Communities Organized for Public Service (C.O.P.S.) is an organization of 26 parishes in the predominantly Hispanic, low-income West Side and South Side of San Antonio, TX. Founded in 1974, it is the oldest of the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) organizations in Texas and, indeed, in the entire national network. The Metro Alliance, which shares office space and many resources with C.O.P.S., formed in 1989 through a merger of the East Side Alliance, composed of African American and Hispanic low- and lower-middle income churches, and the Metropolitan Congregational Alliance. The latter organized in 1982 and included South, Central, and Northwest area Anglo and Hispanic Protestant and Catholic lower-middle and middle-income churches.

C.O.P.S. and Metro Alliance are a coalition of over 70 congregations, schools, and unions working together to effectively act on behalf of families. C.O.P.S. and Metro Alliance work within each of these institutions to identify a diverse, broad-based leadership that can connect to each other in new ways in order to act effectively on behalf of children, families, and neighborhoods. By learning to work together for the public good, C.O.P.S. and Metro Alliance leaders are able to work with the business community and elected officials to make San Antonio a better place for families. The poorest areas of San Antonio have received hundreds of millions of dollars in capital improvements – housing, streets, drainage, education, job training as a result of these efforts. The relationships that leaders develop and foster within their institutions and among leaders from the racially, ethnically, and religiously diverse institutions that comprise these organizations are the foundation of broad-based community organizing. [source: History of C.O.P.S.] [Local News Article]

Sister Fran Trochta, CDP, (pictured) represents the Sisters of Divine Providence who have been members of C.O.P.S./Metro Alliance since its inception. She shares several thoughts on why she is involved. She frames her thoughts in a context that is broader than simple, personal observations.

“The first context is a line attributed to Abraham Lincoln and reads, ‘He has a right to criticize who has the heart to help.’ I translate this to read, ‘I have a right to criticize only if I have the heart to help.’ There was certainly much to criticize over forty years ago when the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) came to San Antonio to begin C.O.P.S. Many issues needed to be addressed. The key to addressing those needs were the folks who recognized the needs and who were not willing to passively sit back and criticize, but, with heart and generosity, were willing to help. During the meetings in which I have participated I have heard not criticism, but only a focus on issues of importance. And, this, from a group of people who have every RIGHT to criticize according to Lincoln, given the heart they have to help.

“A second context comes from an experience I had during a meeting in which the group was engaged in reading and discussing The Declaration of Independence in its entirety. The document included a lengthy list of grievances, not just the first few lines familiar to many of us. My guess is that when C.O.P.S. began, the people involved also had a list of vital issues on which their grievances were based and that were just as important. What struck me, when reflecting on this after the meeting, was the realization that for the past forty plus years, members of C.O.P.S./Metro have been exercising one of our four basic rights listed in The Constitution Of The United States in a significant way. I refer to our right to freedom of speech, used by members of C.O.P.S./ Metro Alliance in civic and political arenas to address present day grievances. I am amazed when I think of the good that has been accomplished through the exercise of this particular expression of our right to freedom of speech.

“The last context goes back forty plus years ago when I received a hand-printed card from a friend that ended with the line: ‘May the unrest of Christ be with you always.’ In remembering this recently, I instinctively thought of the people in C.O.P.S./Metro Alliance. I see the unrest of Christ continuing in our city and our world today whenever and wherever inequality and injustice are experienced. This reality is one that I believe has rooted itself in the hearts of those involved in C.O.P.S./Metro Alliance and that has gripped them to the point of having the freedom and the courage to claim their authority to speak and to act to address the unrest of Christ that has settled in their own hearts.

“I can only express deep respect and admiration for those who have shouldered this work over the past forty plus years, and I pray having both justice and compassion in mind: ‘Prosper the work of our hands (and hearts), O Lord, prosper the work of our hands.’” (Psalm 90).

Sister Fran Trochta’s words ring true to the efforts of organized hearts who came together more than forty years ago, placing the needs of others first and foremost on their agenda. –by Sister Fran Trochta, CDP