Poverty and unemployment aren't spread evenly across cities or regions, but rather are concentrated in disinvested urban neighborhoods and rural communities around the country. These communities are home to the nation's most vulnerable children and families. Despite some signs of improvement in economic conditions for families in the United…

British local authority and decision making procedures are described for community developers. Included are potential ways of influencing the authority system, and problems and areas of weakness that may be encountered in dealing with the system. (ABM)

Discusses the history of a citizen's organization on San Antonio's West Side, Communities Organized for Public Service (COPS), which only organizations such as churches, block clubs, and civic groups, can join. Concludes that "COPS has proved that it has vote-getting ability far past the 5,000 people who attend citywide conventions."…

This paper reports on the progress of eight Chicago-based community initiatives designed to redefine social services and broaden social responsibility for the development of children and families. The paper has three sections describing: (1) general background on the children, youth, and families initiative; (2) early lessons from an initiative in…

The St. Louis (Missouri) Regional Child Care Partnership was created in 1990 to improve child care in the St. Louis and Metro East areas, where the quality, availability, and affordability of child care are community-wide problems. The partnership was formed by the Child Day Care Association of St. Louis and the St. Louis branches of the Junior…