Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (U.S.)

The Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO) is an interdenominational "parachurch" agency, created in late 1966 to open lines of comunication between mainstream American churches and disenfranchised minority communities in the United States. Founded by nine religious groups and one foundation, IFCO initially included only one representative from a minority community on its board. By the mid 1970s, IFCO had developed into the largest minority-controlled foundation in the country.

Established by the Board of National Missions of the United Presbyterian Church as an autonomous agency, IFCO was charged with finding solutions to the problems that cause poverty through community and economic development, training in community organizing and cooperative programs in areas where disadvantaged minorities lived. Funding of projects affecting the black community became the foundation's top priority, followed by assistance to Native American and Mexican American communities.

From the beginning IFCO was embroiled in controversy over its funding of community groups involved in militant and protest activities. The most well-known controversy was over IFCO's sponsorship of the National Black Economic Development Conference (NBEDC) in Detroit in April 1969. It was at this conference that James Forman, head of the Congress for Racial Equality (CORE), first proclaimed the "Black Manifesto," demanding $500 million in reparations from America's white churches and synagogues to be used to address problems in the inner cities. Other controversial groups IFCO supported included the American Indian Movement; the Committee for a Unified Newark and JIHAD Productions in Newark, New Jersey (founded by poet and radical activist Amiri Baraka); Cesar Chavez' United Farm Workers Union; the Woodlawn Organization, Chicago, Illinois; films in support of the revolutions in Angola and Mozambique; the militant National Welfare Rights Organization; and the United Command of Zimbabwe African Peoples Union.

IFCO established several organizations and training institutes, at both the regional and national level in this country and in Africa. Regionally, IFCO spearheaded efforts to develop a coalition of churches, other religious bodies, and community organizations in Ohio and Michigan, called the Michigan-Ohio Community Organization Council. IFCO was also instrumental in the formation of the Black United Fund.

IFCO's international program included the Community Organizers Training Institute (COTI), renamed the Amilcar Cabral Institute in 1973, which was the major educational component of the international program. The Cabral Institute consisted of five programs designed to train minority individuals for leadership and staff positions in community organizations, train seminarians in community organizing, and establish Black United Funds. IFCO also developed the Relief for Africans in Need in the Sahel (RAINS), a coalition of concerned black individuals and organizations that attempted to secure immediate relief for the drought-striken countries of the African Sahel.

From the description of Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization records, 1966-1984. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122625927

The Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO) is an interdenominational "parachurch" agency, created in late 1966 to open lines of comunication between mainstream American churches and disenfranchised minority communities in the United States. Founded by nine religious groups and one foundation, IFCO initially included only one representative from a minority community on its board. By the mid 1970s, IFCO had developed into the largest minority-controlled foundation in the country.

Established by the Board of National Missions of the United Presbyterian Church as an autonomous agency, IFCO was charged with finding solutions to the problems that cause poverty through community and economic development, training in community organizing and cooperative programs in areas where disadvantaged minorities lived. Funding of projects affecting the black community became the foundation's top priority, followed by assistance to Native American and Mexican American communities.

From the beginning IFCO was embroiled in controversy over its funding of community groups involved in militant and protest activities. The most well-known controversy was over IFCO's sponsorship of the National Black Economic Development Conference (NBEDC) in Detroit in April 1969. It was at this conference that James Forman, head of the Congress for Racial Equality (CORE), first proclaimed the "Black Manifesto," demanding $500 million in reparations from America's white churches and synagogues to be used to address problems in the inner cities. Other controversial groups IFCO supported included the American Indian Movement; the Committee for a Unified Newark and JIHAD Productions in Newark, New Jersey (founded by poet and radical activist Amiri Baraka); Cesar Chavez' United Farm Workers Union; the Woodlawn Organization, Chicago, Illinois; films in support of the revolutions in Angola and Mozambique; the militant National Welfare Rights Organization; and the United Command of Zimbabwe African Peoples Union.

IFCO established several organizations and training institutes, at both the regional and national level in this country and in Africa. Regionally, IFCO spearheaded efforts to develop a coalition of churches, other religious bodies, and community organizations in Ohio and Michigan, called the Michigan-Ohio Community Organization Council. IFCO was also instrumental in the formation of the Black United Fund.

IFCO's international program included the Community Organizers Training Institute (COTI), renamed the Amilcar Cabral Institute in 1973, which was the major educational component of the international program. The Cabral Institute consisted of five programs designed to train minority individuals for leadership and staff positions in community organizations, train seminarians in community organizing, and establish Black United Funds. IFCO also developed the Relief for Africans in Need in the Sahel (RAINS), a coalition of concerned black individuals and organizations that attempted to secure immediate relief for the drought-striken countries of the African Sahel.

From the guide to the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization records, 1966-1984, (The New York Public Library. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division.)