What we do:
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We are a regional network of non-partisan broad-based community alliances in Washington, Oregon, Montana, Canada, Australia and Aotearoa-New Zealand.

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Non-Partisan

IAF Pacific prides itself on being nonpartisan and pragmatic in its approach. The network does not endorse candidates or align with any political party.

 

Common Good

Instead, it focuses on issues and values that cut across typical partisan lines – like the dignity of work, access to healthcare, safe neighborhoods, and accountable governance.

 

Broad-based

Alliances deliberately include a broad spectrum of groups (e.g. business leaders alongside union workers, evangelical & Catholic churches alongside secular non-profits), finding common ground on community problems despite differing ideologies.

 

This broad-based, non-ideological stance is a conscious strategy to solve problems and build power with as many people as possible and to engage constructively with public officials of any stripe.

 

Our Values

At the same time, IAF Pacific’s work is values-driven. The organization often speaks in terms of justice, the common good, and human dignity.

 

Historically, IAF organizations have been known to push for practical changes. Sometimes these may be seen as “progressive” issues (e.g. living wages, affordable housing, supporting the prosperity and welfare of new migrants and affordable power bills, partnership with Indigenous groups and organizations).

Other times, our Alliances have also challenges 'NIMBY' red-tape that have restricted development of housing, opposed policies that entrench government dependence and worked to build prosperity through home ownership and support for small businesses.

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Whatever the issue, these efforts are expressed and valued through moral and community terms rather than left-right, party or ideological politics.

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The Training

The training curriculum emphasizes an analysis of power (“the world as it is”) and the need for ordinary people to organize to create “the world as it should be”. In practice, this means IAF Pacific might work with conservative rural congregations on one issue and urban progressives on another, as long as they share an interest in that particular change.

 

The nonpartisan posture helps the network build unusual coalitions – for example, uniting faith-based groups with labor unions and small businesses – and also lends credibility when lobbying policymakers (since they can’t be easily dismissed as an arm of one party).

 

IAF Pacific is ideologically pluralistic: its alliances are open to all who commit to working for the common good, and it navigates political divides by focusing on tangible community outcomes rather than party agendas.

 

Strengthening Democratic and Civic Life

 

Supporting democratic participation and vibrant civic life is at the heart of IAF Pacific’s work. The organization explicitly aims to “foster democracy” in an era when many feel disillusioned or powerless. One way it does this is by developing the leadership of everyday people – teaching citizens how to run meetings, speak publicly, conduct research, and effectively advocate for their interests. Over time, those trained leaders become school board members, neighborhood council chairs, or simply more active congregants, thereby renewing the fabric of local democracy.

 

Strong civic institutions are the foundations of our communities

IAF Pacific also strengthens civic institutions themselves.

 

By organizing institutions (rather than just individuals), the network reinforces churches, unions, non-profits, small business councils and other community groups as mediating structures that bring people together. This counters the trend of isolation and polarization by rebuilding relational ties.  The decline of such “mediating institutions” has contributed to a sense that democracy isn’t working – so our response is to reinvigorate those institutions through collective efforts.

 

In practice, member organizations often find that involvement in an IAF alliance increases their own engagement and membership. For example, a parish that joins an IAF coalition may see new leaders emerge who also reinvest energy in the parish’s mission,  “strengthening civic organizations while they act on their missions to achieve lasting change for their members”.

 

Concrete democracy

IAF Pacific’s campaigns yield concrete democratic gains. When an alliance presses a city council for an ordinance and wins, that is citizens exercising power in the public square. When hundreds turn out at a public assembly, it models a more participatory form of politics.

 

Many officials have noted that IAF-trained community leaders ask informed questions and hold them accountable in constructive ways. The network’s measure of success is not only policy wins but also “human flourishing in communities where human development is often devalued”, achieved through “new relationships overcoming racial, religious and socio-economic divisions” and “concrete victories that change communities for the better”.
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The Alliances create opportunities for people to connect and act powerfully and creatively as leaders – to bring about practical solutions to the challenges facing their families and communities.

The IAF Pacific is an affiliate of the Industrial Areas Foundation.

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