IAF Overview
Industrial Areas Foundation
www.industrialareasfoundation.org
WHAT IS THE INDUSTRIAL AREAS FOUNDATION?
The Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) is the oldest and largest national, institution-based, community organizing network in the United States. Founded over sixty years ago by Saul Alinsky, the IAF works with 62 institution-based community organizations across the United States, as well as in Canada, the United Kingdom, and Germany. These organizations have produced impressive results in training thousands of African-American, white, Latino and Asian, poor, working and middle class leaders to take action on community, city and state issues. For more information on IAF and see a list of IAF affiliates, click here: www.industrialareasfoundation.org
WHAT DO IAF ORGANIZATIONS DO?
IAF organizations are:
Power Organizations committed to expanding the ability of individuals, families and organizations to act on issues of concern.
Action Organizations committed to researching local and broader issues, acting directly on those issues with decision-makers in the public and private sectors, and evaluating those actions.
Training Organizations where leaders and potential leaders can learn about the skills and concepts necessary to operate effectively in the public arena.
WHAT HAVE IAF ORGANIZATIONS ACCOMPLISHED?
Living Wage. Conceived, designed, and passed the first living wage law in the country in Baltimore in 1994. The second bill was the work of the IAF affiliates in New York City in 1996. Since then, IAF affiliates in Texas, Arizona, and elsewhere have passed living wage legislation.
Nehemiah Housing. Built and sold 5,000 new, affordable, owner-occupied homes in parts of Brooklyn, the South Bronx, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C. , as well as created a $25 million annual dedicated fund for affordable housing in Montgomery Co., Maryland.
School Reform. Alliance Schools are engaging thousands of parents, teachers, administrators, and community leaders in communities all across the southwest and west. IAF established partnerships to run seven city schools in the Bronx and Brooklyn and forged an agreement with New York City to build a state-of-the-art campus for four new high schools in the South Bronx.
Large Scale Blight Removal and Revitalization. Successfully negotiated with the Washington, DC government to commit $550 million to redevelop neighborhoods, won a $295 million bond bill from the city of Philadelphia to rehabilitate blighted communities, and negotiated a $59 million fund for redeveloping neighborhoods in Baltimore.
After School Programs. Established a model after-school program in Baltimore, serving more than 1,200 students in 10 schools
Immigrant Issues. Developed a partnership with Citizens Bank in Boston to enable immigrants to send money home to their families for minimal fees. Launched a joint campaign in North Carolina to press community colleges to provide in-state tuition to immigrant high school graduates. Pressing the Federal government to open a full service INS office in Montgomery County, MD—where a majority of the state’s new immigrants reside. Organized successfully to overhaul bilingual education in New York City in 2003.
Health Care Expansion--Led a state-wide coalition that won a nationally heralded victory for universal health care in Massachusetts in 2006. Applauded the introduction of insurance coverage for all the children in Illinois -- a program called All Kids. Added to a 2002 health care expansion initiated and won by the IAF affiliates in Cook, DuPage and Lake counties, this means that Illinois has become one of the nation's leaders in providing health care options to the vast majority of its formerly uninsured residents.
WHAT TO READ?
Going Public, Michael Gecan, Anchor Books, May 2004 (Paperback)
