This article uses story as a process to highlight the work in a South Texas community that focuses on the education of youth and the development of community. The work is guided by a new consciousness of place, community engagement, and identity formation. The work is local, but breaking the isolation of youth, families, and ideas has been part of…

The purpose of this report is to disseminate the findings from an analysis of the proposals submitted by English councils under the Sustainable Communities Act for England 2007 (SCA), conducted by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) in August/September 2009, as requested by the Local Government Association (LGA). It aims to…

Urban universities are a key resource for municipal government, businesses, community organizations, and citizens to foster partnerships for successful renewal of distressed urban neighborhoods. From its experience over the past decade, the Ohio State University has created a successful model for engagement with its neighborhoods and the City of…

Three seminars examined strategies and tactics for community mobilization in Latin America. The sessions--which were held in Bogota, Columbia; Quito, Ecuador; and Recife, Brazil--involved a total of 75 participants from 27 organizations. Addressed during the seminars were development, leadership, mobilization, and learning in the context of…

Presenting implications for a practical strategy in community development, this article deals with the exchange: within local Volunteer Fire Departments (VFD); between a VFD and its local public; between and among VFD's which compose the fire service; and between the fire service as an organized collectivity and the regional public. (JC)

The principles and practice of community development offer a means of bridging the gap between agencies, planners, researchers, and communities. Community development involves an educational strategy of raising the levels of local awareness and increases the confidence and ability of community groups to identify and solve their own problems.…

The concept of public marketing presents a strategy for the systems approach to community development that would facilitate the community decision making process via improved communication. Basic aspects of the social marketing process include: (1) product policy; (2) channels of distribution; (3) pricing (perceived price vs quality and quantity…

Rural economic development presents a paradox of growth in population and jobs without corresponding improvement in local economic well-being. Four forces may impede nonmetropolitan development efforts. Growth of multiestablishment corporations makes traditional regional economic development models unrealistic. Rural industrialization is socially,…

This book is dedicated to helping readers modify environments--classrooms, schools, communities--in ways that move away from resiliency depletion and toward resiliency building. The book is organized with emphasis on the concept of community. Part one, which includes the first two chapters, explores the meaning of resiliency and why it is so…

This paper addresses the nature of educational reform and recommends strategies to better reflect the needs of rural schools and their communities. The furor over education reform is largely produced by those who stand to gain from it, including politicians who promote their own agendas and consultants, professors, and experts who make a good…

This article discusses the outcomes of a project that used a community development framework to implement change in early care and intervention services in two culturally diverse communities. It describes how community forums and parent leadership training assisted in change efforts and lessons learned from implementation and evaluating reforms.…

This paper focuses on defining and comparing four approaches for identifying the community's power actors. It outlines how professional change agents might use each of the four approaches to identify community power actors who are relevant for community development. The four approaches include the positional, the reputational, the decision-making,…

A study examining school contributions to community development collected data from five rural Australian communities via interviews with school and community members, documentation from school and community sources, and observation. Preliminary findings from two communities suggest that in both, the school was a key player in building and…

This report on educational reform shows how three dynamic but quite different organizations are currently attempting to secure quality education for urban disadvantaged children. Aspira of New York, Philadelphia Welfare Rights Organization, and Harlem Parents Union are three self-help groups that seek quality education for poor children but differ…

Based on the view that strong families create healthy local economies and that family support is key to helping families become self-sufficient, active participants in the marketplace, this workbook is part of a wider effort at Family Support America to apply the principles of family support and the strategies of community economic development to…