Industrial Areas Foundation

Industrial Areas Foundation
FoundedMay 25, 1940; 84 years ago (1940-05-25)[1]
FoundersSaul David Alinsky,
Marshal Field,
Bernard James Sheil,
Kathryn Lewis[2]
36-2334627[3]
Legal status501(c)(3) nonprofit organization
PurposeTo build organizations whose primary purpose is power—the ability to act—and whose chief product is social change; to practice what the founding fathers preached: the ongoing attempt to make life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness everyday realities for more and more Americans.[4]
HeadquartersChicago, Illinois, US
Chairman
Georgianna Gleason[3]
Ernest Cortes Jr.[3]
Michael Gecan[3]
Revenue (2014)
$556,507[3]
Expenses (2014)$673,850[3]
Employees (2014)
3[3]
Websitewww.industrialareasfoundation.org

The Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) is a national community organizing network established in 1940[1] by Saul Alinsky, Roman Catholic Bishop Bernard James Sheil and businessman and founder of the Chicago Sun-Times Marshall Field III. The IAF partners with religious congregations and civic organizations at the local level to help them build organizations of organizations, referred to as broad-based organizations by the Industrial Areas Foundation, with the purpose of strengthening citizen leadership, developing trust across a community's dividing lines and taking action on issues identified by local community leaders.

The Industrial Areas Foundation consists of 65 affiliates in the US, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany and Australia, with the US projects organized into two regions, West / Southwest IAF and Metro IAF. IAF provides training, consultation and organizers for its affiliated organizations.

The Industrial Areas Foundation does not provide direct services, but through its organizing has created notable entities for workforce development (Project QUEST, Capital IDEA, Project IOWA, VIDA, ARRIBA, NOVA, Skills Quest, Capital IDEA – Houston, AZ Career Pathways and JobPath[5]), healthcare (Common Ground Healthcare[6]), and housing development for working- and middle-class families (Nehemiah Project in East Brooklyn[7] and The Road Home Program in New Orleans[8]). In 1994, the IAF organization in Baltimore designed and passed the first living wage bill in the US, and since then IAF organizations across the country have won changes including municipal living wage policies for public sector workers and living wage requirements for tax abatements or economic incentives, that have raised the wages of millions of workers.

  1. ^ a b "Industrial Areas Foundation". Corporation File Detail Report. Illinois Secretary of State. Accessed on March 24, 2016.
  2. ^ "History". Industrial Areas Foundation. Accessed on March 24, 2016.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g "Form 990: Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax". Industrial Areas Foundation. Guidestar. December 31, 2014.
  4. ^ "Industrial Areas Foundation". Guidestar. Accessed March 24, 2016.
  5. ^ "Labor Market Intermediaries | | West / SouthWest IAF".
  6. ^ "Home". commongroundhealthcare.org.
  7. ^ "HPD – Homebuyers – Nehemiah Homeownership Program". Archived from the original on 2012-08-30. Retrieved 2012-09-07.
  8. ^ "The Road Home Program | | West / SouthWest IAFWest / SouthWest IAF". Archived from the original on 2013-12-14. Retrieved 2014-03-07.