David Beckwith is a native of New Hampshire who began his career as a community organizer in 1971 in Providence, Rhode Island. Over the next ten years he worked in numerous capacities such as organizing, fundraising, consulting, recruiting and training, for neighborhood organizations in both Providence and Washington, D.C. From 1981 until 1988 he served as Director of the East Toledo Community Organization (ETCO) in Ohio.
Beckwith worked for the Center for Community Change from 1988 to 2002. In this capacity he acted as consultant and trainer for numerous partner organizations, most but not all in the Toledo area. Some notable Center initiatives are: The Housing Trust Fund Project, the Transportation Equity Network and the Jobs and Economic Development Initiative (JEDI). Beckwith and the Center provided partner organizations with extensive resources and training in community organization, economic development, transportation, jobs and fundraising.
He served as the Executive Director of the Needmor Fund, a family foundation based in Toledo, Ohio that is committed to funding grassroots organizing for social justice, from 2011 until his retirement on January 1, 2013.
According to its mission statement the Center for Community Change "strengthens, connects and mobilizes grassroots groups to enhance their leadership, voice and power." Inspired by the work of Bobby Kennedy, the organization was formed in 1968 to assist low-income people and communities.
The material in this collection reflects a philosophy of community organizing that evolved under what John McKnight and John Kretzmann call "a post-Alinsky agenda." In the 1940s organizer Saul Alinsky envisioned an "organization of organizations" model, where local affinities banded together to challenge an "enemy" which was visible, local and capable of correcting the particular problem under consideration. Chicago's Back of the Yards Neighborhood Council, founded in part by Alinsky in 1939, marshaled the leadership of the various neighborhood enclaves into an organization that represented their collective interests; as such, the Council successfully secured "WPA dollars for the neighborhood and [created] a school lunch program that became a model for the nation" (BYNC website).
The conservative 1980s saw the relocation of political and economic power away from the local sphere and a corresponding decline in labor union and church membership, both of which had been traditional staging grounds for community dissent. Instead of marshalling existing local affiliations, organizers needed to "stress an organizing process that enhances and builds community rather than assuming it." No longer were neighborhoods viewed solely as consumers; an equal emphasis was placed on their capacities as centers of production.
One result was the growth of the Community Development Corporation, or CDC, which exemplified the "reconceptualization of the neighborhood as a locus for production as well as for consumption" (McKnight and Kretzmann). The disappearance of the local bank meant that the local credit market disappeared, as well, and this development affected housing availability. "Community development corporations are typically neighborhood-based, 501(c)3 non-profit corporations, with a board composed of at least one-third community residents, that promote the improvement of the physical and social infrastructures in neighborhoods with populations significantly below the area median income," according to the University of Maryland's Democracy Collaborative.
There are no restrictions on access with the exception of 7 folders which provide personal information about people seeking employment and performance evaluations. The collection can only be seen by prior appointment. Some materials may be stored off-site and cannot be produced on the same day on which they are requested.
Although Brown University has physical ownership of the collection and the materials contained therein, it does not claim literary rights. Researchers should note that compliance with copyright law is their responsibility. Researchers must determine the owners of the literary rights and obtain any necessary permissions from them.
David Beckwith papers, Ms. 2010.010, Brown University Library.
The David Beckwith papers comprise correspondence, training materials, records and publications that cover all aspects of community organizing, including the management and fundraising practices of individual organizations. The bulk of the material dates from 1980 to 1999, when Beckwith worked as a community organizing specialist with the Center for Community Change (CCC), a national non-profit social justice organization committed to the empowerment of low-income people. The content reflects the Center's mission of training local groups and individuals as advocates for a wide variety of fundamental community needs such as equitable housing, job creation and transportation.
The papers are organized into the following five series:
Series 1. David Beckwith personal papers
Series 2. Center for Community Change records
Series 3. Community Organizing training materials and policy papers
Series 4. Advocacy Organizations: Records and publications of various partner community organizations
Series 5. Counter-culture newsletters and monographs from the late 1960s and early 1970s
Donated by David Beckwith on 10 March 2009. Six additional record center boxes donated to the collection by David Beckwith in 2013.
See also Series 3, Community organizing (Box 5, folder 10 to Box 10, folder 15; Box 23, folders 7 to 14)
See also Series 2, Center for Community Change, Papers on organizing subseries (Box 5, folder 3 to Box 5, folder 8; Box 10, folders 13 to 15)