Organizing Urban America

Organizing Urban America

Secular and Faith-based Progressive Movements

Heidi J. Swarts

Table of Contents

$25.00 paper
ISBN 978-0-8166-4839-9
ISBN-10 0-8166-4839-5

$75.00 cloth
ISBN 978-0-8166-4838-2
ISBN-10 0-8166-4838-7

Examines the strategies of the most successful and racially diverse community organizations.

Collective action through organized social movements has long expanded American citizens’ rights and liberties. Recently, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) has helped win living wage initiatives in more than 130 cities across the country. Likewise, congregation-based groups have established countless social programs at city and state levels. Despite modest budgets, these organizations—different in their approach, but at the same time working for social change—have won billions of dollars in redistributive programs.

Looking closely at this phenomenon, Heidi J. Swarts explores activist groups’ cultural, organizational, and political strategies. Focusing on ACORN chapters and church federations in St. Louis, Missouri, and San Jose, California, Swarts demonstrates that congregation-based organizing has developed an innovative cultural strategy, combining democratic deliberation and leadership development to produce a “culture of commitment” among its cross-class, multiracial membership. By contrast, ACORN’s more homogeneous low-income class base has a national structure that allows it to coordinate campaigns quickly, and its seasoned staff excels in tactical innovations. By making these often-invisible grassroots organizers evident, Swarts sheds light on factors that constrain or enable other social movements in the United States.

Heidi J. Swarts is assistant professor of political science at Rutgers University.

336 pages | 8 b&w photos, 15 tables | 5 7/8 x 9 | 2008
Social Movements, Protest, and Contention Series, volume 28

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgments
Abbreviations

Introduction. Invisible Actors: Community Organizing, Agenda Setting, and American Social Movements

1. Different Mobilizing Cultures: Congregation-based Organizing and ACORN
2. Religion and Progressive Politics: Church-based Community Organizing’s Innovative Cultural Strategy
3. Experimenting with National Organizing Campaigns: ACORN’s Innovative Political Strategy
4. Organizing Is a Numbers Game: St. Louis ACORN
5. A Seat at the Regional Table: Metropolitan Congregations United for St. Louis
6. La Puebla Unida: ACORN in the Sunbelt
7. The Power Is in the Relationship: San Jose PACT
8. The Results of Organizing
9. American Inequality and the Potential of Community Organizing

Appendix A: Excerpts from “PICO Principles”
Appendix B: Methodological Appendix
Appendix C: Policy Outcomes for Selected National and Local Organizations
Appendix D: Agenda Setting: Selected Proposals Introduced by Four Community Organizations since 1990

Notes
Bibliography
Index



Organizing Urban America *Secular and Faith-based Progressive Movements* Heidi J. Swarts Table of Contents		$25.00 paper ISBN 978-0-8166-4839-9 ISBN-10 0-8166-4839-5 $75.00 cloth ISBN 978-0-8166-4838-2 ISBN-10 0-8166-4838-7
Examines the strategies of the most successful and racially diverse community organizations. Collective action through organized social movements has long expanded American citizens’ rights and liberties. Recently, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) has helped win living wage initiatives in more than 130 cities across the country. Likewise, congregation-based groups have established countless social programs at city and state levels. Despite modest budgets, these organizations—different in their approach, but at the same time working for social change—have won billions of dollars in redistributive programs. Looking closely at this phenomenon, Heidi J. Swarts explores activist groups’ cultural, organizational, and political strategies. Focusing on ACORN chapters and church federations in St. Louis, Missouri, and San Jose, California, Swarts demonstrates that congregation-based organizing has developed an innovative cultural strategy, combining democratic deliberation and leadership development to produce a “culture of commitment” among its cross-class, multiracial membership. By contrast, ACORN’s more homogeneous low-income class base has a national structure that allows it to coordinate campaigns quickly, and its seasoned staff excels in tactical innovations. By making these often-invisible grassroots organizers evident, Swarts sheds light on factors that constrain or enable other social movements in the United States. Heidi J. Swarts is assistant professor of political science at Rutgers University. 336 pages \| 8 b&w photos, 15 tables \| 5 7/8 x 9 \| 2008 Social Movements, Protest, and Contention Series, volume 28 TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgments Abbreviations Introduction. Invisible Actors: Community Organizing, Agenda Setting, and American Social Movements 1. Different Mobilizing Cultures: Congregation-based Organizing and ACORN 2. Religion and Progressive Politics: Church-based Community Organizing’s Innovative Cultural Strategy 3. Experimenting with National Organizing Campaigns: ACORN’s Innovative Political Strategy 4. Organizing Is a Numbers Game: St. Louis ACORN 5. A Seat at the Regional Table: Metropolitan Congregations United for St. Louis 6. La Puebla Unida: ACORN in the Sunbelt 7. The Power Is in the Relationship: San Jose PACT 8. The Results of Organizing 9. American Inequality and the Potential of Community Organizing Appendix A: Excerpts from “PICO Principles” Appendix B: Methodological Appendix Appendix C: Policy Outcomes for Selected National and Local Organizations Appendix D: Agenda Setting: Selected Proposals Introduced by Four Community Organizations since 1990 Notes Bibliography Index