Building an effective activist organization these days takes sophisticated financial skills and is attracting college graduates from schools of management, says Kesho Y. Scott, a Grinnell College professor of sociology and American studies who specializes in social movements.
Groups such as CCI are also becoming more aggressive, as immigration policy and predatory lending have become transnational issues and activists have shifted from education and consciousness-raising to agitation.
"As they mobilize and get people's voices heard, they get kickback from stakeholders, who don't allow them to protest or don't bring them to the table for meetings. That's why it appears they have taken a different tactic, and they have," she said. "It's the work of mobilization."
