The Metro Alliance
Together, working for a Better Community
The Metro Alliance and the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF)
"Power, Action & Justice"
The Industrial Areas
Foundation (IAF) began in Chicago in 1940 under the leadership of Saul Alinsky, author of Reveille for Radicals and Rules for Radicals. IAF Network organizations throughout the United States and England work on multiple issues and develop structures through which ordinary citizens can effectively negotiate with the government and private institutions that affect their lives. There are no individual members of IAF organizations; rather institutions make human and financial commitments to participate in these networks.
The Metro Alliance History
San Antonio has two IAF organizations. In 1974, Communities Organized for Public Service (C.O.P.S.) formed the first IAF organization in the Southwest Network. The Metro Alliance, which shares office space and many resources with C.O.P.S., formed in 1989 through a merger of the East Side Alliance, composed of African American and Hispanic low- and lower-middle income churches, and the Metropolitan Congregational Alliance. The latter organized in 1982 and included South, Central, and Northwest area Anglo and Hispanic Protestant lower-middle and middle-income churches. First UU was a member of this organization and has been a member of the Metro Alliance since its inception. The Metro Alliance, like other IAF organizations, is a broad-based citizens' organization comprised of churches and schools.
Unitarian Universalist Principles and the Metro Alliance
The Mission of First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Antonio is to: ...Engage in outreach and service to the wider community... (adopted by congregation May 20, 2001)
“The First Unitarian Universalist (UU) Church of San Antonio pursues a living tradition of free search for spiritual growth and life's truths. We practice our beliefs through our actions within our church and the larger community, inspired by our reverence for humanity and the spirit of life.”
Several of the seven Unitarian Universalist Purposes and Principles apply specifically to First UU's membership and participation in the Metro Alliance. These principles include:
We the member congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Association, covenant to affirm and promote:
- The inherent worth and dignity of every person;
- Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;…
- The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;
- The goal of world community with peace, liberty and justice for all;
- Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.
Accomplishments of Metro Alliance
Some of the successful projects Metro Alliance and C.O.P.S. continue to work on:
- After-School Challenge Program:
- Securing over $15.6 million in city funding for after-school enrichment programs throughout the city since 1992. The program is presently available in eight school districts at 161 schools and serves 34,000 children.
- San Antonio Education Partnership:
- Collaborating with businesses, communities, school districts, and universities, scholarships are awarded to public high school students who graduate with at least a B average and 95% attendance record. Over 4,500 graduates from fifteen area highs schools have received scholarships, nearly 1,000 of whom have completed B.A. or B.S. degrees at this time.
- Project QUEST:
- Developed and continue to place unemployed and underemployed high school graduates in a supportive, long-term job training program for high-skill, high-wage jobs available in San Antonio. Nearly 1,000 participants as of 1999.
- Alliance Schools:
- Working to improve student achievement and engage parents and community members in public education in 15 public schools in three districts.
- Living Wages:
- Changed the city's tax abatement policy to require corporate abatement recipients to pay living wages (nearly $10.00/hour) to at least 70% of employees.
- Infrastructure:
- Directed over $25 million of federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds to critical street, drainage and housing needs in the central, southern and eastern areas of the city.
Many of the ongoing goals of Metro Alliance and C.O.P.S. are outlined in the Human
Development Agenda (also available in Spanish).
Metro Alliance is presently divided into clusters loosely based on geographic location. First UU is a member of Metro's North Cluster. North Cluster institutional members presently include:
Metro Alliance and You
Member institutions commit approximately 2% of their operating budgets in the form of dues to the Metro Alliance. At First UU, our dues are currently about $2,700.00 per year (FY 2001).
Every member of First UU is a member of Metro Alliance. Since the foundation of Metro Alliance is relationship, we need active participation of individuals within our institutions to be an effective organization. In the First UU Strategic Plan adopted by the congregation in May 2001, we committed to promote social justice in our larger community through increased participation in Metro Alliance.
To get involved, watch the church announcements, newsletter, web
site and email
list for upcoming events. Or contact Social
Action Committee Co-Chairs Kevin
Dath and Daryl Dumph.
Help make a lasting difference in our local community while adhering to
our UU mission and principles!
Selected Resources
- The Democratic Promise:
- Saul Alinsky and His Legacy (ITVS documentary)
- Saul Alinsky and the Industrial Areas Foundation
- Ernesto J. Cortés, Jr.
- A brief biography of founding organizer of C.O.P.S. and present Southwest
IAF Regional Director. He was the 1997 Heinz Award recipient for Public
Policy; this biography original appeared on the Heinz
Awards site.
- "A New Democratic Politics"
- A revised version of a paper presented by Ernesto Cortés, Jr. on February
17, 1999 at the Ethics in Government: Cooperation and Conflict in Urban
Politics conference organized by the Cary M. Maguire Center for Ethics and
Public Responsibility; Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas.
- "Reweaving the Social Fabric"
- An article by Ernesto Cortés, Jr. that originally appeared in the Boston
Review, 1996.
- "Social Justice"
- An article by Ernesto Cortés, Jr. that originally appeared in Fast Company,
issue 30, December 1999.
- Better Jobs Act (Texas)
- The text of the state legislation
- Closing the Gaps, by 2015
- Texas Higher Education Plan, prepared by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (in pdf format, requires free Adobe Acrobat Reader)
- Service to Texas in the New Century:
- A Long Range Plan for the University of Texas System - includes dire predictions by the year 2030 (in pdf format, requires free Adobe Acrobat Reader)
- Living Wage Jobs
- A living wage job strategy from the Pew Partnership
Some other Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) networks that have Unitarian Universalist member institutions include:
- Action in Montgomery (AIM) [formed in 1998]
- Unitarian Universalist Church of Rockville (MD)
- Allied Communities of Tarrant [formed in 1982]
- First Jefferson Unitarian Universalist Church (Fort Worth, TX)
- First Unitarian Church of Dallas (TX)
- Greater Boston Interfaith Organization [formed in 1997]
- Arlington Street Church (Boston, MA)
- Community Church (Boston, MA)
- First Parish in Bedford (MA)
- United First Parish Church (Quincy, MA) (a founding member)
- Pima County Interfaith Council (PCIC) [formed in 1987]
- Unitarian Universalist Church of Tucson (AZ)
- Tying Nashville Together (TNT) [founded in 1993]
- First Unitarian Universalist Church of Nashville (TN)
- West Texas Organizing Strategy [formed in 1996]
- First Unitarian Universalist Church of Lubbock, TX
