Organizing to Change a City

Activist and scholar Kitty Kelly Epstein tells the unique story of a city that recruits a progressive mayoral candidate, defeats a political machine, mobilizes a thousand residents to make policy, and then implements many of the policies created by this participatory process. Violence, jobs, education, and gentrification are all addressed by the ongoing social justice movement and its victories, including a 40% drop in the homicide rate, 8,000 likely new jobs, and a program that produces diverse and effective teachers. This very accessible book will be useful in urban studies, sociology, education, ethnic studies, civic engagement, political science, and policy studies classes and to those who are studying protest movements. The author explains the history of modern urban inequity and the racial wealth gap and then proposes on-going strategy and tactics for social activists in every city. Her co-authors, Lynch and Allen-Taylor, add their own intimate perspectives on these dynamic developments.

Kitty Kelly Epstein has received numerous awards for her unique blend of scholarship and community activism. She has worked as an academic and as a policy advisor, most recently to the mayor of Oakland. Epstein is the author of A Different View of Urban Schools: Civil Rights, Critical Race Theory and Unexplored Realities (revised edition).