Neighbourhood Houses in Australia are community place-based organisations that provide education, support services, and develop responses to local issues with local communities. The practices within Neighbourhood Houses are informed by community development. Yet knowledge, understanding and practices of community development vary across the…

The study examined the effects of insecurity on community development projects in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni and Ahoada East Local Government Areas of Rivers State, Nigeria. The study was guided by two research questions and one null hypothesis. The study adopted a descriptive survey design with a population of 3,211 members of various Community Based…

This study examined the influence of traditions and customs on community development in Nkanu West and Nkanu East Local Government Areas of Enugu State. The study was carried out with three objectives and three null hypotheses. The research adopted descriptive survey design with a population of 2,125 members of community Based Organizations in the…

This case study explores students' perceptions of the creation and reuse of digital teaching and learning resources in their work as tutors as part of a volunteer community development organisation at a large South African University. Through a series of semi-structured interviews, student-tutors reflect on their use and reuse of digital…

Service-learning has the potential to create mutually beneficial relationships between schools and communities, but little research explores service-learning from the community's perspective. The purpose of this study was to (a) understand how community-based organizations (CBOs) benefited from partnering with students and (b) examine whether…

Community organizing groups that have built coalitions for local change over the past few decades are now involving young people as leaders in efforts to improve quality of life. The current study explores a particularly effective youth organizing initiative through review of organizational documents and collection and analysis of qualitative…

The increased interest in community engagement within higher education provides new opportunities for examining the role of university continuing education (UCE) units in relation to their participation in community university partnerships. This article is based on findings from a qualitative study that used a social theory lens to examine the…

In this paper, four qualitative case studies capture the complex interplay between the social and structural relations that shape community - academic partnerships. Collaborations begin as relationships among people. They are sustained by institutional structures that recognize and support these relationships. Productive collaborations centralize…

A major resource of small voluntary neighborhood organizations is their members, who give their time and energy to the organization to improve their community. In recent years, there has been a revitalization of strategies that focus on engaging residents to volunteer for neighborhood-based organizations. The current study was guided by…

Under conditions of uncertainty, we predict that development will be tied to the idiosyncrasy of organizational forms represented within local regions. Our investigation applies this theory to data on 342 counties and 43,352 businesses in the U.S. South during Reconstruction, finding support for the thesis that organizational idiosyncrasy…

Residents of East Cleveland are fighting to improve the quality of public education and access to vocational opportunities. "White flight" (Frey, 1979, p. 425), economic disinvestment, and ineffective political leadership have led to the disadvantages faced by East Cleveland (Kathi & Cooper, 2005). Nearly 1,200 vacant structures…

Youth-adult partnership (Y-AP) in community decision making and collective action has gained momentum as a key element of prevention programming. There is now a solid body of evidence demonstrating that these partnerships have developmental benefits for youth. There is also an increasing awareness that Y-AP may also produce positive…

Background/Context: Parent involvement in education is widely recognized as important, yet it remains weak in many communities. One important reason for this weakness is that urban schools have grown increasingly isolated from the families and communities they serve. Many of the same neighborhoods with families who are disconnected from public…

Interviews with 33 community development practitioners in 5 countries revealed the following sources that guide practice: (1) values and beliefs about community; (2) learning from colleagues; (3) literature-based theories; and (4) implicit, practice-based theories that are developed through reflection-in-action. (Contains 21 references.) (SK)

Describes features of learning communities: they transform themselves, share wisdom and recognition, bring others in, and share results. Provides the case example of the Upper Savannah River Economic Coalition. Discusses actions of learning communities, barriers to their development, and future potential. (SK)