The author describes how her personal interest in puzzles led her to create Puzzle Parties at the College of Santa Fe in New Mexico. Now regular events, these puzzle parties attract several hundred adults and children from the community. (SJL)

Traces 22-year development of counseling into an established profession in Ireland, paying particular attention to pertinent training courses that have emerged in 1980s. Examines the practice of community counseling. Claims the evolution of a professional association for community counselors has not yet been established, and collaborative…

Provides evaluative data from one community demonstrating the success of its diversion program. Individuals (n=99) who successfully completed shoplifting diversion program were randomly selected from larger population of 246 completers. During two-year period, 4 percent of group were rearrested, compared to rearrest rates of approximately 25…

The aim of our study was to examine formalized mentoring as a learning strategy for volunteer sports coaches and to consider implications for other volunteer groups in the community. Despite the increasingly popular use of mentoring as a learning and support strategy across professional domains, and the sheer scale of volunteer sports coach…

Background: No research to date has extensively described moderate and vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and healthful eating (HE) opportunities in the after-school environment. The current study described the quality of the after-school environment for its impact on children's MVPA and HE. Methods: An alliance of 7 elementary schools and Boys and…

Sexuality education integrated into math, economics, and computer science classes? Parents participating with teachers and students in working groups to plan sex ed programs in public schools? Eight- to ten-year-olds publishing their own book "Don't Talk to Us about the Stork"? Does this sound utopian? Actually, it is a reality in…

The impact of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is usually understood in relation to schools and districts, but the legislation has also affected community-based organizations that operate school-linked programs. This case study of an after-school program in California demonstrates how educational accountability systems that emphasize students' academic…

Parent-professional partnership literature continues to emphasize the importance of including the parent voice. Spanish-speaking families are often excluded from such studies because of the language barrier. This article presents a qualitative interview study of eight Latina mothers of children with severe disabilities. All participants were…

CenteringPregnancy Smiles[TM] (CPS) is a partnership between the University of Kentucky, Trover Health System, and Hopkins County Health Department. The purpose of the partnership is to: (1) establish an infrastructure to address health problems requiring research-based solutions, (2) develop a model for community partnership formation, and (3)…

Many afterschool programs operated by neighborhood or community-based organizations (CBOs) take place in students' school buildings. Navigating relationships between afterschool programs and their host public schools can be challenging for both parties. At times, tension in such relationships can throw unnecessary roadblocks on the path to…

This report is designed to assist communities engaged in or contemplating initiatives focused on at-risk youth. Much of the information comes from evaluations of the Communities in Schools, SafeFeatures, and Children at Risk initiatives. Brief descriptions of experiences or practices of the community programs are used to illustrate points made or…

This paper considers how community literacy programs factor into broader economies of literacy development. The author analyzes two Appalachian community literacy projects, Shirley Brice Heath's ethnographic project in the Carolina Piedmont and Highlander Research and Education Center's organizing efforts with the Appalachian People's Movement, to…

In a time of seemingly rampant budget cuts in the arts in school systems throughout the country, a children's art show reaps many rewards. It can strengthen family-school relationships and community ties and stimulate questions and comments about the benefits of art and its significance in the development of young children. In this photo essay of…

The purpose of this case study was to learn more about the emergence and development of the Rogers Community Learning Center over its initial 5 years of operation. The interview, observation, and documental data were viewed through a theoretical lens informed by the work of Paulo Freire, Myles Horton, and Cornel West in order to examine how…

Although critical ethnographers have explored in some depth the ways that social critique informs how youth assess their schooling experiences, the implications of social critique by educators themselves have been of much less interest. Yet, numerous professional educational movements have been wrought from social critique or, at the very least,…