Discusses three important trends that will affect U.S. business and its culture: massive demographic changes in the work force, fewer international companies locating in the United States, and more U.S. companies going global. Suggests strategies for policymakers and leaders to adapt to these changes. (Author/JOW)

Key challenges are (1) using forecasting and prediction; (2) inventing possible futures; (3) matching futuring techniques to different populations; (4) using a holistic approach; and (5) serving as a futures role model. (JOW)

Describes an assessment process in a public child welfare agency that included workers as a primary source of knowledge about their own needs. Argues that the use of focus groups (a marketing research technique) encourages high levels of direct input and helps engage workers in subsequent phases of the training process. (MM)

Higher education has much potential for developing a sense of community and for modeling community behavior and leadership. However, it will not be accomplished by top-down leadership with a fixed vision and focus on ends rather than means. It will require leadership that embodies 10 basic principles of community. (MSE)

Empowerment as social action addresses lack of control by enhancing participation in community action. An alcohol and substance abuse prevention program for New Mexico adolescents used Freire's problem posing and critical thinking philosophy and methods to empower young people to change their health behavior. (SK)

In community education theory and practice, there is a large gap between rhetoric and reality and a problem in relating the micro to the macro. Community education praxis for the nineties involves acting appropriately in maintaining a value base and exploring the politics of practice. (SK)

This response to a work, "Researching Language," from a field linguist working with little-to-unknown indigenous languages suggests that the work is welcome and should prove very useful in articulating the debate over power and method in social science research. (VWL)

Extends James Heap's sociologically based viewpoint regarding reading as a cultural activity. Focuses on two neglected topics: the relationship of written and oral texts; and intertextuality uses regarding the range of texts encountered in everyday life. Heap's texts have too much autonomy; the reader is just as vital as the text. (13 references)…

Describes how members of a training team worked together to obtain funding to make a presentation at the 1997 National Association for the Education of Young Children Professional Development Conference. Details five qualities identified as instrumental in the group's progress: (1) passion; (2) dedication to the mission; (3) self-reflection and…

Describes the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation National Program in Self-Determination, a program facilitating change through the support of "learning community" grants to self-advocacy organizations and others. Local implementation is demonstrating creativity in establishing new tools of self-directed management of resources, listening to…

Aging 2000 is a Rhode Island organization of community-based networks working to improve geriatric health care through consumer empowerment. Evaluation of workshops on health behavior and the health-care system shows the viability of using older adult volunteers as peer teachers. (SK)

Participatory evaluation research empowers the consumers of services to become leaders in evaluation and change. Participatory research methods have been used widely in developing countries and are consistent with family therapy's recent emphasis on nonhierarchical, empowering, collaborative therapies. Presents several examples of participatory…

Presents the metaphor of counseling as a spiritual empowerment, an explanation of spiritual empowerment as a metaphor, and a theoretical framework for counselors. In the use of this metaphor, counselors initiate a spiritual experience with clients, and clients often experience a spiritual awakening in which they discover or rediscover their own…

Examines school reform's effects on principals' professional leadership culture, drawing on research findings from 1993 to 1998, and highlighting possible future reforms in Victoria, Australia. Principals are more satisfied with present, than past, work arrangements. Leadership is more strategic and empowering than heroic or hands-on. (44…

Empowering children to use the Internet safely and responsibly is essential. Students can also be taught to communicate positively with others. The CyberSmart! School Program offers a framework that teachers can use to discuss the Internet with students and raise awareness. Tips regarding etiquette, advertising, and privacy protection are also…