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community organizing

The Work to Be Done This Labor Day

August 31, 2018 by Miranda Cunningham Leave a Comment

On Labor Day 2018, it’s hard to maintain hope. Many will labor on Labor Day (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Growing up in a blue-collar union household, working on holidays was considered a boon). Many labor in worse conditions than our parents and grandparents. The Gig Economy The gig economy leaves millions on their […]

Filed Under: Building Economic Alternatives, Classism in the Economy, Classist Corporations, Corporate power, Dismantlng Classism, Labor movement, Poverty, Systemic Classism Tagged With: activism, community organizing, downward mobility, low-wage jobs, middle class, Minimum wage, public services, race and class, social movements, unions

Addressing Food Insecurity on Campus

February 15, 2018 by René Franceschini Leave a Comment

The U.S. Department of Agriculture defines food insecurity as a lack of consistent access to enough food for an active, healthy life. Food insecurity at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) had been both poorly understood and oftentimes neglected until very recently. I think the overwhelming view of the administration was that students were, in general, […]

Filed Under: Building Economic Alternatives, Class in Higher Education, Classism, Classism in Higher Education, Cross-class alliances, Money Tagged With: academia, activism, community organizing, education, money

Trump One Year Later: Most of Us Live in Dread

January 29, 2018 by Bill Fletcher Jr. Leave a Comment

I had a discussion with my doctor late spring 2017. I was having gastrointestinal issues, and I said to him that I kept wondering whether the anxiety that I felt about the Trump regime was affecting me physically. My doctor responded very seriously and with a straight face. He replied that many of his patients […]

Filed Under: A World Without Classism, Classism, Classism in Politics, Classism in the Economy, Dismantlng Classism, Labor movement, Politics and Class Tagged With: activism, budget cuts, bullying, classism, community organizing, owning class, super-rich, tax cuts, union-bashing, working class

Cross Class Dialogue Circle

December 20, 2017 by Alana Fichman Leave a Comment

It was on a bulletin at a local coffee shop, Cross Class Dialogue Circle. What did those words mean? Cross made me think of the patterns on top of a pie. Class, I thought I knew what that was: divisions based on wealth and a word I always flinched at for some reason. Dialogue, easy: a […]

Filed Under: A World Without Classism, Cross-class alliances, Cross-class Relationships, Dismantlng Classism Tagged With: activism, class cultures, classism, community organizing, downward mobility, health care, social movements

Cross-Class Alliances: Silicon Valley

December 20, 2017 by Lita Kurth Leave a Comment

On Labor Day, I thought, what better way to celebrate than to show up for cross-class picketing at a local McDonald’s? The first thing I saw was a line of yellow school buses bringing the picketers from the local labor council to the restaurant, partly because many workers rely on a bus, not a car […]

Filed Under: A World Without Classism, Cross-class alliances, Dismantlng Classism, Race and Class Tagged With: activism, classism, community organizing, low-wage jobs, Minimum wage, speaking up, unions

Class in Crisis

April 18, 2017 by Jude Diebold 1 Comment

Usually when I sit down to write out my thoughts on a political event, I write because I want to express an idea to resolve an issue. In fact, I would venture to say that most political writing is a reaction to some current event, with an idea of how this event can/will/should be handled. Today that is […]

Filed Under: Classism in Politics, Classism in the Economy, Dismantlng Classism, Electoral politics Tagged With: activism, budget cuts, classism, community organizing, speaking up, working class

Was the International Women’s Day Strike Classist?

March 13, 2017 by Liz Padgett 2 Comments

What did you do for International Women’s Day? Did you strike? Well, I’m currently unemployed, and my partner has been supporting us while I’ve been more-or-less taking care of our home. We had a conversation in the morning about the kind of day-to-day work I do around the house, how a lot of it is unbalanced background […]

Filed Under: Classism in Progressive Movement Groups, Cross-class alliances, Dealing with privilege Tagged With: community organizing, privilege

Five Classist Pitfalls to #Resist in Your Activism

February 13, 2017 by Davey Shlasko 4 Comments

In a moment of potentially revolutionary activism and mobilization, don’t let classism undermine your efforts. The past few weeks have been both terrifying and inspiring. In the midst of ascending totalitarianism and the drastic, likely unconstitutional roll-backs of basic rights, we are also seeing a swift mobilization from both new and established activists. Organizations and […]

Filed Under: Class prejudice, Classism in Politics, Classism in Progressive Movement Groups, Cross-class alliances, Dealing with privilege, Internalized classism, LGBT & Class, Politics and Class Tagged With: activism, class cultures, classism, community organizing, middle class, owning class, privilege, social movements, working class

Witness Web

January 19, 2017 by Kathleen Hepler Leave a Comment

A group of members – currently 20 and growing – at First Parish in Framingham Unitarian Universalist is going to be staying abreast of various issues in our national lives that are at risk in these times. They are creating a Witness Web. Anyone can go onto the site in Google+ and click on any of […]

Filed Under: Classism in Politics, Electoral politics, Religion and Class Tagged With: classism, community organizing, speaking up

Safe, Affordable Housing Is a Human Right

January 5, 2017 by Aimee Inglis 1 Comment

On the morning of December 3rd, 2016, the deadly effects of the affordable housing crisis became clear. If housing were treated as a human right, if artists were supported by the cities and developers that profit off their creativity, the loss of 36 lives in Oakland, California in the Ghost Ship warehouse fire could have […]

Filed Under: A World Without Classism, Affordable Housing, Building Economic Alternatives, Classism in Politics Tagged With: community organizing, poverty, speaking up

Beyond Trump: Creating Class-Race Alliances

October 20, 2016 by Rahula Janowski 3 Comments

Part of the White, Working Class, and Worried about Trump (#WhiteWorkingClassVsTrump) Campaign*: I grew up in economically depressed, though beautiful, northeastern Vermont. My family was on and off welfare throughout my childhood, and we were always poor. As a child, I was acutely aware of the ways poverty set me apart from other people. As I […]

Filed Under: A World Without Classism, Class prejudice, Classism, Classism in Diversity Work, Classism in Politics, Classism in Progressive Movement Groups, Classism in the Economy, Cross-class alliances, Dismantlng Classism, Electoral politics, Institutional racism, Owning class, Politics and Class, Poverty, Race and Class Tagged With: #WhiteWorkingClassVsTrump, activism, classism, community organizing, owning class, poverty, racism, working class

Beyond Trump: Building a Coalition for Change

October 19, 2016 by Justin Stein Leave a Comment

Part of the White, Working Class, and Worried about Trump (#WhiteWorkingClassVsTrump) Campaign*: I grew up in South St. Louis City in a multi-racial, working-class neighborhood. My dad was a union carpenter, and my mom worked part-time at various jobs while maintaining the home. I’m the oldest of seven children. I remember the constant anxiety in our […]

Filed Under: A World Without Classism, Class cultures, Class prejudice, Classism, Classism in Diversity Work, Classism in Politics, Classism in Progressive Movement Groups, Classism in the Economy, Cross-class alliances, Dealing with privilege, Dismantlng Classism, Electoral politics, Politics and Class, Race and Class Tagged With: #WhiteWorkingClassVsTrump, activism, blaming the victim, classism, community organizing, privilege, race and class, racism, social movements, working class

Being an Owning-Class Activist

September 29, 2016 by Jennifer Ladd Leave a Comment

All of us are more than a label, right? We each are more than one of our identities standing by itself. We are complex, changing, contradictory beings, and a mystery in many ways. And yet, our identities do matter – at the very same time as those identities are not all of who we are. […]

Filed Under: A World Without Classism, Building Economic Alternatives, Class cultures, Cross-class alliances, Cross-class Relationships, Dealing with privilege, Dismantlng Classism, Owning class Tagged With: activism, community organizing, money, owning class, privilege, social movements, super-rich

Wealthy, Come Home

September 29, 2016 by Chuck Collins Leave a Comment

Here’s my invitation to those of you, like me, in the top of America’s income and wealth ladder. Come home.  What I mean by “coming home” is to bring your whole self – your passion, your stake in a place, your wealth and sense of agency – and throw it fully into the movements to reduce […]

Filed Under: A World Without Classism, Cross-class alliances, Dealing with privilege, Dismantlng Classism, Money, Owning class Tagged With: activism, community organizing, Felice Yeskel, owning class, privilege, speaking up, super-rich

Systematic Failure: A Recipe for Self-Doubt

September 15, 2016 by Alyshia Macaysa 3 Comments

What does it mean when our education system, “The Great Equalizer,” turns low-income dreamers into third-generation self-doubters? When a high-quality education system is built only to serve and advance the dreams of highly resourced, high-wealth individuals? Prior to my time at UC Berkeley, the formula to a successful college career seemed pretty simple. All you […]

Filed Under: Class cultures, Class in Higher Education, Classism, Dismantlng Classism, First Generation College Students, Institutional racism, Internalized classism Tagged With: academia, classism, community organizing, education, first generation college students, poverty, privilege, race and class, racism

Inclusion, Preservation and Lottery Odds

August 3, 2016 by Danny LeBlanc Leave a Comment

Somerville used to be a place where many of the residents were people who couldn’t afford to live anywhere else. As I’ve told many younger folks in recent years, from 1978-81 I rented an eight-room home with three other young adults for $250 a month – that’s total, not per person! In today’s Somerville*, the […]

Filed Under: Affordable Housing, Building Economic Alternatives Tagged With: affordable housing, community organizing, housing, immigrants, rent, rent burdened, working class

Aging in Place: Junk Cars in Economically Diverse Neighborhoods

May 3, 2013 by Susan Naimark 3 Comments

“We’ve got to get those junk cars out of people’s yards!” This was the challenge raised by a roomful of community organizers in a course I recently taught. The majority worked in community-based organizations focused on improving low-income neighborhoods. My course was an advanced seminar on values conflicts in community organizing. The junk car conflict […]

Filed Under: Class cultures, Classism in Everyday Life, Classism in Progressive Movement Groups, Cross-class alliances Tagged With: cars, community organizing

No-degree social movement thinkers

February 18, 2012 by Betsy Leondar-Wright Leave a Comment

Who do you think of when you think of a social movement theorist? A professor? Two of the authors who have taught me the most about social movement strategy have only high school degrees: Linda Stout and the late Bill Moyer. I very rarely see either of them cited in the social movement literature. I […]

Filed Under: Class in Higher Education, Classism in Progressive Movement Groups Tagged With: community organizing, poverty, social movements

Building Solidarity and Dealing with Racism

August 21, 2011 by Mike Miller of OTC

In 1971, when I was “lead organizer” for what became the All Peoples’ Coalition (APC), I learned a different approach to dealing with some racism I encountered among working-class whites. APC was a federation of some thirty organizations (churches, block clubs, the neighborhood shopping strip’s merchant association, tenant associations, and other groups in Visitacion Valley, […]

Filed Under: Classism in Diversity Work, Classism in Progressive Movement Groups, Race and Class Tagged With: community organizing, race and class, racism, social movements, working class

Visioning Our Way to Justice

December 13, 2010 by Linda Stout 1 Comment

I grew up in poverty, the daughter of a tenant farmer. I thought people were privileged if they lived in a house, had running water or even an outhouse. My family of five lived in a ten-by-forty foot trailer. I knew that there were farm owners who lived in large houses, but they worked almost […]

Filed Under: A World Without Classism, Classism among Kids, Classism in K-12 Education Tagged With: classism, community organizing, illiteracy intelligence book-learning, kids

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