Describes community planning as an empowering professional practice. Compares the empowerment practices of process-focused and product-focused planning. Uses stages of rational comprehensive planning and stages of community empowerment as the context. (SK)

This taxonomy of effective community development approaches in service delivery, capacity building, advocacy, and social mobilization identifies the degree to which they can empower people. (SK)

Empowerment is a contested concept, an ideology creating new forms of control. Conceptualizing it as a multilevel construct is a step toward building a new hegemony for the working class, by raising consciousness of control, participation, shared vision, and ownership. (SK)

Attempts to clarify empowerment as used in black communities in the United Kingdom, using Liverpool as a case study. Illustrates the ambiguity of the concept and the incomplete success of empowerment initiatives for community development and improvement. (SK)

Empowerment for disadvantaged communities is complex; issues involved are defining community, conflicts of interest, equating populism with empowerment, and viewing it as zero-sum. Given these impediments and the nature of disadvantage, community development should conduct rational analyses of need, continue dialog with community interests, and…

An approach to integrating casework and community development includes the practices of empowerment, community building, and social action. The aim is to give disadvantaged people more choice and control over their lives. (Contains 14 references.) (SK)

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…

A remote Australian town's initiative to develop an Internet cafe was based on a foundation of community empowerment and capacity building. The project's failure illustrates factors that inhibit community control: overstretched local resources, failure to understand impact on existing social infrastructure and social networks, and lack of…

A case study of health reform in British Columbia followed four health-planning groups' efforts to foster community participation by developing local community health plans. Findings from the case study can inform the theory and practice of community development. (JOW)

Community auditing is an empowering process enabling communities to participate in research, identify its focus, and have ownership. Comparison with other methods shows how auditing supports real participation, not mere consultation. (SK)

Three practice-based articles highlight common experiences and challenges in dealing with the impact of globalization: "Maori Volunteers: Finding a Voice for the Voiceless" (Te Momo); "Empowering Women through Income-generating Projects: Evidence from Indonesia" (Prihantinah, Marinova, Stocker); and "Empowering Kenyan…

Asserts that recent riots in British cities are indicators of the failure of Western community development to engage ethnic minority communities. Questions the effectiveness of efforts based on inadequate understanding of communities and cultures. Suggests that rioting may be a means of seeking decision-making voice among disempowered communities.…