We believe that people working together have the power to change their communities and their country for the better.
Political and corporate leaders often don’t embrace change, unless they’re pressured by the people they serve. But too many people don’t realize they have potential to join forces and create change in their neighborhoods and across the country.
We work with the people who want to transform the world—from what it is to what they believe it should be. We challenge people to imagine the change they can accomplish, connect individuals and organizations to multiply their power, and mobilize people by the thousands to make their voices heard. We set audacious goals, create savvy strategies—and take on the powerful interests that stand in the way.
We are part of the Industrial Areas Foundation, the nation’s first and largest network of multi-faith community organizations—and we have seven decades of experience winning tough battles across the nation. Our 20 member organizations have a deep-roots presence in the political and financial power centers in the eastern United States and Europe. Our members pushed the politicians in Baltimore to pass the first living wage law in the country and mobilized a grassroots army for the creation of universal health care in Massachusetts—both of which have become national models for a just social policy.
Drawing on the proven power of person-to-person organizing, our work transforms communities and builds the local power necessary to create national change.
In the months after his father’s murder in early 1999, those months stretching formlessly between the mourning ritual of shiva and the impending trial of a suspect, Rabbi Joel Mosbacher received many messages of solace. There was one type, however, that tested every atom of clerical forbearance he possessed. “People said in this trying-to-be-helpful way, ‘This will make you a better rabbi,’ ” Rabbi Mosbacher, 43, recalled. “And nothing made me angrier. I didn’t want to be a better rabbi. I wanted my dad back.” ...While the rabbi had done a bit of tentative speaking on gun control as early as 2000, his commitment accelerated after 2006, when he first learned about the Industrial Areas Foundation. As a legacy of the renowned community organizer Saul Alinsky, the foundation largely mobilizes religious congregations. Its style, far from being earnest, is proudly combative.
NEW HAVEN — Carolina Bortolleto, an undocumented student from Danbury, came forward Monday to testify, not for herself, but on behalf of her parents, explaining what drivers’ licenses would for mean for them. “Sitting in the back seat I can see my mom shaking and praying if she sees the police behind us. ... ‘Pull over anywhere. Pretend we are stopping for coffee. Pretend we are stopping at this restaurant, because if the police stop us, we are going to be deported,” Bortolleto said of the daily fear they experience just driving to work or to school or the grocery store. “All these basic tasks that you take for granted, are filled with anxiety for me and my family,” said Bortolleto, who is a leader in CT Students for a DREAM. She was one of 2,000 people from around the state who came to Wilbur Cross High School where they filled the auditorium and spilled into the gymnasium and the cafeteria to testify on behalf of proposed legislation that would provide licenses to the undocumented.
At the mayoral forum sponsored last week by the Daily News and the Metro IAF citizens organization, Bill Thompson got to the heart of why we pressed the candidates to detail plans for the schools. He asked: “What defines success, not just in four years, each year. The chancellor and mayor need to be held accountable for that. We need to put that forward.” With very mixed success, the seven-member field attempted to accomplish that goal in front of an audience of about 1,000 New Yorkers gathered at Manhattan’s Central Synagogue.
Under pressure from the health care industry and consumer advocates, seven Republican governors are cautiously moving to expand Medicaid, giving an unexpected boost to President Obama’s plan to insure some 30 million more Americans.... Every few days, state hospital associations and advocates for poor people issue reports asserting that the economic benefits of expanding Medicaid would outweigh the costs. In recent weeks, such reports have been issued in Idaho, Indiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin. The existence of such a report was a decisive factor in Ohio, where Gov. John R. Kasich decided to embrace an expansion after months of lobbying by coalitions of churches, hospitals, business groups and others. Publication of that study — by Ohio State University, the Health Policy Institute of Ohio, the Urban Institute and Regional Economic Models — was “a major watershed moment,” said Ari Lipman, lead organizer of Greater Cleveland Congregations and chairman of the Northeast Ohio Medicaid Expansion Coalition.

Maryland IAF led the Maryland DREAM Act ballot initiative campaign to victory with 58.3 % of the vote. This law will allow undocumented immigrant high school graduates to attend Maryland public colleges and universities at in-state tuition rates. Maryland DREAM's success at the ballot box gives hope to national efforts to fix our broken immigration system. Maryland IAF organized over 250 DREAM events in religious congregations throughout the state, educating Marylanders about the importance of the DREAM act in an unprecidented grass-roots effort led by the faith community.
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