Community Building and Political Power: A Community Organizing Approach to Democratic Renewal

Rebuilding poor communities requires effective political power. This article examines the political strategy of the nation's most prominent, faith-based community organizing network, the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF). It discusses the relational-organizing strategy through which the IAF engaged members of religious congregations in the development of an innovative job-training program, Project QUEST, in San Antonio, Texas. And it explores the independent, nonpartisan strategy that recruited allies and won public resources for Project QUEST. By linking community building to political action, the IAF strategy contributes a participatory foundation to American politics. At the same time, the IAF strategy overcomes the limitations of community building efforts that fail to appreciate the role of conflict in creating new forms of cooperation. To achieve a broader impact, however, the IAF will have to expand its efforts to reform political institutions and to impact economic restructuring at the national level.