Organizing DNA: How Neighborhood-Level Power Drives Today’s Movements

Eighth Annual Nowak Memorial Lecture 

Organizing DNA: How Neighborhood-Level Power Drives Today’s Movements

Jeremy Nowak began his career as a community organizer, known for his ability to build power at the neighborhood and block level to achieve larger-scale change. His work was rooted in deep listening, relationship‑building, and the belief that ordinary people could transform their communities when given the tools to act. The practices he championed continue to shape organizers and campaigns today.

A recent New Yorker article explored the effectiveness of creating broad-based coalitions of independent, and often pluralistic units to drive change. Hyper local organizing allows for numerous leaders to emerge, build networks, and train others — an approach that is both energizing and accessible.

Today’s immigrant justice and community protection efforts draw on the same organizing DNA that Jeremy helped cultivate: local leadership, community ownership, and collective action rooted in trust. We’ve seen news coverage of effective community organizing in Minneapolis, Chicago, DC, and LA – and many similar efforts are gaining momentum in cities across the U.S., including in Jeremy’s hometown of Philadelphia.

This session will explore how Jeremy’s legacy lives on in current movements, and how his methods and insights remain relevant continue to the work of organizers today.

This lecture series aims to highlight Jeremy Nowak’s enduring work to integrate public, private, and non-profit expertise to achieve collective urban prosperity, giving students and professionals the opportunity to hear from experts on topics that manifest the connections between the academic and the applied aspects of urban development.

The speakers for this event are:

• Daniel Betancourt, President and CEO of Finanta
• Jasmine Rivera, Executive Director at the Pennsylvania Immigration Coalition
• Senator Nikil Saval, 1st Senatorial District, Pennsylvania General Assembly
• Martin Trimble, who is National Co-Director of Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF). 

The event will be moderated by Emily Dowdall, who is the President of Policy Solutions at Reinvestment Fund. 

This lecture is organized by Penn IUR Fellow Ira Goldstein on behalf of the Reinvestment Fund with Penn IUR.

About the Jeremy Nowak Memorial Lecture Series

The Jeremy Nowak Memorial Lecture series honors the late visionary urbanist Penn IUR advisory board member and Jeremy Nowak, who worked tirelessly to create equitable communities. As leader of the Reinvestment Fund from 1985 to 2011, Nowak reimagined what it means to organize people, capital, data, and capacity in service of a more equitable future.

The Nowak Memorial Lecture series aims to highlight Nowak’s enduring work to integrate public, private, and non-profit expertise to achieve collective urban prosperity. For a list of previous lectures and topics, please visit https://penniur.upenn.edu/events.