest families. With just a handful of new […]
Uniting the Poor and Working Class for Housing, Living Wages and Justice
Social Security is politically sacrosanct for two reasons. First, it serves the elderly, and the elderly vote. Second, even though Social Security (like Medicare) provides significant help for the poor, […]
Shelter Shorts
Welfare-Style Time Limits Spread to Housing San Mateo County, CA is offering 300 families the chance to skip to the top of the Housing Authority’s 11,000 person waiting list – […]
Improving Schools from the Bottom Up
Two years ago, when Oakland ACORN was considering a new citywide initiative, members voiced one concern loud and clear: the poor conditions of the public schools. Some parents discussed the […]
Practice Makes Perfect – Or At Least Able to Do the Job
Below is an excerpt from Fundraising for the Long Haul, recently published by Chardon Press. In this book, I explore the particular challenges of older groups and share with readers […]
Community Development Legislative News
HUD Budget Threatened – Again On June 21, the House of Representatives passed (256-169) H.R. 4635, the FY01 VA/HUD appropriations bill. The bill cuts many HUD programs and keeps others […]
Holding America to its Commitment
The Democratic Promise: Saul Alinsky and His Legacy. Produced by the Chicago Video Project and Media Process Educational Films, 1999, Time: 56:40. $225 purchase; $75 rent. Limited number free to […]
Creating Your Employee Handbook
Creating Your Employee Handbook, by Leyna Bernstein and the Management Center, Jossey-Bass Publishers, 2000. 256 pp. Need an employee manual, but don’t know where to start? Creating Your Employee Handbook […]