Community United for Social Justice
Poverty is a social and economic condition that is multifaceted and accompanied by heavy social stigma.
More than solely an indicator of economic deprivation, it encompasses neighborhood environments, health disparities, housing quality, access to mainstream financial services, lack of opportunities to higher education, few if any opportunities for labor mobility, and social isolation.
By addressing any one of these conditions through individual or family services, one’s economic situation could be affected. At the same time, however, addressing any one of these issues at a community level can only be achieved by a large group of people working collectively with a common goal and a shared analysis of the solution.
Studies indicate that the environment found in neighborhoods with high levels of collective efficacy (i.e., residents’ willingness to help out for the common good) is associated with higher rates of health indicators, higher levels of immigrant integration, and lower rates of homicide. In other words, when residents are active in their communities, the quality of life in those communities improves and consequently, targeted organizing efforts can create healthy environments whereby inequality is reduced and more opportunities exist for all.
Action Committees
We train and inspire volunteer community leaders to work together to improve our lives and organize for justice.
Currently, our committees are working on issues ranging from renters’ rights to immigrant rights.
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SHHAC: Sacred Heart Housing Action Committee
Affordable Housing
We are a diverse group of San José residents, workers, voters, and organizers representing the immediate need for affordable housing for homeless, low and very low-income residents, and economic refugees.
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PASOS: Personas Activas Sobresalientes Organizando Soluciones
Immigrant Rights
PASOS está compuesto de más de 30 líderes comunitarios activos luchando por los derechos de los inmigrantes en San José y el Condado de Santa Clara.
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SOS: Survivors of the Streets
Leaders who are or have been Unhoused
We believe that if unhoused people organize in large numbers they have a unique ability to change public perception, wield power over policy decisions, and shift cultural norms about members of our community
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SURJ: Showing Up For Racial Justice
Racial Justice
SURJ at Sacred Heart is a group mobilizing white people to be in solidarity with brown and black communities, and working to end racism and discrimination throughout Silicon Valley.
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RECS: Racial Equity and Community Safety
Racial Justice
RECS is a network of multi-racial community leaders working together to reimagine community safety for all. We organize our communities for equity in public decisions about budgeting, program and service delivery, and alternatives to current systems that harm communities of color.
Leadership Development
We believe people, especially those who experience oppression, deserve more power than has been granted in our economic, political, and social systems. We believe people are capable of organizing themselves to win progressive policy changes through campaigns that address economic, racial and social justice.
Our campaigns are vehicles to win real changes in people’s lives and develop powerful community leaders who:
Recruit and develop others;
Speak publicly and share powerful testimony;
Plan successful events and actions;
Conduct research;
Analyze power and make strategic decisions.
History
SHCS’s Policy and Organizing program began in June 2009 as a response, in part, to the nation’s prolonged economic recession and the skyrocketing need for social assistance. The recession shed light on both structural inequalities in the County of Santa Clara and the growing need for advocacy and civic engagement aimed at poverty-related concerns. More families than ever before came to SHCS in 2009 in need of immediate help, but also with a desire to participate in building collective solutions to the problems facing millions.
Since then, thousands of people across Silicon Valley have joined our organizing campaigns with countless research actions, planning meetings, surveys, accountability sessions, press events, and campaign wins.