In this chapter we show how a new type of political knowledge can be harnessed from everyday communication flows between citizens to support community and policy development processes. The emergence of this new knowledge will be enabled by an e-supported deliberation process (SOWIT) that aims to improve political communication and deliberation…

A contemporary vision for a democracy is that it involves those who wish to be involved; the highest expression of human rationality becomes reality when ordinary people speak and reason together on issues of common concern. Public deliberation is a structured dialogue around a challenging public problem. It is a means through which citizens can…

Examines Detroit's economic development policy-making culture and assesses its impact on the formation of the community development corporation (CDC) network that dominated Empowerment Zone (EZ) planning in the initial stages. Analyzes the importance of distrust between City Hall, business interests, and community residents in consolidating CDC…

A first attempt is made to place in perspective the accumulated experience of nearly 20 years of community development activity in both developed and developing countries. The purpose of this study is to stimulate further inquiry into community development practice, process, and theory in order for it to become a more effective instrument in the…

This paper lays out a rationale for building local rural development policies that focus on potential strengths of school-community relationships, while empowering local citizens. Rural communities and their schools are caught up in trends that complicate policy at all levels. These trends include changes related to national and global economic…

The findings and recommendations of five task forces, composed of members of major Latino organizations and experts in Latino affairs, are summarized in this report on the public policy needs of Hispanics. The five areas of concern covered by the task forces are statistical policy and data needs; employment ane economic well being; social services…

For more than a decade, many researchers and practitioners have endorsed a "positive youth development" approach, which views adolescents as active contributors to their own development and as assets to their communities. As part of this shift, youth are increasingly being invited to engage in community governance. In youth…

Public deliberation, sometimes called deliberative democracy, offers alternatives to what are often adversarial governmental debates and hearings. This paper provides a case example of applying the deliberative democracy process to development issues and an analysis of data comparing the effectiveness of the process for creating a consensus for…

This report discusses trends affecting the future of rural development in Kentucky and describes strategies for leveraging more positive outcomes for rural communities. In addition to the enduring legacies of rural poverty, inadequate infrastructure, low educational attainment, and joblessness, contemporary rural Kentucky is also characterized by…

This "Civic Index" is intended to help communities evaluate and improve their civic infrastructures, as well as look at the issues and find approaches to dealing with them. The 10 components of the Civic Index serve as a description of the types of skills and processes that must be present for a community to deal effectively with its unique…

The result of extensive research by the Southern Rural Development Center Functional Network on Citizen Participation in Rural Development, this bibliography contains 2,310 citations on citizen participation, 530 of which carry an annotation or abstract. Materials come from computerized information services, published bibliographies, and books or…

In Canada and elsewhere, the shift from more horizontal models of governance and toward a more organized, diverse, and empowered civil society has sparked renewed interest in citizen involvement. The various dimensions of citizen involvement in policy processes are as follows: (1) mobilizing interest; (2) claims making; (3) knowledge acquisition;…

The relationship between lifelong learning, active citizenship, and neighborhood renewal was explored in the context of the British government's declared intention to address the consequences of poverty through neighborhood renewal, encourage public participation in renewal, and make lifelong learning a central strategy for ensuring future…