The 1960’s were a period characterized by much civil unrest. Citizens were dissatisfied with social and political conditions, particularly with the treatment of minorities, and police-citizen relations was at a crisis point. However, this provided the springboard for organizations such as the Center for Community Change to hit the ground running.

Born in the rough and tumble of social change in the late 1960’s, the Center for Community Change began by helping six community-based groups in low-income neighborhoods to increase their organizational effectiveness, cultivate leaders, advocate for local residents, and master the technical skills needed to create housing, businesses, and services for their community. To date, the Center has built and strengthened thousands of grassroots organizations and hundreds of coalitions that provide a voice for those who are not heard.
CCC’s first years were the building blocks towards their mission: a commitment to low-income people; a focus on neglected populations and communities; investments in grassroots leaders; and a belief in the power of ordinary people to solve their own problems.

They are also at the center of the following political issues:

Health Care

CCC’s co-leads the Health Rights Organizing Project, a national coalition of grassroots organizations fighting for inclusive, affordable and universal health care.
Over the past year, CCC and its allies helped to secure federal policies that will expand coverage to 4,000,000 uninsured children and enable states to extend coverage to 400,000 immigrant children.

Housing trust funds are permanent sources of dedicated revenue for affordable housing. Today some 600 housing trust funds operate in cities, counties and states across the country, generating more than $1 billion each year for housing to serve low- and moderate-income families. CCC’s Housing Trust Fund Project is the nation’s leading source of expertise to create these funds. They played a key role in shaping the new National Housing Trust Fund for which $1 billion is now pending in Congress.

CCC’s Fair Immigration Reform Movement mobilizes grassroots, immigrant-led organizations to build a path to citizenship and an equal chance at the American Dream for all. Through organizing and education, FIRM helps integrate immigrants into the civic life of America.

Worker Justice

CCC helps grassroots groups unite to improve prospects for workers in the bottom third of the labor market and shape the public policies that affect jobs and economic security. In 2009 their efforts were key to improving Unemployment Insurance and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, and to increasing refundable tax credits that will keep 1 million children out of poverty. CCC’s national coalition is now striving to address sky-rocketing unemployment rates in communities of color, and the long-term lack of access to quality jobs that has plagued low-income workers for decades.

Visit the Center for Community Change website to learn more about their plan to shape the future, other current projects, and donate to make a difference with CCC.