Grassroots Activism

Racial and economic segregation hampers local civic action, but public schools can serve as a facilitator. A research report from the Summer 2019 issue.

In Defense of Neighborhood Trusts

By Joseph Margulies

Readers of a recent article on neighborhood trusts raised a number of objections to the author's proposal for revitalizing distressed urban communities.

Funders Can Bolster Democracy by Supporting Census Tech

By Jim Fruchterman 1

Local governments and philanthropy are missing out on one of the biggest opportunities to positively affect the census: supporting the application of modern technology to increase the chances of a more complete count.

Environment

Crackdown on Environmental Action: How Funders Can Respond

By David Gordon & Chris Allan

Environmental and conservation funders are finding new ways to support civil society organizations as restrictions on their work rapidly increase.

Podcast

Advocacy

Building a Communication Strategy for Diversity and Inclusion

Featuring Ann Christiano & Annie Neimand

Using insight from systems thinking and social, behavioral, and cognitive science, two communication experts describe how to craft stories and multimedia experiences that drive social change.

Podcast

Nonprofits & NGOs

Getting Local: Collaborating With Communities of Color

Featuring Darnell Moore, Coya White Hat-Artichoker, Mauricio Lim Miller & Fresco Steez

Leaders working on issues including public health, human rights, and economic development discuss how nonprofits can do better by treating the people they’re trying to help as partners, not patients.

Human Rights

The Fight to End Cash Bail

By Tana Ganeva

The Bail Project began as a simple idea by Bronx public defenders to set up a fund to protect their clients from the ravages of an unfair system. Now their advocacy is part of a vanguard to overhaul US criminal justice.

Cities

Communities Need Neighborhood Trusts

By Joseph Margulies 1

The current approach to community revitalization has helped arrest and even reverse the degradation of American neighborhoods. But it cannot solve the problem without local ownership and control of assets and the decommodification of property.