In the wake of Hurricane Maria and in response to the negligent inefficiency of the local and federal governments, community groups and collectives, grassroots organizations, and activists of multiple causes began organizing under the principles of mutual aid and solidarity in Puerto Rico. One of these is the Colectivo Casco Urbano de Cayey…

Many studies and reports, both governmental and academic, plus legislation, have suggested and some mandated the establishment of threat assessment teams to protect campuses. These teams have proliferated across university, college and community college campuses nationally. Despite these efforts, targeted violence continues in our communities and…

"Grow Your Own Teachers" describes the evolution of a local school reform movement in Chicago that now serves as a model for change in schools and teacher preparation programs across the country. Grounded in the grassroots organizing tradition, the Grow Your Own (GYO) teacher initiative involves collaboration between community-based…

This article describes a model of civic engagement based on four key community organizing practices, created at Occidental College and implemented since 2001. The foundations of this model do not include confrontation, mass mobilization, or demonstrations--tactics commonly associated with the term community organizing. This model, instead,…

Describes the challenges and rewards of teaching social work, noting mistakes and successes in his approach to the task/opportunity. Using a non-BSW class in community organization practice as the template, he assesses the adaptations needed to teach students with widely diverse academic backgrounds, emphasizing the importance of careful and…

Across the country, cities and regions have used community-wide partnerships to improve the educational attainment of their citizens. The most established of these partnerships have seen substantial education gains during their tenure. The community of Louisville, Kentucky has embarked on a similar effort to improve educational attainment. Nearly…

This paper describes and analyzes an undergraduate course entitled Public Interest Research in which students learn research methods by conducting research on behalf of one or more community organizations. Students' work is conceived of as community action learning, a combination of participatory action research and service learning, emphasizing…

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) increasingly is being used to study and address environmental justice. This article presents the results of a cross-site case study of four CBPR partnerships in the United States that researched environmental health problems and worked to educate legislators and promote relevant public policy. The…

In 1977 a group of urban American Indian organizations got together to protest the leveling of rental housing for urban renewal; then they learned that a community college was going up to replace that housing, right in the middle of the Indian community. Realizing the opportunities for jobs, education, and training, the community leaders decided…