COMMUNITY ACTIVISM IN OAK PARK: COMPETING AGENDAS ...

interests and perspectives on gentrification often present complex challenges (Boyd
2005:265).
Over the past three decades “the particularities of neighborhoods and cities have
shaped activist strategies in various U.S. cities” (Paris 2001:33). In large cities, middle-
class political activists rally to attain healthcare benefits and low-income laborers rally
for increased wages. Middle-class residents living in low-income urban neighborhoods
have implemented revitalization projects to improve their neighborhoods; women living
in low-income and ethnically diverse neighborhoods have unified their efforts to help
women and their children attain social mobility; teachers have conducted outreach to
their student’s parents to encourage them to be active participants; church members have
created food closets for the homeless; and labor activists have organized the poor.
Each of these efforts is fueled by a belief that there is a social problem that needs
to be addressed if conditions of poverty are to be improved. But each group has a
different perspective of what a social problem is and how to address it. These diverse
perspectives regarding how to facilitate community change can be seen in the types of
community work performed by residents. Different ideas of social change are thus
revealed in the work of community groups, non-profit organizations, and grassroots
projects, which are largely formed of middle-class residents. Nachmias and Palen
(1982:180) explain that researchers “are only beginning to clearly distinguish between
areas undergoing upper-middle-class gentrification and those working-class areas
experiencing incumbent upgrading.” Nachmias and Palen further claim that very little is
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