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Public Dollars for Public Good

NonProfit Quarterly

What do community organizing calls for police abolition and recent federal public investments like the American Rescue Plan Act (more popularly known as ARPA) have in common? Public investments like ARPA have reawakened a commitment by politicians to use our dollars to improve access to quality housing, schools, and jobs.

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Driving Change in Housing Policies With Advocacy and Organizing

Stanford Social Innovation Review

Advocacy and organizing for racially equitable housing policies is a cornerstone of building a just housing system in the United States. COVID-19 has exacerbated this crisis, and the country’s recent racial reckoning has heightened awareness of the need for racially equitable housing policies to support healthier communities.

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??How Community-Based Public Space Can Build Civic Trust: Lessons from Akron

NonProfit Quarterly

Ongoing neglect and isolation led to entrenched, concentrated poverty and a growing distrust of civic leaders. That changed when a team from Reimagining the Civic Commons decided to reinvigorate public spaces in Akron’s systemically disinvested neighborhoods, including Summit Lake. The city’s Black business district was devastated.

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Social Housing: How a New Generation of Activists Are Reinventing Housing

NonProfit Quarterly

Image Credit: RDNE Stock project on pexels.com What is social housing? But to make it more than just a slogan, you need policies and institutions to make that right into a reality. Not so long ago, social housing was rarely discussed in the United States. But that hasn’t stopped movements from pushing.

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We Must Be Founders

Stanford Social Innovation Review

A third of the people in this country, nearly 100 million, live below 200 percent of the federal poverty level , where the loss of income from even a short-term illness can be insurmountable. To change peoples’ material reality, however, means rehauling the entire operating system of our democracy, not just tinkering with its policies.

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Nonprofits as Battlegrounds for Democracy

NonProfit Quarterly

While the title of the book might belie the scope of inquiry, Dunning makes the case that using nonprofits as a “tool for addressing urban problems” has led to a form of “urban governance” that uses private organizations to fulfill public, democratic rights. Dunning smartly points out that this approach turned rights into privilege.

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Betting on Migration for Impact

Stanford Social Innovation Review

While immigration policies have prioritized high levels of education or family ties—and the political conversation tends to presume a basic scarcity of jobs—critical jobs in construction, agriculture, hospitality, and the care economy, including elderly care, cannot be automated.