Organizers from the Texas Organizing Project (TOP) have been working to change the balance of power in the county to ensure a more equitable distribution of disaster funding, so that the people most impacted by climate change have the most say in how that funding is spent.
This case study follows the Texas Organizing Project as it worked to build power and equity for working-class Black & Latino communities in greater Houston after Hurricane Harvey—ultimately implementing a winning 3-part inside-outside strategy.
"Water is — and always should be — a public good. Cutting corners and endangering the public to deliver profits for a private corporation is the height of greed and disregard for the people’s well-being."
All of us — people of color especially — need our government to invest public dollars into our housing, our climate, our care, and our water. Community organizing is key to these efforts and to our collective safety and liberation.
The Economic Democracy Project aims to highlight and develop strategies that Black and brown communities can use to build economic and political power—beginning with four case studies spotlighting community campaigns across the U.S.
This case study examines how community leaders forced the city of Pittsburgh to provide safe, accessible, and affordable water—and developed an accountability model in the process, by which ordinary people can oversee the public water utility.
