The Sociological Initiatives Foundation has awarded Community Voices Heard (CVH) of New York, the Leo P. Chall Award. The award recognizes outstanding work of organizations funded by the foundation. It honors organizations that link research with social action, thereby building capacity and changing public policy.
The 2011 award recognizes the statewide organization as a model of how member-led advocacy organizations can integrate research with community organizing. CVH is a multi-racial organization led by and for low-income people, predominantly women, working to build power in New York City and State.
Challenging New York’s Power Brokers
CVH was founded in New York City in 1994 when a group of women, some homeless, some on welfare, and many unemployed came together to build a voice that is excluded from the halls of power and denied a seat at the table. The organization leads grassroots direct action campaigns to reform public policy and build a statewide base of community leaders that advocate to improve the lives of low-income people.
Research is Integral to Community Organizing
Since its founding in 1994, most of CVH’s campaigns related to housing, education, jobs, or welfare-reform, have incorporated participatory research to investigate problems identified by members. Research committee members made up of community residents, staff, and organizational partners collect data to shape the campaign’s policy recommendations and media strategy. In addition, the research process for each campaign helps CVH involve new members and develop new leaders – activities that are essential for building a large and noisy base of political power.
Big Wins – Bigger Vision
No matter what the issue, CVH members uncover familiar stories of broken promises and barriers to opportunity. Over the years, CVH-led reform campaigns have pushed back to secure millions of dollars for local and state services, saved thousands of homes and jobs, and created many opportunities for low-income communities.
CVH members have also increased voter turnout, published investigative reports, and trained thousands of citizens how to take action to solve problems in their neighborhoods.
Most importantly it has developed a model for building a large, membership-driven, people’s organization that supports a broader movement for social change.
The award program begun in 2009 is named after Leo P. Chall, best known in the field of sociology as the founder of Sociological Abstracts. Leo P. Chall launched Sociological Abstracts in 1953 as a journal that abstracted and indexed the international literature in sociology and related social and behavioral sciences. An endowment to establish the Sociological Initiatives Foundation was funded by the proceeds from the sale of the Abstracts in 1999.
The foundation makes yearly grants to support research that furthers social change and its intersection with social and policy questions.