Industrial Areas Foundation

The Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF), founded by Saul Alinsky more than 50 years ago, is now the center of a national network of broad-based, multiethnic, interfaith organizations in primarily poor and moderate-income communities. IAF provides leadership training for organizations to help them foster the competence and confidence of ordinary citizens so that they can reorganize the relationships of power and politics and restructure the physical and civic infrastructure of their communities.

Resources to learn more about IAF:

For a good introduction to the principles and work of IAF, read
Reweaving the Social Fabric, a 1996 essay by Ernesto Cortez, Jr.

The book, Community Organizing for School Reform, by Dennis Shirley, provides case studies of IAF work in urban schools and neighborhoods that improved their conditions through sustained collaborations.

Many of the practices and lessons learned by IAF are applicable to community organizing elsewhere, especially in efforts to involve the interfaith sectors. Two IAF-affiliated organizations are:

Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development (BUILD), an a faith-based, nonpartisan, multi-denominational, ecumenical, citywide citizen organization of 50 religious congregations and other associations.

The Greater Boston Interfaith Organization, which brings together, trains, and organizes the faith communities of Greater Boston across all religious, racial, ethnic, class and neighborhood lines.

Read additional case studies about IAF work across the country, from a Chicago-based individual with experience in community programs for youth.