"Reclaiming local power requires bottom-up mobilization, top-down investment, and participatory governance to connect public resources with community priorities. By organizing in cooperatives, coalitions, land trusts, and nonprofits, communities are fostering self-reliance and collective power capable of holding larger institutions accountable. Richmond, CA, a majority-people of color city of 115,000 located about 10 miles north of Oakland and across the bay from San Francisco, is an example of this approach."
"Trailblazing communities are collectively reclaiming agency over fundamental rights, setting a roadmap for development that builds, rather than imposes, power structures. Reclaiming local power requires bottom-up mobilization, top-down investment, and participatory governance. Agency is determined by whether or not a community can shape the systems that structure daily life. And restoring agency is not simply about improving community participation-it is about shifting control."
Stopping reliance on external permission to own and govern local economies enables communities to reclaim agency and reshape power structures. Reclaiming local power requires bottom-up mobilization, top-down investment, and participatory governance that connects public resources with community priorities. Agency depends on a community's capacity to shape the systems that structure daily life, and restoring agency involves shifting control, not merely increasing participation. Scholars such as Amartya Sen emphasize building local community agency and capacity. Organizing through cooperatives, coalitions, land trusts, and nonprofits fosters self-reliance and collective power capable of holding larger institutions accountable. Richmond, CA serves as an example of this approach.
Read at Nonprofit Quarterly | Civic News. Empowering Nonprofits. Advancing Justice.
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