The Washington Post reported this morning, in an artilcle headlined "400 of 'Most Vulnerable' Homeless to Get Apartments," D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty's ambitious plans to create supportive housing for the chronically homeless in the city. Not mentioned in the article is the effort on the part of the Washington Interfaith Network that went into prompting the Mayor to make these plans and the reason for the timing of the announcement: Mayor Fenty will at an accountability action organized by WIN on Monday evening.
WIN is an association of around 50 congregations and other organizations in Washington, D.C., and is an affiliate of the Industrial Areas Foundation. WIN uses IAF's method for organizing and successfully working with public officials to improve quality of life in the city. The recipe for success is very simple, but requires persistence. WIN leaders negotiate with public officials in private meetings over what portions of the WIN agenda the official will commit to. Then an event is organized where the official makes a public commitment, including the commitment to appear at another public event to report on progress.
The success of an accountability action relies on turning-out a large audience. WIN congregations are asked to make commitments to turn-out a certain number of people. Each event begins with each congregation reporting their goal and the number they actually brought. The WIN events I have been to have all created standing-room only audiences in a large D.C. church. All of these audiences have been turned-out through organizing and without advertising or handing out flyers or posting announcements in public places.
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