VIP is an affiliate of the West/Southwest Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF), a network of broad-based organizations building power to revitalize our democracy for constructive social and economic change.

Our mission is to build organizations that are universities of public life to develop citizens in the fullest sense: participants in our democracy and agents in the creation of a more just society. Affiliate organizations are in 33 cities across the U.S. (in states highlighted above in blue).

The West/Southwest IAF is the regional network under the national IAF, the oldest and largest organizing and leadership development network in the United States. IAF organizations are non-partisan. None will endorse any candidate or party for elected office, nor pursue or accept government funding for any of their organizations.

Each of the collectives that make up the West/Southwest IAF is an organization of dues-paying member institutions, including religious congregations, schools, civic associations, labor and professional organizations, and non-profits that share a concern for families and a tradition of faith and democracy. Each organization seeks to: