The KIDS Consortium is a private, non-profit organization that seeks to promote, facilitate, and institutionalize the involvement of children and youth in their communities in Maine. Kids as Planners, the central program of the KIDS Consortium, gives students the opportunity to become apprentice citizens by working with adult citizens in hands-on…

Every community has areas--public parks, schoolyards, sidewalks--that are neglected, vandalized, or just plain run down. Young people can help clean up those places by getting involved in a community cleanup project. As explained in this bulletin, a community cleanup is a project in which volunteers of all ages work together to spruce up a chosen…

Citizen involvement in the public decision-making process can be facilitated if appropriate forms and functions of involvement are used. The issue cycle, which can help public officials to ensure that citizens have constructive and timely input into the decision-making process, involves awareness of some condition in the community; community…

This manual describes an educational program for helping rural, small community leaders, decision-makers, and residents analyze their communities, think about alternatives, and plan economic development action strategies. The program is an effort to help communities explore short- and long-term development strategies, gain a vision of their…

The educational objective of this user's guide is to provide parents, teachers, and administrators with a resource to catalyze a wide range of partnerships and projects. Schools work best when everyone is actively involved so as to demonstrate democracy first hand. This program is designed to promote the democratic process of active citizenship in…

Presenting a base of general information that local business people and government officials involved with downtown revitalization should be familiar with in order to understand the range of options available and factors that will influence the outcomes of any revitalization program, the paper summarizes current theories, trends, studies, and…

This book describes the mindshift that is the key to successful community capacity building and to the development of social and economic structures that nurture local sustainability. Its focus is how the development of community, through community capacity building, connects, animates, and informs citizens. Chapter I introduces community building…

This guide presents the Future Farmers of America (FFA) 2000 Model of Innovation award winners' projects. Chapters demonstrated abilities to identify goals and objectives, create a workable plan of action, attain and evaluate results, and identify items learned and ways to improve. Chapter 1 discusses the FFA National Chapter Award program that…

This booklet was created to help communities (especially in Minnesota) to build community partnerships through community education. Such partnerships are needed in order to identify and meet community needs that are no longer being addressed by the Federal Government. The booklet is organized in three sections. The first section outlines the need…

This collection of briefs comprises a guide to minority-activity planning designed by the Steering Committee for Minority Communications of the Westinghouse Foundation. They are intended to further the following Westinghouse goals: (1) to encourage youth to pursue careers in technology; (2) to develop strong links with the minority community; (3)…

This handbook is intended to help trainers and development workers plan and conduct training programs based on the Action Training Model (ATM). The ATM combines training with action and learning with production by building upon participants' knowledge and learning needs and involving participants in a process of active learning and cooperative…

This discussion guide is designed to help people examine the state of work in their community, explore changes, and strategize about what they can do to forge creative solutions and improve the community's worklife. It is especially appropriate for use in a study circle setting. The discussion materials are arranged into four sessions: (1) the…

This document identifies steps in organizing and conducting a community survey and provides materials for assembling a well-focused survey form. Planning and conducting a successful survey involves the organization of a planning group, selection of relevant topics and information to be collected on each topic, preparation of a survey form,…

This document presents a step-by-step approach to a community development process for addressing child care needs in rural Canada. Part 1 of the document introduces the need for child care in rural areas in Canada and describes challenges to meetings those needs. This section also presents the principles underlying community development and…

The systematic, practical ideas presented for improving the quality of life in a community are based on the belief that people, working together, sometimes with and through local government and sometimes through the vigorous efforts of voluntary organizations and associations, can help their communities increasingly become the kinds of places that…