Our Role | Congregation-Based Organizing | Rural Grassroots Organizing | Workforce Constituency Development

RCI’s role is to systematically identify and convene grassroots leaders for shared learning, nurture their skills, expand their knowledge base, and help them build their own organizational capacity for collaborative action. Through this process, underserved communities develop the strength necessary to both partner with mainstream institutions and hold them accountable to those being served. Equally important, highly literate leaders also hold tension with their own communities by both promoting and modeling responsibility in private and public life. This leadership is a necessary prerequisite for building a foundation of social capital in the Valley’s underserved communities that will allow them to seize the opportunities offered by mainstream institutions and a dynamic market economy. RCI identifies and develops leadership in three key areas: (1) congregations and faith-based organizations, (2) rural communities and associations, and (3) workforce constituencies.