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Faith
Our work is rooted in the common prophetic call of our diverse religious traditions.
Faith
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Democracy
We believe that people working together have the power to change their communities and their country for the better.
Democracy
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Relationships
We believe in developing trust and building community across the lines that usually divide us. [Photo Credit: Today’s Catholic]
Relationships
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Leadership
We work with people who want to transform the world from what it is to what they believe it should be.
Leadership
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Impact
We have seven decades of experience winning tough battles across the nation – from universal health care in Massachusetts to school reform in Texas to green job creation in Seattle.
Impact
Who We Are
Founded in 1940, the Industrial Areas Foundation is the nation's largest and longest-standing network of local faith and community-based organizations.
The IAF partners with religious congregations and civic organizations at the local level to build broad-based organizing projects, which create new capacity in a community for leadership development, citizen-led action and relationships across the lines that often divide our communities.
The IAF created the modern model of faith- and broad-based organizing and is widely recognized as having the strongest track record in the nation for citizen leadership development and for helping congregations and other civic organizations act on their missions to achieve lasting change in the world.
The IAF, which includes the West / Southwest IAF and Metro IAF, currently works with thousands of religious congregations, non-profits, civic organizations and unions, in more than sixty-five cities across the United States and in Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and Germany.
IAF in Action
The Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) stands with the Jewish community in this time of tragedy, death, and fear. We condemn the horrific shooting at Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh this weekend and urge a cessation of the heated political rhetoric that is giving rise to anti-Semitism, white supremacy, and violence around the country.
Following almost nine weeks of pressure from Spokane Alliance members and allies, the Spokane Public Schools (SPS) school board unanimously voted to make a public statement on recent school bullying that included four key points leaders advocated for: reaffirmation of the district’s commitment to respect all students; commitment to swift enforcement of harassment, intimidation and bullying; contact information for those needing to report incidents; and the context of the divisive year in politics.
On June 7th, BUILD won the restoration of $2.58 million in cuts to Baltimore City after-school and community school programs. The BUILD One Baltimore campaign began in 2015 with jobs, safety, and youth program funding demands. Every major Mayoral candidate – including then candidate Pugh – agreed to these demands at the largest Baltimore City mayoral candidate accountability forum in March 2016.
At a 535-person action held in Fairfax County and a 275-person action in Prince William County, VOICE won commitments from both jurisdictions that County Police will not act as agents of Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE). Public school systems in both counties also committed to honoring Jewish and Muslim holidays by issuing new regulations that student absences related to the celebration of religious holidays will not affect attendance records. There will also be no tests or major school events scheduled during those holidays.
Almost ten years ago, Project QUEST agreed to participate in a randomized control trial in which half of a pool of 400+ qualified and equally motivated applicants were picked by a computer to participate in Project QUEST. The other half were turned away and they pursued other options.
When neighborhood users of SPICE, a synthetic marijuana with side effects including seizures and disorientation, began walking into traffic and collapsing on church and school grounds, leaders from St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church stepped into the void to identify solutions.
When petrochemical companies operating in rural Louisiana attempted to directly negotiate an industrial tax discount with the local parish (county), the effort ran up against the Louisiana Constitution. The local tax assessor sued and the state courts ruled that the agreement violated the Constitution. Developers then crafted House Bill 444, a constitutional amendment that would legalize direct negotiations with local governments.
Last night, as the votes were tallied on the City Council, BUILD celebrated a historic win on many levels. Advances include: 30% local hiring mandate on all infrastructure construction jobs; $10 million investment in minority & women owned business firms; $24 minimum wage across the site for infrastructure; $25 million workforce development center that will also create a pipeline for local hiring for all permanent jobs; 1,060 affordable housing units; and profit sharing that treats the city as the investor that it is.
Southweast Wisconsin Common Ground successfully negotiated over $4 million in housing re-investment from financial institutions whose foreclosures had devastated the Sherman Park neighborhood of Milwaukee.
Thanks to the organizing work of religious leaders in Howard County, the Maryland General Assembly's budget for 2013 includes $13 Million additional dollars to expand the Medicaid Waiver for Older Adults by 300 slots, as well as improve the program, expand services, and increase home care workers' pay. This is a start to shifting Maryland's budget from institutionalized to home and community based care. PATH worked closely with AARP, AFSCME and Secretary of Health and Mental Hygiene, Josh Sharfstein, to win on this issue.
