Naugatuck Valley Project

History and Mission Statement

The Naugatuck Valley Project is a regional organization of religious congregations and labor, tenant and small business organizations organized in 1983 to save and create jobs, affordable housing, critical public and private services in the Valley, one of the oldest and poorest industrial areas in the nation. The Project focuses on the development of the leadership qualities and organizing skills of scores of low and moderate income people as they engage in citizen action and democratic economic development campaigns. These activities have ranged from successful fights for community policing, immigrant services, retiree benefits, and job training and brownfield remediation programs, as well as successful campaigns to save and create jobs through employee buyouts, create affordable housing by developing a housing cooperative and a community land trust. Our mission is to build relationships among diverse groups around their shared values and help them organize to gain the power to put these values into action.

Delegate Assembly - May 31st, 2008 - see the flyer 

Strategies

NVP works to build a powerful regional network of member institutions capable of effecting change and bringing about tangible improvements in the quality of life in the Valley, especially for the poor and disenfranchised. We utilize two, mutually reinforcing strategies: 
community organizing, which trains grassroots leaders and can create a strong citizens’ organization to empower people, enhance democratic dialogue and influence public decision-making; and developing democratic economic institutions such as worker-owned companies, housing cooperatives and community land trusts, which can give communities a measure of control over ownership, resources and destiny.