City Life/Vida Urbana is a grassroots community organization committed to fighting for racial, social and economic justice and gender equality by building working class power. We promote individual empowerment, develop community leaders and build collective power to effect systemic change and transform society. Anti-Displacement Organizing For over forty years, City Life/Vida Urbana has organized communities against the forces that fuel displacement in our city. We believe that the right to housing is a basic human right, and that prioritizing the needs of people is more important than the needs of profit-making institutions. We organize homeowners facing foreclosure after predatory lending and tenants facing rent increases/ building clearouts, into collective associations and networks that successfully: negotiate affordable rental contracts with landlords and affordable loan modifications with foreclosing banks; gain community control of housing through post-foreclosure buybacks and nonprofit rental acquisitions; and create public awareness and action to win policy change. Leadership Development and Political Education By maintaining an active and aggressive grassroots effort through direct action organizing, we promote the ongoing education of future leaders in the social justice movement. We believe that by linking action to reflection, and encouraging a long-term commitment to holistic development of poor and working people, we are able to build a stronger, more sustainable movement for social change. Coalition/Movement Organizing We believe that by building, convening, and participating in coalitions and strategic partners, we are able to more effectively mobilize and organize a mass movement for social change. We belong to the national and local Boston-area Right to the City Networks