Current community-engagement models, which relegate the public's role to insignificant activities, play into special-interest groups' hands. One new approach creates alternative forms of community forums to encourage public deliberation. Forums frame issues to invite deliberation; allow participants to deliberate, not debate issues; and provide…

Evaluation of public service programs uses language and techniques inimical to community development. Key elements of a better approach are as follows: (1) community participation; (2) emphasis on qualitative measures of success that complement the quantitative; (3) strong awareness of the importance of process goals; (4) concern with sustainable…

Describes the community adult education activities at the Westerra Institute of Technology in Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada. Demonstrates the utility of Stephen Brookfield's conceptual model of community adult education. (JOW)

This primary health care model is based on four assumptions: emphasis on collective, not individual, needs; coordination of preventive/episodic care with secondary/tertiary care; comprehensive, holistic approach; and partnership and equality among professional disciplines and community members. Stakeholders involved are medical, nursing, and…

Foster High School, located in Richmond, Texas, is a school with a substantial enrollment of minority students (29 percent Hispanic students, 15 percent African American students) that has made noteworthy strides in improving the academic achievement and the college and career readiness of its students. Moreover, the gaps in academic achievement…

Nonprofessional members of a school staff may facilitate the availability of the school's facilities and in so doing may influence members of the community to become more involved in community affairs. Administrators may have the opposite effect. (Author/IRT)

Describes and assesses the impact of the Friends of Black Children project which enlists the aid of local communities and public adoption agencies to further the adoption of black children by black families. (Author/NH)

The efficacy of a new model of rural social service delivery--the Satellite Diagnostic Social Services Center--implemented in Arizona is evaluated. Results show how the dynamics operating at the community level and the processes involved in funding can affect a project's implementation. (Author)

Training for family literacy began in 1993 with the development of the "Come Read with Me" model. Since that time over 300 facilitators have been trained, but a 1997 survey found only a fraction of these individuals were still active in family literacy programs. The Saskatchewan Literacy Network was faced with the challenge of delivering…

Describes a comprehensive plan whereby citizens can become involved actively in the affairs of their community through district advisory councils, citywide advisory committees for special areas of concern, and a citywide citizens assembly. (Author/DN)

This article presents empirical research exploring adult students' transition to higher education (HE) through a program designed to enable that transition. Wenger's Communities of Practice theory has been applied to informal adult learning by Merriam, Courtenay, and Baumgartner (2003), who suggested its potential for understanding formal…

Discusses the importance of process evaluation in planning and improving community education programs. Offers a model for process evaluation and provides an example of how that model might be applied to a hypothetical community education program. (JG)

Roberts and Ullom (1989) theorized that leadership programs should consist of training, education, and development programs. Their model has gained widespread acceptance since its inception, but has not evolved to reflect contemporary conceptualizations of leadership. This paper demonstrates a new conceptualization of the model updated for modern…

A review of the counseling literature from 1972 through 1974 suggested consultation and training aimed at remediation and prevention as the most appropriate means for intervention during an era of accountability and cutbacks. Working with communities and institutions rather than with individuals was also stressed. (Author/SE)

The major elements of this model includes collaborative problem solving by community residents and an external agent, creation of feedback loops within community; and a collection of formal and informal data related to community functioning to be used as the basis for change efforts. (Author)