Children's mental health needs must be addressed for them to perform well in school. Several approaches are being used to give schools better mental health access. Model problems tend to offer a comprehensive continuum of services, coordinate the system for easy accessibility, and involve families in the teaching process. The Child Study Center's…

Describes a research-based project to improve school climate in a Georgia elementary school that had been scheduled for closure but stayed open (with mostly new staff) due to unexpected enrollment increases. Developing a school-improvement plan that involves and focuses the entire faculty is important for improving school climate. (23 references)…

Analysis of data on 112 MADD chapters suggests that failure of small activist organizations is related to inability of chapter leaders to adapt programs to their community and engage in cooperative community actions. Failure was related positively to county population and negatively to percent college educated. Contains 44 references. (SV)

Five European projects illustrate how older adults are volunteering as well as creating volunteer opportunities that enable them to contribute their considerable skills and energies to community service. (SK)

Discusses the development of a planning symposium as a means of getting community involvement for building a community recreation center. The steps in creating and managing a planning symposium are examined, including tips on agenda development. (GR)

Explicates the concept of community integration and its dimensions. Specifies structural and media antecedents and political consequences of these dimensions. Uses 15 indicators to test the hypothesis that integration is a multidimensional concept. Reveals that community integration has at least five dimensions: psychological attachment,…

Traces the progress of environmental education and discusses its role in enhancing the quality of life on our planet. Describes several initiatives aimed at deepening environmental awareness among all Americans and enhancing participation in solving environmental problems. (JRH)

Older people who suffer from a sense of powerlessness, helplessness, and low self-esteem are inadequately helped by existing services. A community work approach can help them become active and empowered individuals with stronger contacts with the community. (SK)

Examines the concept and practice of returning linguistic favors to host research communities, the so-called "linguistic gratuity principle" (Wolfram,1993). Uses a case study format as the basis for scrutinizing researcher-community relationships. Presents research from the post-insular dialect community of Ocracoke Island in North…

A door-to-door rural community survey in seven townships found that 52% had used the recycling facility; of nonusers, 33% knew about it. Older respondents in large households in more remote sections of the community are more likely to use the drop-off centers than others. Those participants who show more satisfaction with the convenience and…

In August 2001, the state-run Control Board for the Chester-Upland School District awarded control of nine of their 10 schools to Edison Schools, with little opposition. In contrast, nearby Philadelphia fought state efforts to privatize schools. Finally, on July 31, 2002, the joint state-city Philadelphia School Reform Commission partially…

On June 4, 2004, a crazed man rammed an unstoppable, armor-plated bulldozer into eight buildings in Granby, Colorado. The library was one of them. Three days later, Cindy Eubank and other volunteers salvaged what they could from the wrecked building. The collection had also suffered rain damage, so this was a grubby labor of love for the…

This study incorporated variables suggested by qualitative studies of low-income and minority group students' precollege and college experiences to ascertain how community involvement and mentoring contacts with teachers and other adults affected students' college predisposition decisions. While the modified model was an improvement over a…

Community-based learning has the power to encourage and sustain the intellectual curiosity of learners. By most accounts, community-based learning is a process that creates a collaborative environment of scholarship that holds individual differences, as well as similarities, in high esteem. It is a process, as the phrase suggests, that extends…

This paper examines relationships between 2 dimensions of social integration (community participation and affective community resources) and job and marital quality. Data from the 1995 National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (n= 1,816) indicate that the level of community participation is unrelated or negatively related to job…