For family and consumer sciences (FCS) professionals, understanding the individual differences in how communities are defined is integral to serving others. This exploratory study, designed to explore college students' perceptions of community vitality, compared and contrasted their perceptions through the image and the word. The sample consisted…

The Gloucestershire Gateway Trust (GGT) is a social enterprise initiative in Southwest England focused on Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD). This article describes a six-year action research collaboration that has sought to support the GGT and its local non-profit organizational partners using a variety of action research methods, including…

Social scientific research has demonstrated that increasing racial or ethnic diversity can reduce overall levels of social solidarity in a community. Yet many community development organizations, including Extension, are deeply committed to creating a broader sense of cohesion in rural communities. This article highlights a recent interagency…

The article describes an approach towards a fully transformed university, coined Integral University. Linking Education (E), Research (R), Activation (A) and Catalysation (C), it can "CARE" for individual, organisation, communal and societal development. Within it, theory and practice, knowledge creation and transformative action go hand…

The concept of Big Society provides inspiration--working "bottom up" to promote "collective action, reciprocity and a new, more engaged relationship between local people and public services". With so much written about the theory of the Big Society, this seems like an ideal time to put a little more practical detail into the mix. The authors argue…

Looking back on 27 years of teaching experience, it's tempting to think the biggest changes have been in technology. Certainly, going from carbon copies and mimeograph machines to word processing and teaching on Blackboard in a Web-blended course has been a huge transition. But the most radical transformation in teaching for the author began when…

Recent data suggest that the digital divide between White and minority youth persists, particularly in terms of home access to computers and the Internet. Community technology centers (CTCs) are an important alternative access point, especially for low-income youth of color. Such institutions, however, do much more, providing not just access, but…

Newbrough's Third Position is discussed in terms of its utility as a framework within which to understand and resolve interpersonal differences, seemingly irresolvable diametric differences, and conflictual situations. The framework's essential elements and its application is illustrated through the presentation of a series of fictitious scenarios…

Clarifies the value-laden meanings of "community" in community work discourse. Centers on the concepts of Gemeinschaft (community), Gesellschaft (association), and Bund (league or federation). Examines the insights of community studies and the practice of community work within the Judeo-Christian value system. (SK)

A network analytic approach to the community question is proposed in order to separate concepts which may or may not be closely associated. (Author/RLV)

The author discusses the concepts of community most appropriate to adult education, integrating various theoretical perspectives. He presents a conceptual typology of three dimensions of community practice: adult education for the community, adult education in the community, and adult education of the community. (Author/SK)

This article provides an introduction to the concept of community. The article begins with a definition of Student Affairs' Community, outcomes of community development, and provides a supporting framework upon which to establish and maintain community. It also includes essential commitments that campuses must make to create campus community.…

Records the responses of various members of the American Art Therapy Association to questions of the future direction of art therapy. The history of art as a communal experience in which all members of society participate is being lost, and the emphasis on therapy is minimizing the importance of artmaking. (JPS)

This series of maps shows how Japanese-American communities developed and changed in Los Angeles over the past century. The geographical changes, the population growth, and the locations of businesses and institutions are shown for five communities. (VM)

Offers a communicative, dialogic approach to studying urban historic districts. Focuses on several contemporary conflicts concerning the meaning of "community" in Ybor City, a national landmark historic district in Tampa, Florida, to reveal how people actively occupy, struggle over, and use such urban spaces. (SR)