Policyadvocacyconfmwc

POLICY CAMPAIGNS BY COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS

Community Lawyers The purpose of empowerment lawyering with community organizations is to enable a group of people to gain control of the forces which affect their lives.  Primarily the representation of grass roots organizations who are able to identify and pursue their own goals  This style calls for lawyering which joins, rather than leads, the persons represented. 

Community Lawyers  Believe

that the most effective solutions usually come from those closest to the problem  Believe that community controlled political power is necessary for true development in low income communities  Believe that political power can best be gained through the organized strength of grass roots organizations

Building Power, Building Movement

Miami Workers’ Center Miami Workers Center is a strategy and Base-Building action center for low-income black and Latino communities in Miami. The center Campaign initiates grassroots organizations and to WIN develops their leadership capacity through Alliances aggressive community organizing campaigns and education programs. The center also actively builds coalitions and enters alliances Building to amplify progressive power and win racial, Movement community, social and economic justice. Shift the Debate Building Power, Building Movement

Right Policy toadthe power City POLICY

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POWE R Building Power, Building Movement

Policy Campaign Elements 

What is the Goal Change in Policy  Increased Attention or Funding  Difference between short term and long term?  Organizational Goals 

Policy Campaign Elements 

Target  

 

Primary / Secondary Power Analysis

Demand Strategy Elements    

Communication Direct Action Electoral Coalition

Community Lawyers How can lawyers help: Researching and marshalling the facts to affect public opinion.  Researching/ explaining the legal/political process  Identifying / creating forums for messaging/ communications (public process)  Stopping or delaying adverse governmental action 

Policy Advocacy Campaigns “No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy “ Helmuth von Moltke (1800 – 1891)

Policy Advocacy Campaigns “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” Mahatma Gandhi

“Fill the Vacancies” Campaign The Social Context  Increasing

gentrification of AfricanAmerican neighborhood of Liberty City in Miami  Significant shortage of housing for very low income families.  Miami-Dade Housing Agency began to redevelop existing public housing projects in Liberty City through Hope VI

“Fill the Vacancies” Campaign The Historical Context  County

housing authority and HUD approved a HOPE VI project to turn 850 unit ScottCarver Housing Project in Liberty City into mixed income housing with only 80 public housing units  Campaign, including both direct action, and lawsuit failed to halt demolition.

“Fill the Vacancies” Campaign The Historical Context (cont.)  Campaign

delayed demolition substantially and allowed time for a significant organizing effort  The following year, Housing Agency proposed a second HOPE VI in a neighboring development  LIFFT defeated this proposal, this time at HUD

Fill the Vacancies 20022004 • Building on Prior Advocacy - LIFFT continued with a “fill the vacancies” campaign • Anticipating Threats – Decreasing Vacancies Lessened Threat of Demolitions • Listening to Members – Vacancies were increasing • Gathering Information – Get Vacancy info • Shifting the Debate – focus on Housing Agency incompetence.

Building Power, Building Movement

“Fill the Vacancies” Campaign The Research  LIFFT researched

the issue, found 19% vacancy rates with 60,000 people on the waiting list 

Lawyers obtained data from the Housing Agency through a Public Records Act request. Assisted in analysis.

“Fill the Vacancies” Campaign The Targets  Board  



of County Commissioners

Ultimate policy making authority Funding power

Miami Dade Housing Agency 

Responsible for the vacancy policies

Lawyers can explain the different operational constraints of the governmental organizations.

“Fill the Vacancies” Campaign The Demand  Fill

the Vacancies within 60 days.

“Fill the Vacancies” Campaign More Research  LIFFT found

out that the Housing Agency was claiming it could not fill the vacancies due to the terms of a desegregation court order – “Adker decree” 

Lawyers assisted in clarifying this information. Assisted in analysis.

“Fill the Vacancies” Campaign Refining the Demand  Lawyers

explain consent decree to LIFFT  LIFFT leaders develop a proposal for a new admissions policy to speed up filling vacancies.  Lawyers confirm that proposal conforms to consent decree.

“Fill the Vacancies” Campaign The New Demand  Fill

the Vacancies within 60 days.

 Use

LIFFT proposal to solve the Adker Decree issue.

“Fill the Vacancies” Campaign The Elements 

Communications Press Conference 

 

Waiting list people

Demand on the Commission Direct Action

The Miami Herald 2002-06-02 Section: Local HOUSING AGENCY UNDER SCRUTINY OVER VACANCIES ANDREA ROBINSON, [email protected] Miami-Dade County public housing officials, under fire for having hundreds of vacant units and thousands of poor people in need of a place to live, say a landmark desegregation settlement reached four years ago has caused the massive backlog. The County Commission has demanded a full accounting from the Miami-Dade Housing Agency after activists revealed that more than 1,300 public housing units stand empty while nearly 64,000 residents sit on a waiting list. On Tuesday, agency Director Rene Rodriguez is expected to appear before the commission and present a plan to expedite getting more people into vacant units that are habitable. ... Advocates for public housing tenants say the agency's explanation linking the vacancies to the settlement is outrageous. The decree ``was to address the problem of segregation,'' said Tony Romano, a coordinator at the Miami Workers Center. ``In no way does the settlement mandate or encourage vacancies, which for us creates homelessness and leaves families who are in desperate situations without homes.'' ... The legal squabbles don't matter much to people such as Ramona Javier, a waiting list client who was counseled by HOPE. Javier, a mother of five, desperately wants suitable housing. She's so cramped for space that she stores the family's clothing outdoors. ``Everybody I know has been able to move, but not me,'' Javier said. ``I have five children and nowhere to live. I'm living with my mother, but we sleep on the floor and everything gets wet when it rains. All my clothes and the kids' clothes are stored outside. They're getting ruined.'' STILL WAITING: Ramona Javier with four of her five children and their possessions in the carport of her mother's house. They sleep on the floor at the house.

When the press sought comment about the Parcel C struggle, we, as the community lawyers, often responded, “Why don't you speak to someone who lives here?” The press assumes that the lawyer is the leader and designated spokesperson. And in many community struggles, lawyers tend to take over such positions. . . Instead of appointing ourselves the community spokespersons, we helped the Political Mobilization Committee identify residents, organizers, and directors of community-based organizations to be spokespersons. To make clear that this was a community struggle, no lawyers were designated as spokespersons. There can be no better spokesperson than a member of the aggrieved community itself. THE LESSONS OF THE PARCEL C STRUGGLE: REFLECTIONS ON COMMUNITY LAWYERING, Zenobia Lai Andrew Leong Chi Chi Wu

“Fill the Vacancies” Campaign The Elements Direct Action  Demand Meeting with the Housing Agency Director  “Sleep In” at the Office

“Fill the Vacancies” Campaign The Elements Lobbying Commissioners Demanded Action from Housing Agency.  Commissioners funded an outside analysis of LIFFT proposal  Outside analysis recommended a modified version of LIFFT analysis. 

“Fill the Vacancies” Campaign The Elements Result Commissioners Provided $1.5 Million to Housing Agency to Fill the Vacancies.  LIFFT was seen as a credible force  Vacancies were largely filled. 

Legal Advocate’s Role in Vacancy Campaign  Helped

analyze the information secured  Provided a legal analysis for the group certifying the legality of their proposal  Participated in meetings as legal advisor as the proposal was being crafted.

Legal Advocate’s Role in Vacancy Campaign  Helped

write the formal proposal for submission to the County Commission  Attended meetings at the Housing Agency to provide any technical legal responses necessary – otherwise did not speak

Community Benefits Coalition    

Target - City of Miami Strategy - Initiative Coalition Legal Advocates Role  

Legal Advice/ Drafting / Research Facilitation

State of Housing Emergency State of Housing 2006 Emergency • Pulitzer-Prize winning expose of Miami-Dade Housing Agency mismanagement

2006

• County-wide movement for housing • $ 15 million in immediate rental assistance for lowincome families

Building Power, Building Movement

Justice for Scott Homes Justice for1999 Scott -Homes 1999 • Landmark agreement with Mayor for 1-for-1 replacement of 900 homes, plus local jobs, historic site, and community control of contracting process

Building Power, Building Movement

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Lawyers have killed off more groups by helping them than ever would have died if the lawyers had never showed up. . . In my 25 years of experience, I find that lawyers create dependency. The lawyers want to advocate for others and do not understand the goal of giving a people a sense of their own power. Traditional lawyer advocacy creates dependency and not interdependency. With most lawyers there is no leadership development of the group. Ron Chisom, an African-American community organizer, quoted in “REFLECTIONS OF COMMUNITY ORGANIZERS: LAWYERING FOR EMPOWERMENT OF COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS, William Quigley, Loyola Law School

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Our success as community lawyers lies in building tools for subordinated people to negotiate with the dominant society, making room for them to sit at the negotiation table, facilitating their say in decisions that affect their lives, and encouraging them to capitalize on their talents and assets. THE LESSONS OF THE PARCEL C STRUGGLE: REFLECTIONS ON COMMUNITY LAWYERING, Zenobia Lai Andrew Leong Chi Chi Wu

Thank you and good luck. An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity. Martin Luther King, Jr.