When academics, who occupy a traditional position of power and privilege, engage with community members whose thinking, attitudes, and responses have been shaped by ongoing sociohistorical oppression and disadvantage, democratic participation is not easy to attain. Yet, unless community members feel able to participate freely, the valuable local…

This study analyzed and described regional development organizations, with special emphasis on leadership structure and patterns; and sought to develop an organizational model to maximize leadership effectiveness. Selected leaders from 14 New York State counties responded to questionnaires covering general organizational characteristics, subunits…

Six approaches to community development are presented by several authors in this booklet. Chapter 1 presents an introduction to the community development concept. In chapter 2, L. J. Cary emphasizes three distinctive features of the community approach: (1) popular or broad-based participation, (2) community as an important concept, and (3) the…