Organizing the South Bronx

by Jim Rooney

Book Overview

This is a story of heroic and articulate individuals who were able to defy overwhelming odds and build affordable housing in the South Bronx. It is about the process of teaching citizens in a low-income neighborhood how to participate in public life.

Very little is written about the catastrophic and precipitous collapse of the South Bronx, although its fate is universally cited as emblematic of urban hopelessness. This inquiry focuses on community...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0791422100
• ISBN13: 9780791422106
• Release Date: November 1994
• Publisher: State University of New York Press
• Length: 296 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.9" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Organizing the South Bronx, by Jim Rooney

I recall reding this book about 4 years ago. My recollection is that Rooney did a good job of explaining how he came to study education in the Bronx and discovered Industrial Area Foundation organizing in the South Bronx around the issues of better public education and affordable housing in particular. I thought he did a good job of gaining valuable access to the organization, its leaders and organizers. His interviews and insights were very interesting. I must admit being of a fan of this kind of Faith-based organizing myself having seen it be effective in Chicago as it has been in Rooney's description of the Bronx. Faith-based plus other institutions can democratically improve neighborhoods and revitalize citizen democracy in all types of neighborhoods from the Bronx to Westchester County.