24 CFR Subtitle A

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 2003.

Document from the Office of the Secretary, Housing and Urban Development, detailing the requirements for citizen participation in the use of funds from the government towards Housing and Urban Development directives.

Resource Link: http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_00/24cfrv1_00.html

Abundance Project

Abundance is a community arts performance project about money as told through the stories of people in the United States. Culminating in an Off-Broadway production in the Spring of 2003, Abundance is written and directed by Marty Pottenger and produced by The Working Theatre. After a month-run in NYC, Abundance will tour the United States. A film about money will include excerpts from the project and the theater production, as well as cartoon and documentary footage.

Resource Link: http://abundanceproject.net

Active Voice

Active Voice is a nonprofit, fee-based service provider whose work is an outgrowth of promising practices developed by the Television Race Initiative (TRI). Active Voice creates campaigns based on powerful issue-driven films. AV campaigns encourage individuals and community groups to probe, discuss and take action on timely and relevant social justice issues. In collaboration with a wide range of partners, Active Voice creates companion materials and trains facilitators in how to use the films as catalysts for civic engagement, volunteerism and coalition building.

Resource Link: http://www.activevoice.net

After the Storm: Working Through the Implications of Hurricane Katrina

Public Agenda.

The aftermath of Katrina raises questions about poverty, race, energy policy, the federal budget, in fact just about every corner of American society and the purpose of government itself. Public Agenda Issue Guides or ?“Citizen Choicework Guides?” contain background information on the topic and present three different approaches to the issue for people to deliberate.

Resource Link: http://www.publicagenda.org/specials/katrina/katrina.cfm

Around the Kitchen Table (e-Journal)

Around the Kitchen Table is an eJournal on economic opportunity published by Demos. Demos is a non-partisan, non-profit public policy research and advocacy organization which seeks to bring everyone into the life of American democracy and to achieve a broadly shared prosperity characterized by greater opportunity and less disparity.

Resource Link: http://www.demos-usa.org/aroundthekitchentable/

Community Building Resource Exchange

This site provides a broad array of resources and information about innovative community building efforts to revitalize poor neighborhoods and improve the life circumstances of residents and their families. The site is a project of the Aspen Institute Roundtable on Comprehensive Community Initiatives for Children and Families.

Resource Link: http://www.commbuild.org

Discovering Community: A Future Search as a Springboard for Action in Santa Cruz County

Blue Sky Productions.

A 30-minute video documenting a Future Search around affordable housing conducted by Sandra Janoff and Marvin Weisbord in Santa Cruz, California. Includes 18-month follow-up.

Resource Link: http://www.futuresearch.net/method/whatis/books_videos.cfm

Fighting Urban Poverty: Which Participatory Approaches?

World Urban Forum III / United Nations Online Network in Public Administration and Finance (UNPAN), 2006.

This report summarizes a panel held during a side event of the third annual World Urban Forum in Vancouver, Canada, June 2005. Due to the rapid urbanization of poverty, the focus was on issues relating to approaches, methodologies, tools and techniques that are relevant to participatory methods in tackling this growing phenomenon.

Resource Link: http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/UN/UNPAN024789.pdf

Housing Activist News from Across the Nation

A great resource for people organizing for safe, affordable housing. The Housing America site provides examples of successful housing activism, facts on the housing crisis, and a means for publicizing your housing-related action. Housing America also provides twice-monthly housing updates gleaned from thousands of sources to help inspire and inform activists.

Resource Link: http://www.housingamerica.net

Los Angeles Poverty Department Theatre Company

Los Angeles Poverty Department was founded in 1985 by director, actor, activist, and writer John Malpede. At its inception, LAPD was the first performance group in the nation made up principally of homeless people. LAPD is dedicated to building community on Skid Row, Los Angeles. Since 1985, the company has offered performance workshops that are free and open to the Skid Row community--partnering with numerous social service and advocacy groups.

Resource Link: http://lapovertydept.org

Medicare Issue Guide

Public Agenda.

Medicare, the national health-insurance plan for the elderly and disabled, is much like Social Security in terms of the people it serves, its popularity and its fragile future. The program serves 41 million Americans and costs more than $280 billion per year, nearly 13 percent of the federal budget. But current projections say Medicare could go broke under the weight of the aging baby boom generation by 2019 -- long before Social Security, which should stay solvent until 2042. Public Agenda Issue Guides or ?“Citizen Choicework Guides?” contain background information on the topic and present three different approaches to the issue for people to deliberate.

Resource Link: http://www.publicagenda.org/issues/frontdoor.cfm?issue_type=medicare

National Youth Employment Coalition

The National Youth Employment Coalition improves the effectiveness of organizations that seek to help youth become productive citizens. NYEC provides the Voices of Diversity Dialogue Guide (2002) to assist schools and program staff in facilitating dialogues on institutional racism with young people.

Resource Link: http://www.nyec.org

Pedagogy of the Oppressed

Paulo Freire.

The thought and work of Paulo Freire has had a fundamental impact in the field of education and on the overall struggle for national development in the South. In this landmark account, first published over 20 years ago, Paulo Freire argues that the ignorance and lethargy of the poor are the direct result of the systems of economic, social and political domination.

Pop Sustainability, Inc.

Pop Sustainability has created a global youth culture campaign to promote a more humane, ecologically sound and economically just society through the arts, Internet and live events. By using the industries of popular culture, the means of mass media and the modern codes of advertising, Pop Sustainability is selling an ethic of awareness and personal responsibility to people to effect positive change. Pop Sustainability intends to build momentum to become a worldwide social movement.

Resource Link: http://www.popsustainability.org

Poverty and Welfare Issue Guide

Public Agenda.

When Congress voted in 1996 to enact sweeping changes in the way the federal government provides public assistance to the poor, the goal -- in the words of former President Clinton -- was to "end welfare as we know it." Public Agenda Issue Guides or ?“Citizen Choicework Guides?” contain background information on the topic and present three different approaches to the issue for people to deliberate.

Resource Link: http://www.publicagenda.org/issues/frontdoor.cfm?issue_type=welfare

Rural Empowerment Zone and Enterprise Community Program

The USDA's EZ/EC provides communities with opportunities for growth and revitalization. The framework of the program is embodied in four key principles: economic opportunity, sustainable community development, community-based partnerships, and strategic vision for change. Although it does not appear that new communities can join the program and receive funding, the site includes a number of interesting community development resources.

Resource Link: http://www.ezec.gov

Solutions for America

Developed in 2003 by the Pew Partnership for Civic Change as a resource for anyone interested in addressing a broad range of community challenges, Solutions for America is an online clearinghouse of information organized into four categories: healthy families and children, thriving neighborhoods, living wage jobs, and viable economies. With brief overviews of each topic backed by relevant statistics and publications this website is a great first-stop resource for anyone interested in social change in their community.

Resource Link: http://www.solutionsforamerica.org

Thriving Communities: Working together to move from poverty to prosperity for all

Study Circles Resource Center.

The fact that no community can succeed when some or most of its residents are in poverty spurred the creation of this discussion guide. Developed jointly by the Study Circles Resource Center and the Northwest Area Foundation, the guide is designed to help communities involve people in conversations that lead to community change. Field tested in 16 communities by more than 500 participants, the five-session discussion guide helps people look at poverty in their community and discuss what it looks like, why it exists, and what can and should be done about it.

Resource Link: http://www.studycircles.org//en/Issue.12.aspx

United for a Fair Economy

Founded in 1994, United For a Fair Economy is a Boston-based independent national nonprofit organization that spotlights the growing economic divide. UFE has illustrated the economic divide in dramatic and funny ways, such as appearing at Steve Forbes' presidential announcement with signs saying 'Billionaires for Forbes - Because inequality isn't growing fast enough.' One of the most ground-breaking projects of UFE is Responsible Wealth, a network of business people, investors, and other affluent people in the top 5% of income or wealth, who challenge the policies that favor wealthy people like themselves.

Resource Link: http://www.faireconomy.org