"In areas like ours, everything we've ever had we fought for. It wasn't just handed to us," says Anna Hutchison, a community activist and one of the founders of the North Edinburgh Social History Group. For decades, Anna tells the author, the community has had to struggle for the basic amenities others in the city take for granted,…

All corners of the media are scrutinising David Cameron's "Big Society", from every conceivable angle. While the concept has caught the public's imagination, the greater challenge of fleshing out what the Big Society will actually offer and require of communities is unfinished business. The National Council for Voluntary Organisations…

This article discusses the Women Making a Difference programme that has provided hundreds of women in Wales the skills they need to become decision-makers in their communities. The project is all about tapping into women's desire to make a difference in their communities, and getting women who, in most cases, are already active at grassroots level…

The experience in developing a student-led academic journal, the Lincoln Planning Review, to provide experiential learning that links undergraduates in a small professional planning programme directly to research publication is described. A combination of circumstances, including an impending review of the programme by the external professional…

The Native American Rights Fund (NARF) is beginning a project to assist tribes and Indian communities with the legal aspects of economic and business development. Historic monopolistic and oppressive trade restrictions imposed on the tribes created an economic context that has suppressed Indian economic development for over two centuries. Faced…

Six community builders in Edmonton, Alberta, planned, developed, and implemented Listen and Learn II, a reflective research project in asset-based community building, over a 6-month period in 1998. They met regularly over 2 months to plan the research and design a method that was open to participation at any stage, encouraged exchange of…

This paper describes the use of a range of Web 2.0 technologies to support the development of community for a newly formed Land Trust on the Isle of Lewis, in NW Scotland. The application of social networking tools in text, audio and video has several purposes: informal learning about the area to increase tourism, community interaction,…

Schuykill County, Pennsylvania, has launched a coordinated community development effort with six areas of focus (economic development, education, infrastructure, quality of life, government, and private-sector leadership) and four overall goals: job creation, increased earnings, improved education, and lowered poverty rate. Interlinked projects…

Rural economic development requires local consensus and a coordinated effort by community leaders and the public at large. In 12 rural Georgia counties, the University of Georgia is implementing a Rural Revitalization Initiative (RRI) that emphasizes collaboration of public officials and private individuals across disciplines, professions,…

Rural areas of the world share many common problems, such as a lack of diverse educational and economic development opportunities. This paper argues that only when rural areas develop strong partnerships among organizations with diverse strengths, and these organizations bring some measure of power to these partnerships, will these rural areas be…

A participant observer describes activities taking place at a L'Arche community, where persons with mental handicaps live and work together with nonhandicapped members of society. Findings are reported concerning work, social life, meetings, and other events, emphasizing the sense of community created through welcoming people and sharing…

Describes the "rurban" community of Freeport, Maine, and community changes that occurred during the late 1970s and early 1980s. The coordinator of Freeport Community Services facilitated the identification of community problems (including concerns about the quality of public education), analysis of the dynamics of the social situation,…

Describes the Los Angeles Project of the School of Politics and Economics at Claremont Graduate University. This project seeks to understand the conditions that have enabled a blossoming of public-private collaboration and development projects to take place in Los Angeles despite institutional, financial, and community obstacles. (EV)

The community networking model presented in this report was prepared to aid community members in strenthening and developing the networking process among business, community service agencies, government, churches, arts, recreation, and education. The model is designed to be used in a workshop in which participants are grouped in teams of…

Describes current changes in rural transportation services. Describes general thrust of innovative efforts to provide rural passenger transportation despite declining resources. Describes public-private transportation cooperation, human-service agency coordination, linking state and local bus services, mixed passenger-package functions, community…