Community Organizing
Canal Alliance is committed to ensuring that the voices and opinions of those who are often left out of important conversations and decisions are heard and respected. Yet in our experience, the traditional community organizing approach to advocacy – which involves in-person meetings and events – often fails to provide an opportunity for low-income communities to join in on the equity conversation.
For residents of low-income communities such as the Canal, many of whom work two and three jobs and face many barriers to inclusion, participating in meetings that use traditional structures to solve social problems is an almost impossible task. As a result, residents’ voices are not heard, and decisions that impact them do not include their perspectives or opinions.
We are committed to offering innovative opportunities for community members to access information and engage in conversations, discussions and decisions that impact them.
Mobile App
In 2019, Canal Alliance launched our mobile app to support our expanding organizing and advocacy efforts. This tool provides an effective and easy-to-access method to share information, collect opinions and organize community members around local issues.
Download the bilingual app today for Apple and Android.
Voces de Canal
Canal Alliance supports community leaders who have been working diligently to bring their vision of the Canal community to reality.
In 2014, a coalition of resident leaders from the Canal, in partnership with Dominican University, Canal Alliance, and Data Center, developed the following vision for the community, which included recommendations and strategies to promote community development and revitalization:
Ten years from today, we envision the Canal as a safe, clean, and healthy community where families and children can walk and play freely. Families will live in safe and better housing conditions. Our children will have access to resources and quality education that supports their pathway to higher education. Our cultural values and ethnic heritage will be respected and families will be treated as equal partners working together with local agencies, police, schools, and community institutions to develop joint solutions. Our community of resilience will empower families to fulfill their full potential and live a safe, healthy, thriving quality of life.
Download the 2014 Voces del Canal Report today.
Civic Empowerment
Join us in building the next generation of leaders! Each spring, Canal Alliance leads a delegation of high school and college students to engage in direct lobbying and advocacy at the California State Capitol with CIPC’s Immigrant Day Initiative.
In 2020, we’re proud to bring this next generation of leaders to represent Marin at the UnidosUS Changemakers Summit in Washington, D.C.
