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The Black Panther Party represents Black Panther Party members' coordinated responses over the last four decades to the failure of city, state, and federal bureaucrats to address the basic needs of their respective communities. The Party pioneered free social service programs that are now in the mainstream of American life. The Party's Sickle Cell Anemia Research Foundation, operated with Oakland's Children's Hospital, was among the nation's first such testing programs. Its Free Breakfast Program served as a model for national programs. Other initiatives included free clinics, grocery giveaways, school and education programs, senior programs, and legal aid programs. Published here for the first time in book form, The Black Panther Party makes the case that the programs' methods are viable models for addressing the persistent, basic social injustices and economic problems of today's American cities and suburbs.

\"In urban American school systems, the children of recent immigrants and low-income parents of color disproportionately suffer from overcrowded classrooms, lack of access to educational resources, and underqualified teachers. The challenges posed by these problems demand creative solutions that must often begin with parental intervention. But how can parents without college educations, American citizenship, English literacy skills, or economic stability organize to initiate change on behalf of their children and their community? In Mothers United, Andrea Dyrness chronicles the experiences of five Latina immigrant mothers in Oakland, California-one of the most troubled urban school districts in the country as they become informed and engaged advocates for their children's education. These women, who called themselves \"Madres Unidas\" (\"Mothers United\"), joined a neighborhood group of teachers and parents to plan a new, small, and autonomous neighborhood-based school to replace the overcrowded Whitman School. Collaborating with the author, among others, to conduct interviews and focus groups with teachers, parents, and students, these mothers moved from isolation and marginality to take on unfamiliar roles as researchers and community activists while facing resistance from within the local school district. Mothers United illuminates the mothers' journey to create their own space-centered around the kitchen table-that enhanced their capacity to improve their children's lives. At the same time, Dyrness critiques how community organizers, teachers, and educational policy makers, despite their democratic rhetoric, repeatedly asserted their right as \"experts,\" reproducing the injustice they hoped to overcome. A powerful, inspiring story about self-learning, consciousness-raising, and empowerment, Mothers United offers important lessons for school reform movements everywhere\"-- Provided by publisher.

In an adult-dominated society, teenagers are often shut out of participation in politics.We Fight to Winoffers a compelling account of young people's attempts to get involved in community politics, and documents the battles waged to form youth movements and create social change in schools and neighborhoods.Hava Rachel Gordon compares the struggles and successes of two very different youth movements: a mostly white, middle-class youth activist network in Portland, Oregon, and a working-class network of minority youth in Oakland, California. She examines how these young activists navigate schools, families, community organizations, and the mainstream media, and employ a variety of strategies to make their voices heard on some of today's most pressing issuesùwar, school funding, the environmental crisis, the prison industrial complex, standardized testing, corporate accountability, and educational reform.We Fight to Winis one of the first books to focus on adolescence and political action and deftly explore the ways that the politics of youth activism are structured by age inequality as well as race, class, and gender.

The reach of the Catholic Church is arguably greater than that of any other religion, extending across diverse political, ethnic, class, and cultural boundaries. But what is it about Catholicism that resonates so profoundly with followers who live under disparate conditions? What is it, for instance, that binds parishioners in America with those in Mexico? For Joseph M. Palacios, what unites Catholics is a sense of being Catholic—a social imagination that motivates them to promote justice and build a better world. In The Catholic Social Imagination, Palacios gives readers a feeling for what it means to be Catholic and put one’s faith into action. Tracing the practices of a group of parishioners in Oakland, California, and another in Guadalajara, Mexico, Palacios reveals parallels—and contrasts—in the ways these ordinary Catholics receive and act on a church doctrine that emphasizes social justice. Whether they are building a supermarket for the low-income elderly or waging protests to promote school reform, these parishioners provide important insights into the construction of the Catholic social imagination. Throughout, Palacios also offers important new cultural and sociological interpretations of Catholic doctrine on issues such as poverty, civil and human rights, political participation, and the natural law.

Casa en Casa is a popular education project of the community health education section of La Clinica de la Raza, a community-based health clinic in Oakland, California. The author examines the Casa en Casa model for its contributions to furthering health education practitioners' understanding of critical pedagogy and community organizing and their relationship to health education. A description of the project's achievements and the obstacles faced in reaching its goals of community empowerment is followed by an analysis of the weaknesses in the project that may undermine its effectiveness. Recommendations are made as to the importance of linking theory to practice and practice to a long-term vision of social change.

Low income African American mothers of elementary school children in Oakland, California, participated in six prevention training sessions that fused education about HIV/AIDS with other life-skills and resources. This exploratory intervention, known as the Healthy Mamas Project, was based on the Theory of Reasoned Action with inclusion of self-efficacy. Responses to a questionnaire at baseline and at 3-month follow up show that all women (N=15) entered the training program with, and sustained, a high level of knowledge about HIV/AIDS. Based on self-reports of attitudes and behaviors at the 3-month follow-up, training affected only some women beneficially. Overall, 42% of the participants expressed increased trust in and resolve to use condoms to reduce the likelihood of acquiring HIV infection. Differences in demographic characteristics and sexual practices distinguished women who accepted the educational messages about condoms from participants who did not. The intervention did not sufficiently recognize or address the social contexts that informed the beliefs and behaviors of the women. In particular, women who were not beneficially influenced by the training prioritized short-term goals (such as establishing a sexual relationship, fulfilling emotional needs, providing for children) over long-term goals (such as avoiding HIV infection).

Ashley et al describe how Youth for Oakland United is working for positive alternatives to crime and incarceration. These teens researched and analyzed problems with existing recreation centers in Oakland CA.