The InterValley Project
The InterValley Project is the cooperative organizing network of the
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Naugatuck Valley Project in Connecticut, organized in 1983
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Merrimack Valley Project in Massachusetts, organized in 1989
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Rhode Island Organizing Project in Rhode Island, organized in 1993
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Pioneer Valley Project in Massachusetts, organized in 1994
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Granite State Organizing Project in New Hampshire, organized in 2002
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Kennebec Valley Organization, joined in March 2004
These organizations are patterned after the model pioneered by the Naugatuck Valley Project, which combines citizen action organizing and democratic economic development -- worker-owned companies, cooperative housing, community land trusts -- in regional organizations of congregations, labor union locals, tenant, community, and small business groups.
Collectively, IVP organizations have combined to help save over 3,800 jobs and to train more than 1,000 workers for jobs with good wages and benefits; to win millions of dollars in public-service and development dollars for higher coverage in police and firefighting, immigrant assistance, and environmental protection; and to create over 250 units of democratically-owned affordable housing, a community land trust, and a number of worker-owned firms. They have helped train many hundreds of leaders in organizing and leadership skills, and have facilitated thousands of relationships among members of diverse communities within the regions they serve.
