Louise Simmons

Understanding Contemporary University-Community Connections

Abstract This article contextualizes the contemporary phenomenon of university-community partnership initiatives. Because changes in the university must always be understood in context, recent efforts to build and strengthen relationships between institutions of higher education and communities must be situated in the broader social sites that produce them. To that end the article surveys the university-community intersect through an historical lens which emphasizes the relationship between the larger political-economy and civic engagement efforts. Subsequently, types of contemporary initiatives are broadly and selectively discussed. Lastly, challenges to both universities and communi-ties embodied in the current initiatives are posed.

“Now, More Than Ever”

With this issue to be published shortly before the 2012 presidential election, we take note of the significant differences between now and the 2008 campaign. Then, buoyed by an unprecedented movement utilizing community organizing tactics and the participation of typically marginalized groups, Barack Obama won an historic election. Although many of the hopes of those supporting Obama have been tempered—or, just as often, thwarted— in recent years, there remain compelling reasons to support a second Obama presidency. Putting partisan politics aside, we note the range of policy issues that have been proposed in the last 4 years regardless of actual legislative outcome. Despite continuing challenges, this represents a significant change from the previous eight years. What’s most striking about the current electoral environment, and following from the 2010 mid-term elections, is just how difficult it has been to govern with a Congress that seems incapable of addressing the pressing needs facing the country. Fueled by a prolonged economic recession, widespread antigovernment sentiment, political gridlock, and a sense of unease over the future, the hope and energy of the last presidential election has been replaced by a sense of realism about the choice before the US electorate: Wall Street versus the 99% remains a resonant theme. Despite these challenges, other political events indicate ample reasons for optimism about future political and economic outcomes. On the one hand, poverty and economic inequality remain entrenched social ills, while government and local communities appear in a race to the bottom to hollow out essential state functions and social welfare services. Yet these same trends, which have emboldened those promoting deregulation and the end of government as we know it, have also generated a significant backlash on behalf of the 99%. These events suggest that large segments of the American public intuitively understand the need for organizing—now more than ever—to help promote a broad social justice agenda. Although some may have thought that’s what they were getting in 2008, the last 4 years highlight the importance of utilizing an insider/outsider strategy to best promote social change. Yes, it’s good to have friends in high places; but as many have noted over

Post-Welfare Reform, Low-Income Families and the Dissolution of the Safety Net

There has been a great deal of discussion around the fact that lifting individuals and families out of poverty was not a goal of the 1996 welfare reform legislation. The implementation of welfare reform since 1996 has demonstrated the consequences of caseload reduction as a primary goal. This paper addresses the hardships that can result when lifting people out of poverty is not addressed.

Community–Labor Coalitions for Progressive Change

In the current neo-liberal economic and political climate, the labor movement faces immense challenges for survival and efficacy. As a massive redistribution of wealth upward has occurred, poverty is growing along with low-wage and insecure employment. The labor movement is developing new strategies that incorporate community organizing and local community issues into its issues as it organizes low-wage workers, often urban residents. Among these are living wage campaigns, community benefits agreements, and building regional progressive power. Many opportunities for collaboration with social work and involvement by social workers, particularly community practitioners, exist in these developments.

Urban economic development : What's welfare-to-work got to do with it?

Abstract Connecticuts welfare system under TANF is among the nations harshest with 21 month lifetime limits for cash assistance, a strict work-first policy, and few training options. Various ideological perspectives suggest different policies to address poverty: orthodox economic theory emphasizes human capital enhancement such as training and education; an institutionalist approach emphasizes reducing labor market barriers to equality and provision of decent, stable public service employment; the radical or Marxist lens posits that labor, including those transitioning from welfare, needs to organize for economic and political power. Recent welfare reform embodies a fourth, neoliberal perspective that stresses ‘labor force attachment’ strategies. Regardless of ideology, Connecticuts welfare policy fails both the imperatives of the state economy for better trained workers, and also the needs of those transitioning from welfare. The authors argue for more training and education options, supportive services, economic development policy that incorporates former welfare recipients, union-Louise Simmons is affiliated with University of Connecticut School of Socialization of low wage workers, and strong welfare rights organizations.

Dilemmas of Progressives in Government: Playing Solomon in an Age of Austerity

The problems that face progressive elected officials with respect to economic development involve popular expectations meeting harsh economic realities. Definitions of progressive politics suggest an orientation toward redistributive and equity-oriented policies, as well as the involvement of popular movements in shaping the local agenda. The experiences of Hartford, Connecticut, between 1991 and 1993 demonstrate the trials and errors of attempting progressive governance. Local officials faced external political opposition, internal political dissension, huge budget shortfalls, a declining tax base, and a population in extreme poverty. They encountered proposals for casinos, possible relocation of major league football teams to the city, mounting costs of municipal employee contracts, and the attempt to foster local economic development through inauguration of a school construction program. New modes of political participation and advocacy are suggested as components of progressive local economic development.

Coalition Building and Electoral Organizing in the Passage of Anti-Discrimination Laws

SUMMARY The passage of a civil rights law with protections for individuals based on sexual orientation in Connecticut in 1991 was the culmination of over a decade of activism. Gay rights activists achieved success with the help of many progressive allies. This article traces the development of gay rights organizations and their participation in several important political coalitions locally in Hartford and statewide in Connecticut that helped achieve support for GLBT issues and the civil rights law in particular. The authors argue that a narrow, isolationist focus does not achieve long-term victories for gay rights, but rather that victories are best achieved by developing strong relationships with progressive allies.

Pathways Out of Poverty

Abstract With the enactment of welfare reform in 1996, welfare policy has changed significantly. Welfare rolls have been reduced, yet poverty has not been overcome for many clients in the welfare system. This paper analyzes potential pathways out of poverty within the context of devolution. The need for a redefinition of poverty is reviewed and several dimensions of policy are discussed: the notion of work as an antipoverty strategy, potential methods to support work, the notion of payment for care-givers functions, the controversy surrounding the promotion of marriage, education and employment options, and the need for a permanent safety net to assist individuals and families. Changes in the welfare system are suggested that could assist individuals and families to overcome poverty conditions.

Opportunities for Community Organizing in the Realm of Economic Justice and Low Wage Worker Struggles

ABSTRACT The new upsurge in labor organizing among low-wage workers provides community organizing with opportunities to engage in economic justice struggles. Low-wage workers are organizing in many sectors of the workforce that are difficult to organize. Their issues are part of the larger discourse concerning inequality in the United States. New forms of community organizing are developing in some areas that embrace economic justice issues. However, many of the national networks have yet to become involved in issues of community members in the capacities as workers. Macro social work needs to revisit its origins and forge a new tradition that incorporates the problems that inspired Jane Addams and her contemporaries, the issues of workers and immigrants.

Community-Labor Coalitions

Communities are both impacted by and manifest the economic conditions of local community members. Rising wage and wealth inequality that characterize the American workforce, combined with cuts in programs and services that address the needs of low-income communities, have undermined many urban localities. As a result, uneven community functioning and severely stressed social environments characterize a growing number of U.S. cities and neighborhoods. This is particularly the case in areas that never recovered from deindustrialization, job loss, and white flight of the mid to late 20th Century. These patterns disproportionately impact communities of color, even when the overall urban area may be experiencing economic revitalization. In response to these conditions, demands for economic justice have emerged and social movements based on community-labor partnerships have developed in many metropolitan areas. This essay illustrates the nature of these partnerships and evaluates how they contribute to the wider repertoire of community organizing in the United States.