RISE Round-up: Urban Ag, the Gates arrest, Building Movement, and more July 29, 2009

Every week, we’ll be posting a round-up of RISE-relevant articles from around the internet.  Have something to add? Leave a comment. For a more up to the minute look at what we’re reading, follow us on Twitter.

Urban Agriculture’s Many Uses From the RUAF Foundation, a fascinating article on the role of urban agriculture in the re-socialization of homeless people in Juiz de Fora, Brazil.  If this is the kind of thing that interests you, check out Jenny Applegate’s session on community gardens and community health at the conference!

They Say Gentrify, We Say Occupy Last week, a group of homeless activists occupied a vacant East Harlem lot owned by JP Morgan Chase in protest against the shortage of affordable housing.  The protest was organized by Picture the Homeless, an advocacy organization founded and led by homeless people.

A “Post-Racial America?” Looks like the Socialist Worker’s been checking out our schedule, stealing our panel title in an article discussing of the arrest of Henry Louis Gates and what it says about racism in the era of Barack Obama.  Just kidding (about the title, that is) — but if these kinds of issues matter to you, make sure to check out our “Post-Racial America?” panel!

Integrating Direct Practice and Advocacy Melinda K. Lewis, a professor at the School of Social Welfare at the University of Kansas, reports on Building Movement, a project that collected “case studies of social service organizations’ efforts to integrate direct practice and community-building/advocacy/organizing/civic engagement, in pursuit of a seamless, dynamic, progressive organization that both attends to people’s concrete and immediate needs and engages them as actors in pursuit of greater community power.”  A mouthful alright, and one to strive for.

If You Grow It, They Will Fund Liz Neves puts together an awesome list of grant and other funding opportunities for non-profits young and old on the Brooklyn Food Conference blog.  While it’s mostly geared to food systems activists, a lot of her tips will be useful to anyone.