Outreach and engagement initiatives are crucial in promoting community development. This can be achieved through a number of methods, including institutions of higher education. "Changing Urban Landscapes through Public Higher Education" is a critical scholarly resource that examines the unique ways in which the faculty and students of…

This edited international collection re-conceptualizes the place of early childhood education and care services (ECEC) within communities and challenges traditional approaches to family involvement and partnerships in ECEC. Using a range of theoretical positions, the authors present research-based discussions from five countries which challenge…

This book focuses on conducting research on International Service Learning (ISL), which includes developing and evaluating hypotheses about ISL outcomes and measuring its impact on students, faculty, and communities. The book argues that rigorous research is essential to improving the quality of ISL's implementation and delivery, and providing the…

This anthology places art at the center of meaningful urban education reform. Providing a fresh perspective on urban education, the contributors describe a positive, asset-based community development model designed to tap into the teaching/learning potential already available in urban cities. Rather than focusing on a lack of resources, this…

While librarians deliver a vital public service within diverse communities, they are often invisible in the community development process initiated by civic planners, activists, and local government officials. This book challenges librarians everywhere to get involved early and often by demanding a place at the community planning and development…

This document profiles nine youth programs, illustrating concepts, strategies, and lessons available to communities as they start to form an integrated network of essential services designed to prepare out-of-school youth for success in the job market of the 21st century. "Introduction" (Marion Pines) lists considerations when planning a…

To effectively promote change in organizations and communities, specific strategies or action guidelines and some tactical steps for effectively carrying out these strategies are offered for people who work in human service agencies. The book is useful to both practitioners in the field and upper-division graduate students. The action guidelines,…

Saltville, Virginia, is a former company town whose main employer, a soda ash plant, shut down on July 1, 1971. The closure of the chemical plant displaced 700 workers, and created a crisis that threatened not only the existence of the town, but of the entire region. In response, Virginia Highlands Community College (VHCC), in cooperation with the…

This study examined the impact of welfare reform on housing owned by community development corporations (CDCs), investigating how early implementation of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) affected the financial status of CDCs' affordable housing developments. Five types of financial impacts were…

These case studies and analytic essays are intended to give the reader a richer understanding of when and how top managers succeed or fail in their efforts to use performance management (PM) systems to improve the functioning of federal, state, and local government in the United States (U.S.). The question mark in the title is intended to remind…

This book highlights the role of citizens in solving public problems. Part 1 presents the insights of several successful Americans to show why the rethinking of self-interest, power, and public life is the key to bringing new meaning into the lives of Americans. Part 2 describes changes occurring across the United States, which are conceptualized…

This book contains 10 case studies of rural community development in England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, and Catalonia, as seen from the perspective of community-work practitioners. Development projects encompassed such activities as promotion of tourism, establishment of community centers, vocational training for school dropouts, adult community…

Derived mainly from publications by the League of California Cities, this guide to social planning for small cities presents the following: (1) social planning definitions; (2) a checklist of social planning concerns (provision for: adequate income and economic opportunity; optimal environmental conditions for basic material needs; optimal health…

The concept of public marketing presents a strategy for the systems approach to community development that would facilitate the community decision making process via improved communication. Basic aspects of the social marketing process include: (1) product policy; (2) channels of distribution; (3) pricing (perceived price vs quality and quantity…

This book offers 20 contemporary biographies of young women across the United States who are making a difference in their schools and communities through community service. Examples of community action include feeding the hungry, recycling, saving the bluebirds, and promoting literacy. The girls and young women emerge as leaders in an area of…