James V. Cunningham

Jim Cunningham was born in Chicago where he did political and neighborhood development organizing in the 1950s, before moving to Pittsburgh whose neighborhood people were in 1959 beginning to participate in the city's renewal effort. As an organizer for ACTION-Housing he assisted neighborhood people to build organizations that gave them a voice in decisions which affected their lives. Pittsburgh issues then as now were race, jobs and who makes the public decisions that impact on families and small communities. After working for seven years with residents and their allies he began to teach community organizing at the School of Social Work of the University of Pittsburgh.

He helped to create a masters program built on 50% time in field experience and 50% in academic studies, which drew a steady stream of students from the U.S. and abroad. Along the route he published four books including The Resurgent Neighborhood (Fides,1965), Urban Leadership During the Sixties (Brandeis,1970), A New Public Policy for Neighborhood Preservation (Praeger,1979, co-authored with Roger Ahlbrandt), and Building Neighborhood Organizations (Notre Dame,1983, co-authored with Milton Kotler).

Jim retired from full-time teaching in 1997 and continues to teach part-time, and to write, while serving as a volunteer with the Race and Reconciliation Dialogue Group of St.Paul Cathedral Parish, and with the Living Wage Campaign for the Pittsburgh region.

Jim Cunningham was born in Chicago where he did political and neighborhood development organizing in the 1950s, before moving to Pittsburgh whose neighborhood people were in 1959 beginning to participate in the city's renewal effort. As an organizer for ACTION-Housing he assisted neighborhood people to build organizations that gave them a voice in decisions which affected their lives. Pittsburgh issues then as now were race, jobs and who makes the public decisions that impact on families and small communities. After working for seven years with residents and their allies he began to teach community organizing at the School of Social Work of the University of Pittsburgh.

He helped to create a masters program built on 50% time in field experience and 50% in academic studies, which drew a steady stream of students from the U.S. and abroad. Along the route he published four books including The Resurgent Neighborhood (Fides,1965), Urban Leadership During the Sixties (Brandeis,1970), A New Public Policy for Neighborhood Preservation (Praeger,1979, co-authored with Roger Ahlbrandt), and Building Neighborhood Organizations (Notre Dame,1983, co-authored with Milton Kotler).

Jim retired from full-time teaching in 1997 and continues to teach part-time, and to write, while serving as a volunteer with the Race and Reconciliation Dialogue Group of St.Paul Cathedral Parish, and with the Living Wage Campaign for the Pittsburgh region.