Given the mounting call for academic achievement gains in America's public schools--particularly urban schools labeled "failing"--the need for community engagement to tackle a host of underlying social challenges warrants the resources of the nation's colleges and universities (Harkavy & Hartley, 2009). Because colleges and…

In this article we take a closer look at a developing university-community engagement project being undertaken between California State University, Fresno, and the City of Fresno. A history of the project is provided, along with a review of the relevant literature and a summary of what pieces of the puzzle we feel should be in place for a…

The Savoy Elementary School Modernization and Co-Location project is designed to meet a number of important goals for Washington, D.C. Public Schools (DCPS) and the District of Columbia. It will improve the teaching and learning conditions for Savoy Elementary School so that they are in excellent condition, can support a high quality curriculum,…

Outlines a theoretical and conceptual framework for neighborhood-based collaboration by nonprofit organizations. Analyzes the main concepts of innovation in the design and implementation of a collaboration to prevent child maltreatment in an undervalued neighborhood and draws implications for social policy, social work practice, and social work…

Explores why service-learning students have only rarely been engaged directly as neighborhood organizers, then employs John Dewey's understanding of democracy to analyze one program which has succeeded in making widespread use of college students as front-line organizers. Describes how the complementarity between what students do at their…

Describes how the University of California San Diego (UCSD), the San Diego Housing Commission, and San Diego State University worked together through the UCSD Community Outreach Partnership Center to engage students in the design and implementation of an applied research project in City Heights, a low-income neighborhood in San Diego. (EV)

Describes the University of Illinois at Chicago's Neighborhoods Initiative, a partnership with a community-based development corporation designed to strengthen life in two local neighborhoods. Objectives include university/community agency partnerships, development of community organizational capacity to address future needs, institutional changes…

Community-based development organizations (CBDOs) appear to be a major force for the economic and physical rejuvenation of distressed, low-income communities. A CBDO is a private nonprofit group that serves a low-income community or constituency, is governed by a community-based board, and is an ongoing producer, with at least one completed…

Stone Soup Partnership is a collaboration between California State University at Fresno and its surrounding community to address serious problems in a high-crime, impoverished apartment complex near the university. The program involves students in service learning for university credit, and has expanded from a single summer youth program to a…

Community foundations can be effective vehicles for channeling support to low income neighborhood organizations. This document comprises a guide for community foundations to help them develop their grantmaking and programming skills and to connect with other elements of community leadership. Chapter 1, "Why Support Low Income Neighborhood…

Describes a special Head Start initiative called Free to Grow: Head Start Partnerships to Promote Substance-Free Communities. Notes five such Head Start programs in Puerto Rico, Kentucky, California, Colorado, and New York that have designed substance abuse prevention models to strengthen families and neighborhoods by providing a healthy…

An effort to integrate neighborhood technical assistance and student field training through a student workshop is described. Students in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana provided technical assistance to the South Austin Realty Association, a leading neighborhood organization in…

Property acquired by the Veterans Administration (VA) through defaults on VA-guaranteed home loans is repaired and redecorated under a housing rehabilitation program that also provides valuable vocational training for California secondary students. The student volunteers work under a qualified vocational instructor hired in accordance with a…

Michigan State University's Center for Urban Affairs is contributing their expertise, research skills, and volunteer time to help Benton Harbor revitalize. Faculty members and students have already completed studies on street repairs, the homeless, and hotel development. (MLW)

How community-based groups are confronting and preventing alcohol and other drug problems and related crime in their communities is the focus of this publication. A wide range of approaches and strategies, used by 10 nonprofit, community-based organizations representative of urban and rural areas, are presented. Case studies describe two community…