Six Empowerment Strategies for Low-Income Communities

by BARRY CHECKOWAY

articipation varies greatly from one community to another: Some P participate actively while others engage in little or no activity. Studies show that income, education, and occupational status all posi- tively correlate with participation and contribute to characteristics and attitudes that support further activity. Higher-income people partici- pate out of proportion to their numbers and apply resources and skills that make them especially effective. Low-income people are less likely to form organizations, attend meetings, or participate in programs, in- cluding public welfare or antipoverty programs presumably designed to elicit their participation.

The explanation for this is in dispute. Some analysts attribute the activity levels to institutional bias and discriminatory practices, others to the political ethos and the people themselves.

Low-income people face particular problems in community partici- pation. Studies document a pattern not only of private institutions dis- investing from poorer areas in favor of other locations, but also of public agencies disinvesting from the same areas by reducing the levels of serv- ices provided. This often results in a downgrading cycle of deteriorat- ing infrastructure, inadequate services, and withdrawal of institutions. Those who remain may face worsening conditions, feel alienated from decisions, or retreat from participation in the community. Who would blame them for not attending agency board meetings or testifying in public proceedings?

Despite the conditions, some low-income people participate with fer- vor. Evidence indicates long-term increases in the involvement of low-

Barry Checkoway is associate professor of social work at the Univer- sity of Michigan at Ann Arbor.

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income people, some of whom actively organize for social action, plan programs at the community level, and participate in the institutions that affect them. Such efforts are not typical, however. Many, perhaps most, low-income people may feel alienated from decisions affecting their areas, and boxed in by the effects of poverty and racism in the larger society.

Basic Strategies This article outlines strategies for empowering low-income commu-

nities. It assumes that empowerment is a process by which persons in- crease control over their lives; that community is a unit of solution for social problems; that organization is a vehicle to bring individuals together and take collective action; and that practitioners can help com- munities plan and organize change.

1. Mass mobilization aims to create or oppose change by amassing individuals around issues. It assumes that visible public actions to as- sert rights, obtain benefits, or protest injustices can generate power and compel concessions from targets. It often operates in response to con- ditions but not as an independent force, as a means to an end but not as an end in itself, or as a way to win on issues but not as a form of permanent organization. It often appears as an episodic or transient movement in which participants act in unconventional ways to create change before losing momentum or facing reprisals. Christ and Gand- hi used this model to create change, as do practitioners working to mobi- lize today. Francis Fox Piven and Richard Cloward (1977) argue that poor people’s movements sometimes succeed when they employ con- flict tactics that compel concessions from established institutions. They examine efforts by welfare rights organizations to mobilize welfare recipients and assert their rights, and by human service workers to register disenfranchised people to vote in elections through services in soup kitchens, surplus food lines, waiting rooms, unemployment offices, housing projects, health clinics, neighborhood centers, and places where they live or congregate. Gene Sharp (1973) describes more than 200 methods of mobilization used against poverty and other social condi- tions in past and present industrial and developing areas.

2. Social action aims to empower citizens in building organizations at the local level. People come together to share problems and issues,

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formulate goals and strategy, build structure and leadership, and take actions to win on issues. Such organizations are increasing on issues from left to right, from bank redlining and hospital access to basics in the classroom and tougher treatment of criminals. Foundations, churches, and government have provided resources and supported professionalization of social action intended to build organization at the local level. Aldon Morris (1984) documents the instrumental role of black community organization, rather than charismatic leadership or historical circumstance, in the civil rights movement, a lesson in- creasingly learned by other oppressed minorities. Many Americans as- sociate social action with Saul Alinsky and the atypical 1960s without recognizing that these times are past, and that social action has changed in scope and style since then.

3. Citizen participation aims to represent and involve the public in agency policy planning and program implementation. In response to rising demands for participation, agencies have adopted official man- dates and methods such as citizen boards and fishbowl planning. These methods can provide means for participation in agencies and for or- ganization around them, but they also can serve administrative func- tions without transfer of power to communities. Exceptional agencies pursue participation of the poor with fervor, but these are not typical in the field. Some of the best examples originate in developing areas of the Third World. There also are examples of US. national or local public agencies that represent and involve the poor. While national or local public agencies could effectively represent and involve the poor, the obstacles are serious and their record is uneven.

4. Public advocacy is the practice of pleading or representing the in- terests of oneself or others in legislative, administrative, judicial or other institutional arenas. It often aims to compensate for imperfect plural- ism by advancing interests of the poor, minorities, women, and other traditionally less powerful groups. Legislative advocates lobby legisla- tors on policies, administrative advocates seek accountability or com- pliance with regulations, and judicial or legal advocates defend rights of classes of individuals in courts of law. Public interest advocates hold public or corporate officials accountable to the general public, and ad- vocacy planners develop plans on behalf of less powerful groups or ideological interests. Despite variation, advocates tend to comprise a

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relatively small number of well-educated, highly experienced, and deeply committed individuals who apply knowledge and skills -including research, media, and publicity skills - to make a difference. Norman Krumholz and Janice Cogger (1985) describe city planners who advo- cate a wider range of choices for poor residents in Cleveland, and Jac- queline Leavitt (1986) describes planners who advocate the interests of women in public or private institutions where they work. Advocacy is increasing in scope for children, elderly, disabled persons and other groups, but its quality still varies from one area to another.

5. Community education aims to raise critical consciousness and de- velop capacity around awareness of common community concerns. It assumes that people are able but unwilling to participate because they may temporarily lack consciousness, confidence, or competence to do so. It views education as more than information transmission to pas- sive recipients but rather as an active process to develop desire and ca- pacity for action. Paulo Freire (1970) brought small groups of people together in squatters settlements to discuss problems, analyze causes, and formulate strategies to alter oppressive forces in society. His ap- proach has influenced practice in nonformal education and other so- cial movements. Meredith Minkler (1985) describes health educators who use nonformal education with low income elderly in single-room- occupancy hotels in San Francisco to organize groups and implement programs that promote health and create change. Eugenia Eng and John Hatch (1985) describe health educators who work with parishioners of black churches in North Carolina to learn about health and develop their communities. Other practitioners train organizational board and staff members to become leaders, or conduct mass media campaigns to increase public awareness of community issues. Whatever the ap- proach, the aim is education for action.

6. Community development is a process in which people develop pro- grams, services, or resources responsive to needs at the community level. It is a form neither of mandated participation in plans originated else- where, nor of outside advocacy for local groups before moving on, but a means for people to empower themselves as well as their communi- ties. Organizations have increased in scope and capacity in rural and urban areas; addressed problems and needs ranging from housing and health care to employment and economic revitalization; and applied

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skills from needs assessment and resources development to service deliv- ery and project management. There are obstacles to community de- velopment at the local level, but also exceptional organizations that have successfully taken hold of their surroundings and helped them- selves. Jack Geiger (1984) describes community health centers in Mound Bayou, Mississippi, and other areas which have increased access to af- fordable health care, involved traditional nonparticipants in organiza- tional leadership positions, and produced political and social change. Elsewhere I describe Jeff-Vander-Lou (Checkoway, 1984), a neighbor- hood organization in a black low income area of St. Louis, which has built and rehabilitated housing, operated social services, attracted new industry and jobs, and formulated plans to boost the local economy. They have operated a senior citizens program providing meals, trans- portation, and recreation for elderly residents; run a child-care food and nutritional program; sponsored youth training and summer voca- tional activities; and disseminated human services information through neighborhood newspapers and radio stations. Such organizations are praiseworthy but neither typical of practice nor a substitute for public responsibility in areas lacking resources.

Adequate Results? Serious obstacles block expanding the participation of low-income

communities, but these several strategies provide lessons for practice. Each strategy has its own approach. Taken together, they prove that low-income communities can take initiative and work for change.

This conclusion does not ignore that such strategies have limitations; that many communities lack resources for effective participation; that community initiatives cannot substitute for economic employment, edu- cation or other public policy commitments; that feelings of empower- ment are forms of false consciousness unless accompanied by real change in society; or that serious efforts by low income communities may en- gender controversy and evoke reactions which leave them worse than before.

Even exceptional communities have difficulties influencing the larg- er context in which they operate. Low-income people can take hold of their surrounding and improve their situations, to be sure. But com- munity problems often originate in institutions and decisions outside

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their own area and in processes beyond their ability to control. It would be a mistake to blame communities for the process that victimizes them. To alter the consequences, it would be necessary to alter the process.

In the absence of fundamental change, empowerment strategies can make a difference. (But are they good enough?)

Sources Checkoway, Barry. 1984. “Revitalizing an Urban Neighborhood: A St.

Louis Case Study.” NATIONAL CIVIC REVIEW, 73: 430-440. Eng, Eugenia and John Hatch. 1985. “Institutionalizing Social Sup-

port Through the Church and Into the Community.” Health Edu- cation Quarterly, 12: 81-92.

Freire, Paulo. 1970. Pedagogy and the Oppressed. New York: Seabury Press.

Geiger, Jack. 1984. “Community Health Centers,” in Victor Sidel and Ruth Sidel, eds., Reforming Medicine: Lessons of the Last Quarter Century. New York: Pantheon.

Krumholz, Norman and Janice Cogger. 1985. “Urban Transportation Equity in Cleveland,” in Barry Checkoway and Carl Patton, The Metropolitan Midwest: Policy Problems and Prospects for Change.

Urbana: University of Illinois Press. Leavitt, Jacqueline. 1986. “Feminist Advocacy Planning in the 1980s,”

in Barry Checkoway, ed., Strategic Approaches to Planning Prac- tice. Lexington: Lexington Books.

Minkler, Meredith. 1985. “Building Supportive Ties and Sense of Com- munity Among the Inner City Elderly: The Tenderloin Senior Out- reach Project.” Health Education Quarterly. 12: 303-310.

Morris, Aldon. 1984. The Origins of the Civil Rights Movement: Black Communities Organizing for Change. New York: Free Press.

Piven, Frances Fox and Richard Cloward. 1977. Poor People’s Move- ments: Why They Succeed and How They Fail. New York: Vintage Books.

Sharp, Gene. 1973. The Politics of Nonviolent Action. Boston: Porter Sergeant Publishers.