Neighbor Power: Building Community the Seattle Way

by Jim Diers

Building on the lessons of early labor leaders, civil rights volunteers, and political activists, Jim Diers has developed his own models and successful strategies for community development. Neighbor Power chronicles his involvement with Seattle’s communities. This book not only gives hope that participatory democracy is possible, but it offers practical applications and invaluable lessons for ordinary, caring citizens who want to make a difference. It also provides government officials with inspiring stories and proven programs to help them embrace citizen activists as true partners.

Diers’s experience is extensive. He began as a community organizer in 1976, then moved on to help establish and staff a system of consumer-elected medical center councils. This led him to Seattle city government, where he served under three mayors as the first director of the Department of Neighborhoods, recognized as the national leader in such efforts.

In the 1990s, Jim Diers helped Seattle neighborhoods face challenges ranging from gang violence to urban growth. The Neighborhood Matching Fund grew to support over 400 community self-help projects each year while a community-driven planning process involved 30,000 people. Diers provides evidence that productive community life is thriving, not just in Seattle, Washington, but in towns and cities across the globe. Both practical and inspiring, Neighbor Power offers real-life examples of how to build active, creative neighborhoods and enjoy the rich results of community empowerment.

Genres: Nonfiction

216 pages, Paperback

First published December 31, 2004

Reviews

[Tony Crispin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jim Diers is now one of my personal GOATs.

I really loved this book. It dives very specifically into the case study of Seattle and how homeboy Jim was able to fight the wicked establishment from within and start getting people to work together and make locally unique projects.

I think what was so special about this book for me is that it put so many of the theories and abstract ideas of togetherness and urban planning/community organizing into actual practice. It is such a strong example of these ideas not just being academic niceties but real, pragmatic methods for creating actual change. The book is a bit old at this point and really only covers about ten years of Seattle's history, but on god this is a banger. What's sad is that no one in the world seems to give a shit about this book. I'm only the fifth review on Goodreads. I choose to believe that one day the people will wake up.

[skye · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent stories of bringing community organizing into city government in Seattle. The first chapter (a literature review) is pretty disjointed from the rest, but once I got to the stories it was a page-turner. Reminiscent of Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals," a few decades later and integrated with city government. I was pretty surprised at Diers' commitment to social justice, diversity, etc, since all I knew was he headed up the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods -- i.e., The Man. Turns out he was pretty anti-Man after all.

Excellent background to Seattle politics, especially neighborhood-level -- very relevant to my current work!

[Keith · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jim Diers was integrally involved in twenty years of Seattle's community projects. This experiential strength, though, constrains his book. Roughly a third of the book's 175 pages are tied up with page long "case studies". A great deal of the remaining parts are filled with anecdotes and praise for other community leaders.

Certainly, I learned some things but I walk away from this book wishing I'd read one of the books he praises rather than his own.

[Anne-Marie P · Rating 5 out of 5]

OK, so I read this for work, and am about to read it again ... because it's an awesome and inspiring read! Jim writes about neighbors across Seattle doing extraordinary things, and the city's work to establish grants to support their work.

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book. A bit dry in places, but not for long. Interesting stories and quite amazing to think about over 20 years of layers of neighbourhood projects. It would be very interesting to see that - or a version of that - here.