Comprehensive Advocacy for Low-Income African American Men and Their Communities (2010) 
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“Some Americans manage to beat the odds, but changing the odds will help even more.” (Blackwell, Kwoh, and Pastor, Uncommon Common Ground, 2010)
CFFPP uses “comprehensive advocacy” as a conceptual approach to our work. It stems from the fact that low-income African American men face some of the most dire life outcomes of any population in the U.S. (by measures of educational achievement and literacy, employment status and sustainability, rates of incarceration, political disenfranchisement, access to resources, healthcare, and housing) and that these outcomes are driven – at least in part – by historical, institutional, and structural processes that have excluded black men (and members of all communities of color) from the full promise of the American Dream.
Interventions that aim to improve outcomes often focus on the individual and, while such approaches may have a positive impact for some, such mechanisms do not aim to – and therefore cannot – interrupt the processes that create racial disparities in the first place. This explains why many ongoing efforts to intercede on behalf of individuals – which are important and necessary for the people they serve – have not resulted in marked improvements for the majority of black men.
Comprehensive advocacy promotes using a variety of advocacy approaches – individual, policy, and structural – working together to bring about lasting change for members of low-income communities of color. Individual choice and responsibility are obvious factors that contribute to life outcomes. However, for most low-income youth of color, individual effort will not be sufficient to overcome the barriers they face. Therefore, we call for systemic and structural changes that will result in commensurate outcomes for comparable effort. In other words, CFFPP advocates for dismantling the structural obstacles to opportunity and success that low-income communities of color face so that people are able to make their full and desired contributions to their families and communities.
African American men and women in low-income communities share overlapping needs, while simultaneously facing different challenges. It is our intent that a comprehensive advocacy campaign that takes into account past and present oppressions while supporting individuals and families will benefit not only black men, but will simultaneously improve conditions and life outcomes for all members of low-income communities of color.