The aim of our study was to examine formalized mentoring as a learning strategy for volunteer sports coaches and to consider implications for other volunteer groups in the community. Despite the increasingly popular use of mentoring as a learning and support strategy across professional domains, and the sheer scale of volunteer sports coach…

Describes the Home Start program in the United Kingdom, in which volunteers, during home visits, offer regular support, friendship, and practical help to parents who have at least one child under school age and who are under stress. (BC)

A programme designed to develop the capacity of voluntary agencies and community groups to deliver information, advice and guidance (IAG) on learning and work to their clients and members is outlined. Four forms of capacity building are distinguished: internal IAG capacity building, based on developing IAG resources within the agency or group…

An earlier article published in this journal sought to recover the views of professionals concerned with the delivery and implementation of a "Third Way" multiagency programme tackling the social exclusion of young children and their families known as Sure Start. The tentative findings suggested a "bottom-up" partnership…

Describes the Livingstone Family Centre in Bedford, United Kingdom, focusing on the characteristics of the local community, staffing considerations, parent involvement, and such center activities as an annual pantomime, keep-fit classes, infant care visits by community health workers, a toy library, and joint activities for parents and children.…

The development of community-based programs to support inexperienced parents through home visits by experienced mothers, who are in turned facilitated by child health and development professionals, has become an increasingly common approach in Europe and the United States. This edited volume presents proceedings from an invitational conference on…

Analyzes the diverse services available for preschool children in the United Kingdom and considers the nature of the demand for such services. Discusses local initiatives, such as those undertaken in the Strathclyde region of Scotland in the 1980s, to coordinate and integrate services for preschool children. (MDM)