Intersection of Community Organizing and Public Policy

The Woods Fund seeks to enable policy and social justice organizations to better understand that the political realities for system change are grounded in the context of the affected community, so that they might develop effective change strategies rooted in these understandings and increase their skills in translating local issues into systemic solutions. Further, believing that project outcomes for grantees in both Community Organizing and Public Policy program areas can be strengthened through an integrated approach, the Woods Fund particularly welcomes proposals that weave successfully the voices of less-advantaged individuals into the public policy arena and expands local organizing efforts to a broader geography.

More specifically the Woods Fund looks for:

• Strategies that build the capacity of community organizers and community organizing efforts to move beyond local issues and more purposefully address system and policy change at the city, region and state level.
  
  
• Public policy organizations' intentional involvement of affected communities and individuals in the identification of pertinent issues, the formulation of policy campaigns, engagement of elected officials and education of the public about these issues and legislative or administrative wins resulting from these campaigns.

The Woods Fund recognizes that community organizations and coalitions are at various stages of development and may need to build their capacities to achieve these objectives. To this end, the Woods Fund welcomes proposals from new and emerging, as well as established, community-based organizations and from temporary or permanent coalitions.

Organizations wishing to apply for a Woods Fund Intersection of Community Organizing and Public Policy grant should follow the Inquiry Form and Application Instructions.