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…

Postgraduate research is complex enough, but Indigenous students face unique challenges and additional expectations. For instance, they are often strongly motivated for their tertiary education to support their community's aspirations but distanced from those communities. We are wahine (women) Maori researchers working to restore various local,…

The mission of The Research University Civic Engagement Network (TRUCEN) is to advance civic engagement and engaged scholarship among research universities. TRUCEN has adopted the following goals for advancing civic engagement and engaged scholarship as part of the core mission of all research universities: (1) Encourage community-engaged…

Poor community-company relations in the Niger Delta have drawn attention to the practice of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the region. Since the 1960s, transnational oil corporations operating in the Niger Delta have adopted various CSR strategies, yet community-company relations remain adversarial. This article examines community…

By the early years of this new century it was evident that increasing numbers of colleges and universities had undertaken numerous innovative efforts to reinvigorate and prioritize students' civic and community engagement in their surrounding communities. However, a number of individuals involved with these movements had noticed that much of the…

This essay builds on and extends earlier research and writing that the authors have done, trying to understand how a commitment to local engagement, which is the term commonly used at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn), becomes embedded in the core work of the institution. Their inquiries have been guided by social psychologist Kurt Lewin's…

Background/Context: Parent involvement in education is widely recognized as important, yet it remains weak in many communities. One important reason for this weakness is that urban schools have grown increasingly isolated from the families and communities they serve. Many of the same neighborhoods with families who are disconnected from public…

Differences between old-timers and newcomers and their effects on community social dimensions have been the object of much research. These studies have shown how extensive in-migration of people with different socioeconomic backgrounds, values, and perspectives contribute to heightened social conflict in some communities. Popular media accounts…

Although much of the community development work undertaken by women in Northern Ireland could be described as community relations, women's reluctance to use that label has led to neglect of their significant contributions. A more inclusive definition of community relations is needed. (SK)

Fictitious case study describes personnel problems in an attempt to provide an elementary school in a Mexican-American town in Texas with a community agent responsible for designing parent participation programs. Absence of any training causes the agent's rapid resignation. (MF)

Steps in an integrated model include (1) problem solving (exploration, assessment, goal setting, planning, implementation, evaluation); (2) community building (entering, discovering, developing relationships, building an organization, enhancing capacity, phasing out, exiting); and (3) systems interaction (change agent system, client system, action…

Draws upon community field theory and human ecology and uses data from 120 rural Pennsylvania school districts to examine the relative contributions of past community actions, development of solidarity, and ecological variables (socioeconomic status, remoteness, previous industrialization, and percentage of residents commuting to work) to the…

This article builds and explores the hypothesis that parent and community participation in school governance can have positive impacts on community development by fostering improvements in school performance and school-community relations and by acting as a catalyst for collective action around community-development issues. It does so through case…

Offers a five-point program for community education (based on a fluid definition in a British context) which involves school and community education, civic education and participation, community action, public education campaigns, and community relations. (LAS)