Particularly in the advocacy community, I've noticed that "grass roots" organizations are often contrasted with organizations founded by outsiders, usually meaning upper class people, the dominant racial group, or professionals. So, for example, the CDC and NAC system originally drew participation from local "grass roots" communities impacted by poverty to develop housing solutions in those communities. These solutions were considered better than public housing or city-wide development efforts because they drew on local participation.
Although it may stretch academic definitions, "grass roots" is also used as a euphemism to the people served by a particular program. For example, when a local settlement house in Milwaukee decided that it needed more "grass roots" participation, it brought a public housing tenant leader who had been served by the organization onto its board.
Did this make it a grass roots organization? Not really. But it did represent an effort to give those served by the organization some voice in its governance. That said, many organizations that rely on grass roots participation rely on outsiders, paid staff, and formal development and governance systems as they develop and grow.
Sometimes these efforts evolve into formal social service organizations that still rely on people from the "grass roots" meaning local community members as staff, board, etc. Other national organizing efforts like Accorn or local advocacy networks also use similar tactics. For a good reference on governance and activities in these types of organizations, see Richard Wood "Faith in Action. The CDCs and settlement houses are another good example. They were chartered as formal organizations with paid staff in order to develop housing or provide various community activities for their constituent communities.
And sometimes these organizations were founded by outsiders interested in developing the grass roots in those communities. For example, an upper class Latino lawyer started one organization that hires almost exclusively from the neighborhood, has local people in governance roles, and provides job opportunities as well as housing for the Latinos in that neighborhood.
Another CDC in another sector of that neighborhood was founded by a white grandmother who got tired of trying to find housing for herself and seven children in her neighborhood. Let me end by addressing another thread in the original query. Community-led development has to take place on multiple levels if it is to be effective in substantially changing current urban development practices. First of all, local people, women in particular, should be part of organizations at the neighbourhood level.
Second, these organizations need to collaborate across settlement boundaries, documenting needs and identifying priorities. Third, settlement networks need to be linked at the city level, working together with local government officials and politicians on inclusive solutions and preventing the manipulation of the grassroots process.
What are the biggest challenges grassroots organisations in the Global South are facing when getting involved in processes of urban community development with institutional actors? There are a small number of challenges communities face when trying to work with national government departments and development agencies that I see again and again.
First, projects are not sufficiently flexible to enable local community groups to determine their own priorities and how they can best be addressed. A strong local involvement cannot happen without restructuring these projects. Those most in need who have to be central to the projects will only come on board when the project is approved and activities begin. This does not mean that there are no rules or accountability; but the rules need to be more related to processes.
That means that communities have to document needs and identify priorities rather than solutions, e. Once it is agreed that there is this need and resources are available then local residents can be engaged around working out the solutions that will improve their situation; if the solution is already pre-determined it is unlikely to be work as local ownership will be too weak. Secondly, these agencies prefer formal procedures, which immediately bias interventions towards those who are more likely to be familiar with formal processes, i.
These are generally men and have a higher social status and incomes. Consequently, those most in need are disadvantaged from the beginning. Thirdly, it is rare that program designers get it right the first time.
Those working on the ground have to be encouraged to learn from mistakes and how to improve them. This requires a process that is about learning and not criticism. Fourth, this kind of transformative change occurs over a year time period, a time frame that most programmes are too short for.
What institutional prerequisites need to be in place for grassroots organisations to be actively involved in urban development strategies? By , more stringent DUI laws had been enacted in 24 states. Just a year later, at least new DUI laws had taken effect.
In , after years of lobbying, President Bill Clinton signed legislation lowering the legal blood alcohol level in the U. The Me Too movement is a grassroots effort to combat sexual abuse and harassment. Organized mainly through social media under the MeToo hashtag, the movement was started in by American sexual harassment survivor and social activist Tarana Burke.
Me Too rose to prominence both online and in traditional media in , after several well-known female celebrities shared their personal experiences with sexual harassment in the entertainment industry. Since , the Me Too movement has served as a source of understanding, solidarity, and healing for women from all walks of life who have been the victims of sexual harassment, typically perpetrated by their male colleagues in workplace or academic settings. Arising after the U. Hodges ruling legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide, and organized under the social media hashtag LoveWins, this grassroots campaign mustered vast new support for the LGBTQ community and the overarching cause of gay rights.
Moments after the ruling, President Barack Obama tweeted his praise. The response was so great that Twitter created two gay pride emojis that appeared whenever people used the hashtag LoveWins. At one point, Twitter reported getting over 20, supportive LoveWins tweets per minute, including 6. Hodges ruling. On May 26, , United States Senator Bernie Sanders announced his presidential campaign based on a platform of reducing income inequality by raising taxes on the wealthy, guaranteeing tuition-free college, and creating a single-payer healthcare system.
Lacking the resources needed for a traditional presidential campaign, Sanders turned to the grassroots efforts of organizers across the nation. A few of their most notable demands include a universal basic income, higher corporate taxes, constitutional reforms, and reduction of fossil fuel consumption. Sovereign Union is a grassroots coalition of First Nations Indigenous peoples from communities across Australia and their supporters.
As of , however, no treaties between the Australian government and the Indigenous peoples had been enacted. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Use precise geolocation data. Select personalised content. Maskhane, a grassroots organization, brings together natural-language-processing researchers from Africa to bolster machine-translation work that has neglected nondominant languages.
It started with a grassroots effort and is doing some wonderful things. Either way, this is a conversation that is occurring not just at the penthouse level, but among the grassroots as well. Grassroots organizing accompanied an agenda of legislative sabotage led by the Republican congressional hierarchy. Then, Democratic strategists say, the grassroots were hungry for a real debate after eight years of George Bush. The centrist group thinks they can build centrist grassroots army.
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