In 1968, the Center for Community Change was born into a
world of upheaval. We began by helping six community-based groups increase
their organizational effectiveness, cultivate leaders, advocate for local
residents, connect with partners and resources, and master the technical skills
needed to create housing, businesses and services for their communities.
In CCC’s first years, bold themes emerged that would define
the Center for Community Change for decades to come: a commitment to low-income
people; a focus on neglected populations and communities; an investment in
grassroots leaders; a belief in the power of ordinary people to solve their own
problems; and a vision of a just America in which everyone had a voice.
Here are a few highlights:
1970s
Engaged
local groups in monitoring how large government programs, such as the
Community Development Block Grant, were implemented in low-income
communities nationwide. Results: millions of dollars invested in housing,
economic development, jobs and social services in poor communities.
Helped
establish the Community Reinvestment Act (1977). In 1978, helped
community-based groups in Brooklyn and St. Louis file the first formal
complaints against banks that failed to meet their CRA obligations.
Results: Brooklyn received $20 million and St. Louis $1 million in housing
loans for low-income neighborhoods.
1980s
Organized
public housing residents nationwide to save thousands of units from
demolition.
Launched
and continue to lead the housing trust fund movement, which presses city,
county and state governments to establish permanent sources of dedicated
funding for affordable housing. In 1980 there were two housing trust
funds; today there are more than 600 nationwide that generate $1.6 billion each year.
1990s
Staffed
and housed the Indian and Native
American Employment Training Coalition, which expanded Indian job
training and employment programs by $150 million a year.
Launched
and staffed the Transportation
Equity Network, which won more than $700 million for local transit programsthat help low-income
residents get to jobs.
2000s
Created and staffed the National Campaign for Jobs and Income
Support, which took the lead in winning a partially refundable child
tax credit that delivers $8 billion over 10 years to low-income
families and lifts 500,000 children out of poverty, and in restoring Food
Stamps eligibility to nearly 400,000 legal immigrants.
Launched
and now staffs the Fair Immigration
Reform Movement (FIRM), a national coalition that unites
300 diverse grassroots groups to advance comprehensive immigration reform.
Started
Generation Change, a national
project to recruit, train and place the next generation of social justice
organizers.
Conducted
in December 2007 the Heartland Presidential Forum, which drew 3,600
grassroots activists from 32 states to question presidential candidates
about the issues and values that are important to low-income people.
Initiated
the Community Voting Project to
increase voter participation in communities of color and low-income
communities.
Launched
the Campaign for Community Values,
a national effort to project the progressive values of interconnectedness
and the common good into the political debate—and into public policies
adopted by a new Administration and Congress.
Over the years, CCC has built and strengthened thousands of
grassroots organizations and hundreds of coalitions that provide a public voice
for low-income people. We have cultivated thousands of grassroots leaders in
low-income communities and communities of color.
