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Community Organizing
During the 1970s some community organizations won significant victories at the local level and began to pursue larger, national goals. For example, after local victories in Illinois, Gale Cincotta's National People's Action (NPA) fought for and won passage of 14 pieces of national legislation, including the 518(b) HUD payback program, which returned money to Federal Housing Administration home¬owners when they were defrauded by unscrupulous realtors and mortgage bankers. NPA also gained passage of the Federal Home Mortgage Disclosure Act of 1975, one of the most important tools for uncovering redlining practices, and the powerful Community Reinvestment Act of 1977, which resulted in more than $100 billion being invested in urban neighborhoods (Hallman, 1984).By 1981, the number of national training centers, national support networks, and associations of community organizations had expanded to two dozen (Hallman, 1984), including the Direct Action and Research Training Center, the Gamaliel Foundation, the Industrial Areas Foundation, and the Pacific Institute of Community Organizing (Hallman, 1984). By 1985, 300 newsletters and periodicals existed that focused extensively on community organizations (Williams, 1985).
During the 1990s and into the 21st century, many community organizing efforts were led by faith-based groups, and they focused on a great diversity of issues. During the past two decades, community organizing experienced an explosion of small efforts. Consequently, it has become a more widespread strategy and has had more impact than ever (Stoecker, 2001). NPA, for example, made important contributions to the passage of the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act. In Chicago and other cities across the nation, community organizations have identified problems, developed strategies, and engaged in advocacy with police departments, youth service agencies, the criminal justice system, school systems, park districts, property owners, and others, clearly cementing community organizing as a central and recognized means of using the power of local communities (Hertz, 2002).
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