Where Are the Resources? Where Are the Leaders?

Recently, I have been working on some ideas that have been swirling around in my head. As part of my basic research, I did a simple Google search for black community development organizations that are nationwide. The results were abysmal; most of the pages that showed up were articles or pages of loosely related content. Ok, so maybe my search was too broad, so I keyed in a search for Black Community Developers. One reliable source came up and that was small development company that specific to the city of Little Rock in Arkansas. So what is the big deal you may ask?

Well.....

Let's take a look at our communities; those communities in major cities that are overlooked, neglected, and downtrodden are generally majority minority communities that are lacking the resources that they need to strive. Now, let's think back to the Civil Rights Era and the organizations that existed with the sole purpose of fighting for equality; the NAACP, the National Urban League, Congress of Racial Equality, Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, National Council of Negro Women, and other local and regional organizations all existed with the purpose of seeking a better way of life for minorities. So today, in 2010, what organizations are in the national limelight that are actively fighting for better communities for minorities? What organization is taking strides in promoting healthy, livable, walkable, sustainable, and just communities across the country? Better yet, what leader(s) are tackling these issues? What leaders do our communities have on the Martin Luther King/DuBois level?

What is it going to take to get back to that level of activism?