This article documents how an MSW student in an introductory community practice course took her class assignment and over the course of two years revitalized, democratized, and transformed a sclerotic, corporate-run Home Owners Association (HOA). While the community analysis assignment required the student to interview six of her neighbors, the…

Three case studies (senior citizens center, senior citizens housing project, and a housing and employment project) are assessed against an operational definition of community development. Since only one of these fits the definition, the author concludes that projects designated as community development activity by agencies and workers often do not…

Examines Detroit's economic development policy-making culture and assesses its impact on the formation of the community development corporation (CDC) network that dominated Empowerment Zone (EZ) planning in the initial stages. Analyzes the importance of distrust between City Hall, business interests, and community residents in consolidating CDC…

The use of popular theatre to overcome community development problems in underdeveloped countries through adult education is introduced and its relationship to the concept of participatory research is explored. Material is arranged in four sections. The first of these presents an introduction to popular theatre and participatory research. Stemming…

This paper is designed as a guide to the study of empowerment in the neighborhood movement for historic preservation in New Orleans' French Quarter. For this case study, whose initial focus in on a relatively affluent sector of the population, culture and identity become prominent. However, the review adopts a broader focus to ensure its…

This resource paper on the subject of citizen participation, decentralization, and advocacy planning is part of a series designed to supplement undergraduate geography courses. The approach of the paper de-emphasizes inventory or case study reviews of specific participation or advocacy planning projects for a more general conceptual discussion of…

This book is directed at the following audiences: adult educators and others who are either involved in or desire to become involved in community-based work; students of education, the social sciences, or related disciplines who desire information on community involvement as a career or means of fulfilling civic responsibilities, and persons in…

This book explores how community functions in "Bremer," a small rural town in eastern Washington. Human interactions in a variety of contexts are analyzed within a framework that posits three distinct eras of social and economic organization: community-control, mass-society, and information eras. Contexts examined are farming (the…

Two propositions formed the basis for the study described in this report: (1) that the institutions of mass media and education have not adjusted to cope with the problems of newly formed cities or with urban disintegration in older industrialized cities, and (2) that marginal urban groups have a need for greater control over their lives and the…