This book tells the story of an innovative approach to educational change in urban schools. Using a case study approach, the book describes how working class parents, public school teachers, clergy, social workers, business partners, and other engaged citizens have worked to improve education in inner-city schools. Their combined efforts are…

Almost unnoticed, growing numbers of working poor people are entering politics at the community level in dozens of major cities in Texas and across the United States. These people are unusual because they view politics as a long-term process to build relationships, new institutions, and humane communities. This book tells the story of a new kind…

This book examines the efforts of Valley Interfaith--a community-based organization in the south Texas borderlands--to improve the living conditions of low-income residents and immigrants and the public schools their children attend. Valley Interfaith is unusual in that it crosses the boundary separating the worlds of community organizing and…