Community Organizing

A little puff piece on the Sherman Park area includes the following:

Common Ground is part of a national network affiliated with the Industrial Areas Foundation, the oldest and largest organizing institution in the country that's dedicated to training and developing community leaders to organize around social issues in a nonpartisan way.

Other IAF affiliates have built new, affordable, owner-occupied housing in parts of New York City, Philadelphia and Baltimore. In Arizona and Texas, affiliates achieved living-wage legislation.

Efforts to form Common Ground here started in 2004 when a group of 38 religious and civic and business leaders raised $700,000 to launch the organization and hire Mark Fraley, a professional organizer.

Just in case you don't remember, IAF was founded by Saul Alinsky.