Project Forum on Race and Democracy

“The Network”

OriginsJanuary 1999

• Small, multidisciplinary group of activists--Rockefeller grantees and others.

• Four key movements:– civil rights– community building– labor – environment

Problem Statement

• Prospects for strong US social justice movement undermined by social divisions within movements, principally race

• Leaders of effective individual movements cannot go beyond local/sectoral victories without linking themselves with other key social movements.

Opportunity

Enhance leaders’ effectiveness by providing ongoing forum to work together on racial fault lines, collaborate on common interests, build trust across movements and plan joint strategies.

Cross Sectoral Leadership Conversation

• Values based: not just conversation for its own sake

• Focused on specific practical challenges

Values Framework

Applying a set of common values across the four movements creates a basis of trust and makes work within each movement more strategic:

1) Create economic growth with equity2) Build citizenship/participation3) Rebuild public institutions4) Challenge racism/promote racial solidarity5) Organize demand (tap market power)

Practical Challenges

1. Building a multi-racial/ multi-sectoral social justice movement based on mutual respect and support

2. Finding ways to make social justice movements self-sustaining and financially independent

Network Added Value• Provides opportunities for size-up,

relationship building across movements and practical ways to implement a broader vision of social justice.

• Generates ideas that individual members take up and implement. Does not implement ideas as a body.

• Supports and strengthens ongoing work of members by providing critical feedback, joint problem-solving and useful contacts.

Quotes:

“Network is my chief source of ideas and support. I can’t think of a major project I have going on that didn’t have a significant start in the Network.”

“I call on the Network all the time when I need something”

Big Bet #1

Divisions across movements can be bridged through:• sustained strategic discourse• joint planning/mutual support • practical collaborations at a leadership level.

Result: When movements “touch down” in real places, they will be more complimentary and effective

Big Bet #2

In particular settings, with creative tools, market tendency to create inequality can be reversed.

Result: markets used to build social equity and sustain democratic participation.

Key Factor

Building strong labor/community relationships in which community involvement democratizes/strengthens labor and labor investment supports/strengthens community

Race plays key role

Innovative Approaches:

• New conceptual frameworks on race and democracy in the aftermath of civil rights

• Creative market approaches to organizing demand, monetizing latent assets of organized constituencies

Goal:Strengthen Democracy

• “Examining avenues to more democratic society.”

• “Analyzing/pursuing ‘democratic localism.’”

• “Figuring out ways to reinvent democracy so working men and women can influence the political processes around them.”

Goals Drive Discussions

• How to use public institutions to build community power?

• What kinds of local institutions needed to make democracy functional?

Goals Drive Discussions• What are useful

paradigms now that civil rights and social democracy have run their course?

• How to deal with race in context of labor organizing?

Goals Drive Discussions

• How to build majoritarian movements without weakening/isolating people of color ?

Goal: Use market to promote social equity

• Social justice efforts need financial independence to ensure independent voice

• Wealth owned by working people, if controlled by them, could support community building and social justice

Goals Drive Discussions

• What latent collective assets exist in communities?

• What mechanisms are needed to monetize them?

• How can these mechanisms also advance social justice?

Goals Drive Discussions

• Where are emerging opportunities to build/capture collective financial assets of organized constituencies?

• What kinds of institutional support are needed to capture assets?

Goals Drive Discussions

• How to ensure that financial assets support social justice work?

• Who are most likely institutional partners for investment?

• What relationships are needed to get them to invest?

Network Resources

HAIR-ADVANCEMENT PROJECT

• Premier civil rights staff/legal expertise– Voting rights– School reform/funding– Police misconduct

• Staff capacity to work with community groups

• “Institutional power analysis” for local groups challenging inequities

ALVAREZ-alvarez porter group

• [THIS PAGE NEEDS UPDATING: Google him]

• Intimate knowledge of/ relationships w/labor movement--the most powerful entity on progressive side of the equation.

• Network of progressive labor leaders

• Goal to connect labor to other power blocks, especially minorities

KWOH--ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN LEGAL CONSORTIUM

• Premier civil rights staff/legal expertise Voting rightsImmigrant rightsWorkers’ Rights (Anti-Sweatshop)

• Boundary-crossing leadership training• Community development• Broad national and regional leadership

networks among Asian American, Latino and African American communities

BILL LYNCH & ASSOC.

• Intimate knowledge of how government, politics and policy works

• Extensive networks in Harlem and black community

• Biz elite networks

Pablo Alvarado—National Day Laborers Organizing

Network• Data for this page needs to be added.

FOY—DIF Enterprises• This page needs to be updated. See if there

is a website

BENANDER--CO-OP POWER

• Progressive, entrepreneurial coop leaders seeking to build community

• Network of fdns, gov. agencies, biz leaders ready to support efforts

• TA providers/consultants for coop biz development

• Coop banks and associations• Activist network building community

ownership of sustainable energy resources

GITTELL--HOWARD SAMUELS CENTER

• Student interests/skills/engagement of (intellectual capital)

• Nationwide network of former students (“Marilyn Mafia”)

• Networks with community organizations studied over 35 years

• Analysis of “democratic localism”• Historical memory of US social movements

THOMPSON--MIT

• Broad networks among scholars, policymakers, foundations on issues of urban policy and community development

• Democratic theory and its application to real world contexts

• Interests/skills of students, including rich array of technical expertise

BLACKWELL--POLICYLINK• Wide experience with local participation

using data and analysis.• Broad network among array of community-

building fields.• Understanding of how to strengthen local

players for specific community-building outcomes.

• Strong organizational capacity and highly skilled staff for implementation.

• Policy analysis• Procedural know-how for moving groups to

agreement/understanding

CUNNINGHAM--ROCKEFELLER FOUNDATION

• Space for deliberation• Contacts with/networks of innovators• Start up funds for projects (not

necessarily institutional support)

HUDSON--1199/SEIU

• Network of progressive labor and political leaders, particularly of color

• Intimate knowledge of labor movement, politics, local governance and policy

• Political size up• Democratic theory and its real world

application

The Challenge: Harnessing Entropy

Lynch

APALC

AFLCLF

MIT

1199

CDI

AP

HSC

Policylink

Joint Projects

Mutual Support CORE

GROUP

“Networks of 300”

(RF)

Potomac

PFRD CollaborationsCommunity/labor projects: SEIU; MIT; Policylink; Cooperative Development Institute; Advancement Project

Inner City Investment Fund: CLF and Potomac Coalition’s brownfields redevelopment fund

PFRD Collaborations• Policing: Policylink and

Advancement Project: Best practices, civilian administrative petition

• Felon reinfranchisement: Advancement Project work in 14 states (coming out of Florida work with AFL-CIO)

PFRD Collaborations• Black/Brown coalition

around immigration campaign: AFL, Policylink, Advancement Project; SEIU

• Book: cultivating boundary crossing multi-racial leadership (Stewart Kwoh; Angela Blackwell; Manuel Pastor)