The variety of strategies and activities of American community organizations is amazing.
Organizations provide services.
Many public organizations in America provide social services and humanitarian aid to American citizens. The 19th century American industrialist Andrew Carnegie established a foundation to open public libraries across the United States. A century later, this tradition was continued by Bill Gates, who founded the Gates Foundation to equip thousands of public libraries with computers and Internet access, making modern Internet technology available to millions of Americans. Other community organizations, such as the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army, focus their efforts on disaster relief and humanitarian aid. Such organizations are often supported by various church organizations across America. Providing victims of domestic violence with a variety of services and shelter, the National Domestic Violence Hotline is another example of an organization that provides assistance directly to citizens.
Community-based organizations engaged in expert analysis and research
The role of other community organizations is to provide expert analysis on major public policy issues. There are civil society organizations and think tanks that deal with a variety of issues, including foreign policy and the public life management system. The analysis carried out by American think tanks covers the entire range of policy issues. Right next door to the Carnegie Endowment in Washington is the Brookings Institution, which has been analyzing public policy issues for almost a century. The mission of the Institute for American Enterprise is “to expand individual freedom, personal prospects and strengthen free enterprise. The Institute embodies these enduring ideals through the development of independent thinking, open discussion, reasoned argument, facts, and the highest standards of research and description of findings.” The Cato Institute “upholds the principles of individual liberty, limitation of state power, free trade, and peace.” The Heritage Foundation sees its goal as a conservative public policy based on the principles of free enterprise, limitation of government power, individual liberty, traditional American values, and a strong national defense. The number of think tanks used to be small, but it has grown exponentially over the past three decades.
Community-based organizations for the protection of human rights
Community-based organizations are also being created to preserve what they consider to be Americans’ constitutional rights. For example, the National Rifle Association was created in 1871 to protect the right to own firearms and to provide firearms training for police and self-defense courses, improve firearms safety, improve shooting techniques, and promote hunting in the United States. Today, the National Rifle Association is better known as one of the main political forces advocating for reducing restrictions on gun ownership and defending Second Amendment rights under the U.S. Constitution. The Brady Center for the Prevention of Gun Violence, on the other hand, works to pass and enforce federal, state laws, regulations and public policies that would ensure stricter control over gun use and ownership. Both of these organizations, along with thousands of other civic organizations, play an important role in the gun control debate that is currently underway in the United States following the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut late last year.
Many civil society organizations, especially those that advocate for civil liberties, are devoting a great deal of attention to criticizing our authorities. The American Civil Liberties Union is a prime example. Its purpose is to defend and preserve individual rights and freedoms as enshrined in the U.S. Constitution and U.S. law. Every day the ACLU works with the courts, legislatures and the public to protect and preserve individual rights and freedoms.
Civil Society Organizations Monitoring Governmental Practices
NGOs in the U.S. monitor elections and the fulfillment of campaign promises, conduct investigations and expose corruption, and actively advocate on behalf of national minorities. One function of NGOs is court monitoring, where U.S. citizens monitor decisions.
For example, WATCH, a Minnesota NGO, describes its purpose as improving the efficiency and responsiveness of the court system in cases of violence against women and children. The organization is a member of the National Association of Judicial Monitoring Programs, which provides training and materials to organizations in various states. Because the U.S. Constitution guarantees openness of the courts to the public, members of community-based organizations that monitor the courts have no difficulty gaining access to the courts and observing what is happening in a court case.
Public organizations defending the interests of their members and the public before the authorities
Another common activity for civic organizations is to advocate for the interests of people in their constituencies in institutions, legislative and electoral bodies at all levels of government. Large civic organizations use their voter mobilization and fundraising capabilities to influence policy. For example, the American Association of Retired Persons, a non-profit, non-governmental organization for people of retirement age. It has 37 million members. The association informs its members about legislation affecting their retirement living conditions, such as health care, Social Security and pension laws. The organization also advocates for its members with service companies, helping them get discounts based on their limited retirement budgets, and provides services such as retirement plans. It also lobbies state and national governments on the issues its members care most about, such as health care and health insurance laws. According to the association’s 2011 annual report, the organization encouraged its members to reach out to their representatives in Congress during the deficit-reduction budget debate there. More than 8 million members sent letters, e-mails, made phone calls and signed petitions demanding that Congress not cut individual welfare benefits in the final version of the state budget. In this way, community organizations are able to influence policy by shaping public debate on issues of public interest.
MomsRising is another example of this type of community organization. I know MomsRising well because my wife Donna Norton helped found the organization, which now has over a million members. MomsRising seeks to increase the economic security of families and end discrimination against women and mothers. MomsRising focuses its efforts on organizing grassroots action from below to lobby lawmakers and amplify women’s voices in the national media. When we lived in the United States, Donna regularly went to Capitol Hill to talk to members of Congress about paramount maternal issues and concerns: affordable health care, parental leave, child welfare, flexible work schedules and equal pay. She relayed appeals and real-life stories directly to elected officials. CBOs can check to see if elected leaders are hearing their voices and the opinions of their constituencies. A civic organization is able to provide this important service to its members who live in different parts of the country and have no opportunity to come to Congress in person.