Resources
RESOURCES
Throughout the Toolbox, books, articles, reports, films, and other materials have been cited that can be useful for funders interested in exploring various aspects of the CO field and in designing and implementing a CO grantmaking program. In addition, Web site addresses and other information about key organizations involved with CO - both funders and CO groups - accompany many of the case studies and other examples that are used to illustrate major points in the text.
In this brief section, we list and describe the contents of several publications that various NFG members have found particularly helpful to them in implementing a CO grantmaking program. Then we list other resources by subject area.
For additional references, please contact NFG's staff at nfg@nfg.org.
WEB
SITES
Organizing Networks*
www.arc.org - The Applied Research Center is a public policy, educational and research institute which emphasizes issues of race and social change.
www.acorn.org - The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) Web site includes a Living Wage Resource Center, publications, and other campaign updates.
www.ctwo.org - The Center for Third World Organizing site has information on trainings and other resources to promote and sustain political analysis, policy development, and collective action in communities of color across the U.S.
www.gamaliel.org - The Gamaliel Foundation is a network of professional community organizers and key institutional leaders working to rebuild urban areas, with a predominant focus on faith-based community organizations.
www.ntic-us.org - The National Training and Information Center is a 30-year-old non-profit organization that provides training, technical assistance and research for grassroots community organizations on issues including housing, education, youth and workforce investment.
*Some organizing networks do not have a Web site.
Other Web site resources
www.americanprospect.com - American Prospect is a monthly news magazine which frequently covers organizing campaigns.
www.citylimits.org - City Limits is a monthly New York city-based monthly publication covering organizing and other strategies for community groups.
www.commchange.org - The Center for Community Change helps poor people to improve their communities and change policies and institutions that affect their lives by developing their own strong organizations. Publishes Organizing, a periodic update on organizing campaigns across the country.
http://comm-org.utoledo.edu - COMM-ORG is hosted by the Urban Affairs Center and Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work at the University of Toledo and has an array of resources on CO.
www.jwj.org - Jobs with Justice is an national campaign for workers' rights that works through coalitions of labor, community, religious and constituency organizations.
www.lincproject.org - The Low Income Networking and Communications Project (LINC Project) is the electronic crossroad where the members, leaders and organizers of low-income organizations can connect, gather, and exchange information and have their organizing efforts represented. The site has a directory of low-income organizations working on welfare issues.
www.mindspring.com/~midwestacademy - The Midwest Academy is one of the nation's oldest and best known schools for community organizations, citizen organizations and individuals committed to progressive social change.
www.noacentral.org - The National Organizers Alliance holds annual gatherings, sponsors a Retirement Pension Program, and other activities on behalf of organizers.
www.nhi.org - Shelterforce Online features many articles on CO strategies.
www.socialpolicy.org - Social Policy is a quarterly publication which frequently covers CO campaigns and strategies.
www.ufenet.org - United for a Fair Economy provides extensive educational resources and supports grassroots groups and legislation to reduce income inequality.
www.unionweb.org - Union Web links to union web sites, including international unions and information about community/labor organizing efforts.
PERIODICALS
RCI News, Rebuilding Communities Initiative, a quarterly publication from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, 701 St. Paul St., Baltimore, MD 21202, www.aecf.org.
Organizing, a periodic newsletter on organizing issues from the Center for Community Change, 1000 Wisconsin Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20007, www.commchange.org
BOOKS
Saul D. Alinsky, Reveille for Radicals, New York, Random House, 1969.
The classic clarion call to organize the people to claim their rights and powers of citizenship in a free society. Many regard Alinsky as the "father" of modern CO. His views and methods continue to influence CO today, but the book is particularly useful for establishing a baseline and helping readers to understand how CO has evolved, and is evolving still, since Alinsky's time. The book is written in hard-hitting, passionate and colorful language.
Gary Delgado, Organizing the
Movement: The Roots and Growth of
ACORN, Philadelphia, Temple University
Press, 1986.
ACORN was launched in 1970 and has grown to become one of the country's most prominent and effective organizing networks. ACORN is a poor people's organization first and foremost, and has confronted and overcome immense challenges in its evolution. This book is an analytic account of ACORN's birth and development over the first decade and a half of its life. Delgado - who is the founding director of the Center for Third World Organizing and is now the Director of the Applied Research Center - spent much of this time working with ACORN and thus brings an informed inside view. Yet the book pulls no punches - the good decisions and the mistakes get balanced treatment. Readers wanting to learn how poor people can be organized to work for change and get important results will find this book a vitally important text.
Robert Fisher, Let the People
Decide: Neighborhood Organizing in
America, Updated Edition, New York, Twayne
Publishers, 1994.
Fisher's book insightfully traces the history of CO in the U.S., probably with broader sweep and in greater detail than any other. The book has been regarded by many activists, funders and historians as an indispensable resource for those who want to understand CO. Fisher's bibliographic essay that is appended to the narrative is in itself worth far more than the cover price of the book.
William
Greider, Who Will Tell the People: The
Betrayal of American Democracy, New
York, Touchstone, 1993.
We are called to action by Greider to reclaim democracy from the special interests. In discussing his wide ranging views on what has gone wrong with democracy, Greider points to CO as a route to making government work for the people. He is one of the few popular American authors to recognize CO's critical value, and he does so based on his own investigation of CO groups in Texas affiliated with IAF.
Jacqueline
B. Mondros and Scott M. Wilson,
Organizing for Power and
Empowerment, New York, Columbia University
Press, 1994.
This book examines specific strategies for building a successful progressive CO organization. It treats in detail such subjects as recruiting members, developing leaders, building consensus, identifying issues, and developing and implementing practices. The authors incorporate the practice wisdom of over 80 local to national organizers and leaders, and give detailed advice on everything from planning and implementing strategy, to evaluating and publicizing organizational victories, to structuring and funding social action groups. By reading this book, funders interested in exploring a CO grant program will get an "on the ground" feel for the challenges confronting CO groups and how they deal with them and a thoughtful academic perspective on CO.
Charles M. Payne, I've Got the Light
of Freedom: The Organizing Tradition
and the Mississippi Freedom Struggle,
Berkeley, CA, University of California
Press, 1995.
Payne's compelling book demonstrates the importance of CO efforts in the Mississippi civil rights movement. As Aldon Morris has commented, "It shows how ordinary Black people pushed their churches, ministries, organizations, and institutions to get involved in the fight to destroy racial segregation and inequality." This is history from the bottom-up, an authentic version validated by many participants that challenges popular views of what drove the movement and brought it profound results."
Mary Beth
Rogers, Cold Anger: A Story of Faith
and Power Politics, Denton, TX,
University of North Texas Press, 1990.
Cold Anger is a story about politics by working poor people who incorporate their religious values into a struggle for power and visibility. It is the story of Ernesto Cortes and the Texas IAF network of organizations and how they have transformed politics in Texas.
RESOURCES BY SUBJECT
Video: The Democratic Promise: Saul Alinsky and His Legacy
Saul D. Alinsky, Reveille for Radicals, New York, Random House, 1969.
The classic clarion call to organize the people to claim their rights and powers of citizenship in a free society. Many regard Alinsky as the "father" of modern CO. His views and methods continue to influence CO today, but the book is particularly useful for establishing a baseline and helping readers to understand how CO has evolved, and is evolving still, since Alinsky's time. The book is written in hard-hitting, passionate and colorful language.
Saul D.
Alinksy, Rules for Radicals, New
York: Vintage Books, 1971.
S. Horwitt, Let
Them Call Me Rebel, New York, 1989.
Community Organizing and
Philanthropy
H. Allen, "Organizing Power & Public Policy: One Foundation's Road to Supporting Community Organizing," Shelterforce, September/October 1998, p. 31.
Rob McKay, "Foundation Frustration, Why are big-money philanthropies afraid of community organizers?" City Limits, November 2000, p. 11.
Ms.
Foundation for Women, Movement
Building Grant Guidelines,
2001.
Requires Adobe
Acrobat Reader (download
free), 175K.
RCI News, Rebuilding Communities Initiative, a quarterly publication from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, 701 St. Paul St., Baltimore, MD 21202, www.aecf.org.
W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Grassroots Leadership Development: A Guide for Grassroots Leaders, Support Organizations, and Funders, 2001. Complimentary copies available from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation at 1-800-819-9997.
Evaluation
- Background information
Toolbox author Larry Parachini and Emily Goldfarb can provide additional background information on evaluating community organizing funding.
J. Connell, A. Kubisch, L. Schorr and C. Weiss, New Approaches to Evaluating Community Intiatives. Volume 1. Concepts, Methods, and Contexts, The Aspen Institute, 1995.
Ira Edelman, "Evaluation and Community-Based Initiatives," Social Policy, Winter 2000, p. 13.
K. Fulbright-Anderson, A.C. Kubisch and J.P. Connell, New Approaches to Evaluating Community Initiatives. Volume 2. Theory, Measurement, and Analysis, The Aspen Institute, 1998.
National Network of Grantmakers (NNG), What Is Good Grantmaking For Social Justice? Evaluation Guide, 1993.
P. Patrizi and B. McMullan, Evaluation in Foundations: The Unrealized Potential, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, 1998.
C.H. Weiss, Evaluation, 2nd Edition, Prentice Hall, 1997.
Catholic Campaign for Human Development: J.D. McCarthy and C. Castelli, Working for Justice: The Campaign for Human Development and Poor Empowerment Groups.
Discount
Foundation: Jeannie Appleman, Evaluation
Study of Institution-Based
Organizing, 1996.
Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader (download
free), 175K.
Woods Fund of Chicago: S. O'Donnell,
Y. Jeffries, F. Sanchez and P. Selmi,
Evaluation
of the Fund's Community Organizing
Grant Program, 1995.
Requires Adobe Acrobat
Reader (download
free), 5.8MB.