What do we do?
Right To The City is a diverse movement-building alliance organized into geographical regions, thematic working groups, resource allies and a national center. The backbone of the Right to the City Alliance is comprised of dozens of community-based organizations which organize thousands of RTTC constituents for urban justice and democracy every day.
As of October 2008, Right to the City includes more than forty member organizations and resource allies in seven states and more than a dozen local jurisdictions. Members are organized in regional Right to the City networks, which currently include: Boston/Providence, DC/Northern Virginia, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York, and San Francisco/Oakland.
Each regional network of RTTC member organizations and allies meets regularly to collaborate on regional and national issues.
RTTC members and resource allies also participate in thematic working groups which offer a vehicle for innovative, cross-regional and national collaboration, sectoral investigation, movement building and organizing. RTTC’s current working groups include:
Civic Engagement – creating a national learning community and infrastructure to move from voter mobilizing to voter organizing; focusing on voting as an important tactic when integrated with our local, regional and national strategies for progressive social change.
NOLA – developing the New Orleans Right to the City region; creating a program of peer support and technical assistance to New Orleans organizations; and building national support for a just reclamation in the Gulf Coast.
Public and Subsidized Housing – creating a new vision and national agenda for public and subsidized housing in the United States.
Tenants Rights – sharing tenant organizing strategies and elevating the role of tenants as majority stakeholders in major urban centers across the country.
Finally, RTTC is supported by a range of resource allies, including researchers, lawyers, academics, movement strategists, and funders. Resource allies provide key technical, research, legal, communications, and funding support to the diverse local, regional, and national elements of the alliance.
What are we for?
We believe the right to the city is the right for all people to produce the living conditions that meet their needs based on these principles:
Land for People vs. Land for Speculation
The right to land and housing that is free from market speculation and that serves the interests of community building, sustainable economies, and cultural and political space.
Land Ownership
The right to permanent public ownership of urban territories for public use.
Economic Justice
The right of working class communities of color, women, queer and transgender people to an economy that serves their interests.
Indigenous Justice
The right of First Nation indigenous people to their ancestral lands that have historical or spiritual significance, regardless of state borders and urban or rural settings.
Environmental Justice
The right to sustainable and healthy neighborhoods & workplaces, healing, quality health care, and reparations for the legacy of toxic abuses such as brown fields, cancer clusters, and superfund sites.
Freedom from Police & State Harassment
The right to safe neighborhoods and protection from police, INS/ICE, and vigilante repression which has historically targeted communities of color, women, queer and transgender people.
Immigrant Justice
The right of equal access to housing, employment, and public services regardless of race, ethnicity, and immigration status and without the threat of deportation by landlords, ICE, or employers.
Services and Community Institutions
The right of working class communities of color to transportation, infrastructure and services that reflect and support their cultural and social integrity.
Democracy and Participation
The right of community control and decision making over the planning and governance of the cities where we live and work, with full transparency and accountability, including the right to public information without interrogation.
Reparations
The right of working class communities of color to economic reciprocity and restoration from all local, national and transnational institutions that have exploited and/or displaced the local economy.
Internationalism
The right to support and build solidarity between cities across national boundaries, without state intervention.
Rural Justice
The right of rural people to economically healthy and stable communities that are protected from environmental degradation and economic pressures that force migration to urban areas.
In Brief
Right to the City is a national alliance of membership-based organizations and allies organizing to build a united response to gentrification and displacement in our cities. Our goal is to build a national urban movement for housing, education, health, racial justice and democracy. We are building our power through strengthening local organizing; cross-regional collaboration; developing a national platform; and supporting community reclamation in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.