Program Summary:
The Urban Strategies Council is a community-building support and advocacy organization whose mission is to eliminate persistent poverty by working with partners to transform low-income neighborhoods into vibrant, healthy communities. Urban Strategies works locally and regionally to provide research, data and policy analysis, strategic planning, program development, capacity building and advocacy in service of low-income communities. Three operating programs are offered: (1) Economic Opportunity - housing, income and asset development, workforce and economic development, community benefits agreements; (2) Community Safety and Justice - prison reentry, violence prevention and community policing; and (3) Education Excellence - achievement, community engagement and after school programs. Additional support programs include (1) Research and Technology - data warehousing, online GIS/mapping, research and evaluation analysis to support community change, access to technology; and (2) Community Capacity Building - tools, program development, training and consulting services for community-building initiatives.
Some services are available to any nonprofit wanting them; in other cases organizations must apply for assistance. Urban Strategies offers training in such areas as redevelopment and community benefits, provides technical assistance to individual organizations and collaboratives, maintains web sites for groups, at times secures dollars from funders for the purpose of re-granting them to community groups, and more. While a specific capacity-building unit exists, it also serves other program areas, and almost all of Urban Strategies' work involves capacity building as a component.
A variety of funders, including the East Bay Community Foundation and Tides Foundation, partner on projects. While Urban Strategies Council does not currently do any re-granting, it has in the past and may in the future. In recent years work with coalitions and collaboratives has increased, including helping to create and staff many new initiatives. In some cases a coalition approaches Urban Strategies requesting assistance, in other cases a funder asks for help with a coalition, and Urban Strategies has also initiated the development of a coalition itself.
As one example, Urban Strategies staffs and convenes a community benefits coalition of base-building organizations that have constituent memberships. The coalition works within a neighborhood that has a community benefits agreement with a developer, and helps it determine, in communication with the developer, how to manage and use dollars within the neighborhood. In this effort Urban Strategies both provides technical assistance, such as training for residents and the coalition as a whole, and coordinates a community facilitation process.
Other collaboratives served by Urban Strategies include the Alameda County Community Assets Network, involving nonprofits, financial institutions, government bodies and others that focus on income and asset development of county residents. The Alameda County Reentry Network is a collaboration of reentry service providers, governmental agencies and others focusing on improving public safety by reducing recidivism among the formerly incarcerated. A similar re-entry collaborative is being established in Contra Costa County. Oakland Community After School Alliance works to galvanize interest, energy and resources for promoting after school programs in Oakland. Finally, Urban Strategies is collaborating with the College of Alameda on a community capacity-building institute that will offer certificates and degree program related to urban leadership and community development.
Some sophisticated technology-based tools are available on Urban Strategies' web site and the web sites of the collaboratives it supports, to assist these diverse groups and the public. For example, an online data warehouses and a mapping service provide access to public data sets, and enables users to map out the information as needed. A resource and referral database is used for income and asset development services; another will be launched for reentry services in Alameda County. For the networks or collaboratives they support, Urban Strategies creates web sites with reports, various databases, and other resources that are made available for use by the public as well.
Much of Urban Strategies' capacity-building effort takes place in the context of action work. Urban Strategies may choose an area that needs work, secure the dollars needed to begin, and identify the best partners to involve in the effort. While Urban Strategies does much of the staffing itself, at times it uses other groups to provide needed training, e.g. in participatory facilitation.
While Urban Strategies has not done a comprehensive evaluation, it does look at elements of its work, such as policy change or community benefits work supporting a coalition. When it conducts training, it generally secures both oral and written evaluation information from participants, then holds a de-briefing session with the planning group to pinpoint what did and didn't prove effective. Additionally, it sometimes uses a Survey Monkey feedback instrument and then posts results online.
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Address:
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672 13th Street
Oakland, CA 94612
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