Barney Frank Quotes

What makes community organizing especially attractive is the faith it places in the ability of the poor to make decisions for themselves.

There are many ways of encouraging people to make life better other than joining a political party. Politics with a small 'p' isn't just about darkened committee rooms, endless meetings - it is about giving people the right to make decisions about our lives.

Maximum Feasible Participation of the Poor

My theory of change is that there are already millions of people working day in and day out on the ground to deliver on promises on global change. We need to strengthen those institutions and help those people in the field.

I know that government doesn't have the all solutions that real solutions do not come from the top down. Instead, the ways to end poverty come from all of us. We are part of the solution.

Changes to parliamentary procedure won't transform the lives of the people whom I represent. Decentralising, devolving decision-making and renewing civil society will.

It's important to be active in the causes that are important to you... That's how we make changes in this world.

The cooperation of government at its different levels is important and can only be achieved as long as the people of Chicago are directly involved in our efforts and supportive of our goals.

The only way we are going to ameliorate pressing social needs is through public intervention.

As a girl who was raised on the idea that we should give back to our community as much as possible, I believe that we have more power than we think when it comes to making change.

I love being a part of something that is grassroots, and you can see the actual changes, the effect of what people do.

Politics is not a spectator sport. You can't just sit on the sidelines.

If you believe in making change from the bottom up, if you believe the measure of change is how many people's lives are better, you know it's hard, and some people think it's boring.

Your job is to inspire people from your neighborhood to get out.

Trying to learn from communities and engage with policy makers and community organizers all across the country is really important to me.

I really believe you've gotta put the power in the people. They're the ones who are gonna make the experience.

One of my philosophies is that citizens are the mayor... so we have citizens play an integral role in making policies and implementing them.

The voices of the residents of Flint did not get heard by people that were making decisions and I think that's the most important thing. I want to make sure those voices are answered in the future.

After I returned from Oxford, I spent 5-6 years in a village in Madhya Pradesh - 25 km. outside Bhopal - along with a group of people working with the communities. But, over time, we realised that there were just too many constraints, and for ordinary citizens to be the change agent was not that easy.

There are enough people who are starting to be actively involved that we can turn things around. And we need to encourage others to become involved.

No matter what the issues are, it has to be handled at the grassroots. When you take part in something, even though that movement may lose, the juices start flowing and you feel you count. You count. Well, that's pretty important.

People need to believe that they can participate fully in the decisions that affect their lives and have a stake in the societies in which they live

every individual can make a difference ... if we continue to leave decision making to the so-called decision makers, things will never change.

It seems self-evident that we should want people to be free, to be able to play an active part in making decisions about matters of concern to them, to the largest possible extent.

Learn from the people. Plan with the people. Begin with what they have. Build on what they know.