A graduate course at Chadron State College, "Community/School Revitalization" is a year-long project that involves the local schools and the town's youth in community development while enhancing the students' learning experiences. Involving young people in local programs enables them to appreciate the quality of life in their communities…

Describes Capacitacion Integral de la Mujer Campesina (CIMCA) development efforts within Bolivian farm communities. Describes CIMCA's focus on social change, ethnic empowerment, and women's rights. Describes organization's initial clashes with rural culture. Describes use of rotafolio drawings to spark workshop discussions, to improve women's…

The constructive engagement of various communities through a confluence of information professionals, including graphic designers, librarians, educators, and publishers, is necessary to ensure a culture informed by, and responsive to, all constituents. Positing easy solutions to problems of diversity merely postpones reasoned solutions. (SLD)

Changes in national demographics have altered how we define community. The community may be a geographic area of home life, a place for coming together voluntarily, or an association of people with similar interests and values. New communities must develop their own infrastructures and capacities for sustaining themselves. (SLD)

Aided by funding from public agencies, private foundations, and corporate giving, a previously neglected conservatory on Chicago's west side is introducing inner-city students to plants and nature through after school programs, summer day camps, and field trips. Community revitalization efforts include a demonstration garden and assistance with…

The maximization of productivity and labor efficiency has been a hallmark of the American agriculture and food system. The result of these twin processes is an industrial, concentrated, and consolidated provisioning system that produces cheap and plentiful food. Many view this model as a panacea for providing food to a modern industrial workforce,…

This essay explores Eastern Washington University's East Central Neighborhood Partnership Center project, which utilized coordinated community service-learning classes and internships to create a neighborhood revitalization plan in partnership with a neighborhood council and community-based organizations. The author explores the ways in which the…

Despite increasing interest in the role of community involvement in school improvement, few studies have examined motivations for, or results of community partnership development in high schools. To fill this gap, the authors conducted case studies of three high schools with successful community partnerships. The authors found that case high…

This article provides an opportunity to look at issues related to capacity building--how the concept has evolved and how it is currently being applied--and a review of the components of effective capacity building in working with individuals and organizations. This is followed by a description of capacity-building projects undertaken by ECDVU…

Much has been written in recent decades about the importance of community in education. According to some of the literature, a solution to the lack of community in preservice education might lie in the creation of "cohort programs," in which a relatively small number of student teachers engage in their coursework and (insofar as possible) their…

This book documents the story of Alice Lloyd, a Massachusetts woman who founded Caney Creek Community Center and Caney Junior College (now Alice Lloyd College) in eastern Kentucky during the early 20th century. For the past 70 years, the college has enabled thousands of students from Appalachia to obtain a college education at little or no cost.…

This book seeks to provide a basis for reexamining rural development policy by presenting comprehensive and current information on the effectiveness of various rural policy approaches. An introduction that defines development terminology and discusses changing policy needs is followed by 13 chapters that represent the best recent research…

In 1988, the Annie E. Casey Foundation began New Futures, an 5-year initiative aimed at preparing disadvantaged urban youth for successful lives as adults. Through grants to five mid-sized cities, the Casey Foundation sought to encourage a fundamental restructuring of the way these communities planned, financed, and delivered educational, health,…

The theme of this inaugural serial issue is "Building a Community of Learners." The serial has been designed to address school restructuring and reform and the roles of teachers, administrators, and parents. The first essay, "Constructing Communities of Cooperation" by Anne Turnbaugh Lockwood examines structural change in…

This report examines child care from a business perspective and proposes methods to help finance affordable, accessible, and high-quality child care in Colorado. The Commission's procedures are described, and data summaries are included. The following 12 recommendations are made: (1) establish model planning and zoning programs to increase and…