Concept mapping of case studies resulted in nine organizational domains for community empowerment: participation, leadership, organizational structures, problem assessment, resource mobilization, critical awareness, linkages, outside agents, and program management. The domains provide a way to define and measure empowerment. (Contains 45…

Explains and compares discrepancies exist between workers' estimated time and actual time. Analyzes why these discrepancies occur and their effects on routine practice. (JOW)

Discusses a study of burnout among 25 community development practitioners. Indicates that those experiencing more severe forms of burnout were employed in grassroots staff positions. (JOW)

A study was conducted to determine whether the tenets of rural social work were applicable only to the developing countries or whether they were also meaningful in the context of other industrial nations of the West. (CT)

A survey of 26 human service agencies in an empowerment zone found the following: 73% used interns, few from social work; 57% used empowerment in mission statements (more economic than social agencies); 69% of these wanted community practice interns; and higher-budget agencies were better able to negotiate the empowerment zone system. (Contains 20…

Describes a model of professional intervention for community workers. The various roles of the community worker are also examined. These include the role of researcher, social policy analyst, enabler, social planner, program developer, organizer, rehabilitator, coordinator, educator, and mediator. Differences between community work theory and…

Case studies of two British and two Danish community-based organizations show that they developed as a result of both top-down government support and bottom-up community activity, and they operate both in and against the state. Recent reductions in government support threatens the future development of the community base of social policy, even…

This article briefly describes and analyzes (in a historical perspective) the role of local neighborhood committees as they exist in hundreds of urban neighborhoods in Israel, describes the study procedures and the research findings, and in the final part discusses and analyzes the findings. (CT)

Relationship between neighborhood characteristics and community development corporations (CDCs) was examined in Jackson, Mississippi. CDCs were more likely to be in neighborhoods with significant numbers of disenfranchised groups and disinvestment in the built environment. They act as subcontractors, which limits their power and mirrors structural…

Cross-site observation of Lifting New Voices, a national initiative to involve youth in community development, indicated the following: (1) youth participation has multiple impacts; (2) facilitating factors are youth as leaders, adult allies, and intergenerational bridges; and (3) obstacles include conditioning, withdrawal of disadvantaged…

A survey of 23 chairpersons of town unions (rural sociocultural organizations) in Nigeria indicated that self-help projects in education and rural development were concentrated in areas lacking infrastructure. Recommendations were made for an organizing framework, leadership training, government assistance, and efforts to encourage active…