This article describes a ten-year effort led by youth, community organizers, and a range of partners that resulted in two new, successful high schools and showed the power of grassroots mobilization for social justice. Since opening in 2009 and 2010 respectively, Felicitas and Gonzalo Mendez High School for College and Career Preparation and…

Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) provides opportunities for scholars and students to respond directly to community needs; students also practice critical thinking, problem-solving, and conflict-resolution skills necessary for professional life and engaged citizenship. The challenges of involving undergraduate students in CBPR include…

In this article, Michael McAfee and Mauricio Torre reflect on the successes and challenges of the Promise Neighborhoods movement as it works toward education equity, and on what it takes to effect large-scale, sustainable change for low-income communities and communities of color. Together they discuss the Chula Vista Promise Neighborhood project…

The 2008 presidential election catapulted "community organizers" into the media fray and raised awareness about community organizing. At the University of San Diego (USD), a course teaching consensus organizing techniques to address community issues was instituted in 2004. The course incorporates traditional undergraduate students and…

Antonio Villaraigosa, the mayor of Los Angeles, comes alive when recalling his start in local politics--as a labor organizer agitating for reform inside decrepit and overcrowded schools. In his quest to turn around the schools, the mayor has united working-class Latino parents, civil rights leaders, and big-money Democrats to challenge union…

California's vast Central Valley has been called "the Appalachia of California" and "the Other California." Long neglected as either irrelevant or hopeless, the Central Valley has become the focus of government and private philanthropists who understand the growing importance of this region to the state and the nation. The…

Describes the incorporation of Simi Valley and its governmental structure based on human resources, environmental affairs, public services, and general services. Discusses the neighborhood safety agency and neighborhood councils and the role of the neighborhood council coordinator. (DN)

Because federal expenditures for child care services provided under contract are increasing, the U.S. General Accounting Office reviewed federal and state administration of contracts for such services in California and Pennsylvania. Under title IV-A, states receive federal funds for child-care programs to help welfare families move from dependency…

In spite of funding constraints and legislatively mandated growth caps, the California community colleges, as the major provider of occupational education in the state, must play a significant role in serving and retraining workers displaced by plant shutdowns and mass layoffs. In response to these problems, a study was conducted to identify the…

Defining basic concepts re: the New Federalism Acts, this monograph presents the following: (1) survey results of a study of 21 small cities in the California Sacramento Valley designed to determine why local administrative and elected officials had or had not taken advantage of the Housing and Community Development Act (H/CD) of 1974; (2) survey…

Recent growth of rural communities and economies will change the role that community developers play. Based on the survey responses of 533 new migrants to five types of California rural communities, data indicate that the major role of community developers will be to coordinate and facilitate organizations in rural areas. (Author/SSH)

A STUDY SURVEY WAS CONDUCTED TO DETERMINE WHETHER OR NOT VOTERS WOULD GIVE FINANCIAL SUPPORT TO EDUCATIONAL PROJECTS IF THEY WERE FULLY INFORMED OF NEEDS, AND WHETHER CURRENT COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUES WERE ADEQUATE IN EFFECTIVELY INFORMING THE PUBLIC OF SCHOOL NEEDS. SPECIFIC VOTER AND COMMUNITY CHARACTERISTICS WERE EXPLORED AS THEY RELATE TO…

This draft report on the development and testing of a child care Provider Services Network (PSN) model in Santa Clara County, California, includes a handbook (Manual to Optimize a PSN) designed to provide the State Department of Education and regional or local child care coordinating agencies with information needed to develop PSN optimization…

Over the past decade, the Human Services Agency (HSA) of San Mateo County, California, has implemented a series of management and staff processes designed to facilitate the delivery of services to county residents. Examples of these services are as follows: (1) regionalization (HSA offices are located throughout the county, and office staff and…