Communities Organized for Public Service

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Communities Organized for Public Service (COPS) is a coalition of non-partisan, grassroots community pressure groups based in San Antonio, Texas. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] It is an affiliate of the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF), a group dedicated to grassroots community organizing that was developed by Saul Alinsky in Chicago during the 1930s. Founded in 1974, COPS’ mission is to secure specific, concrete standard of living improvements for neighborhoods traditionally neglected by city leaders through relational organizing. [7]

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Though advocating primarily for the interests of lower-middle class and working class Mexican-Americans on the city's west and south sides, COPS avoids the label of civil rights organization, instead projecting itself as an agent for fair and equitabledistribution of city resources and services. COPS had many different leaders throughout the years but even women have run this organization which back in the day was unheard of. Many women of diverse communities didn't speak up on actions that affected their communities so COPS was a way for them to be vocal outside of their comfort zones which was church. COPS success in this endeavor to date isremarkable, amounting to over one billion dollars in group-sponsored projects andinitiatives. [8]

Footnotes

  1. ↑ McCarthy, John D.; Reitzes, Donald C.; Reitzes, Dietrich C. (January 1989). "The Alinsky Legacy: Alive and Kicking". Contemporary Sociology. 18 (1): 46. doi:10.2307/2071926. ISSN   0094-3061. JSTOR   2071926.
  2. ↑ Villareal, Roberto E. (1985). "Reviewed work: The Politics of San Antonio: Community, Progress and Power, David R. JOHNSON, John BOOTH, Richard J. HARRIS". Social Science Quarterly. 66 (2): 472–473. JSTOR   42861924.
  3. ↑ Reitzes, Donald C.; Reitzes, Dietrich C. (1992). "Saul D. Alinsky: An Applied Urban Symbolic Interactionist". Symbolic Interaction. 15: 1–24. doi:10.1525/si.1992.15.1.1.
  4. ↑ "Vicki L. Ruiz". From out of the Shadows: Mexican Women in Twentieth-Century America. Oxford: University press. 2008. ISBN   978-0195374773.
  5. ↑ Reitzes, Donald C.; Reitzes, Dietrich C. (1982). "Saul D. Alinsky: A Neglected Source but Promising Resource". The American Sociologist. 17 (1): 47–56. JSTOR   27702495.
  6. ↑ Trolander, Judith Ann (September 1982). "Social Change: Settlement Houses and Saul Alinsky, 1939-1965". Social Service Review. 56 (3): 346–365. doi:10.1086/644019. ISSN   0037-7961.
  7. ↑ Booth, John A.; David R. Johnson; Richard J. Harris (1983). The Politics of San Antonio : Community, Progress, & Power. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press. p. 195. ISBN   978-0-8032-1178-0.
  8. ↑ Mark Warren, Dry Bones Rattling, 3-4

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