Workforce development organizations often find it challenging to assess how former program participants are faring in the labor market, since they need to rely on participants' willingness to report and verify their job placements after they either leave or complete their programs. The 2013 Unemployment Insurance Data Sharing Bill (S5773A) amended…

This paper outlines a collaborative approach to the design of open educational resources (OER) with community stakeholders so they can be shared with other community practitioners openly, online and repurposed for other contexts. We view curriculum not as something that educationalists provide but rather something that emerges as learners engage…

The Jeffrey Town model for community development has been effectively applied to the rural community of Jeffrey Town in Jamaica with Information and Computer Technology (ICT) as a key element. The farmer's association is the vehicle that has driven the change. Included is a brief outline of the community plus highlights of the tangible and…

The Kettering Foundation is a nonprofit, operating foundation rooted in the American tradition of cooperative research. The foundation seeks to identify and address the challenges to making democracy work as it should through interrelated program areas that focus on citizens, communities, and institutions. Each issue of this annual newsletter…

All corners of the media are scrutinising David Cameron's "Big Society", from every conceivable angle. While the concept has caught the public's imagination, the greater challenge of fleshing out what the Big Society will actually offer and require of communities is unfinished business. The National Council for Voluntary Organisations…

Despite progress in urban teacher preparation over the past 40 years, concerns still remain about transforming programs and practices in order to affect teachers' capacities to work with culturally diverse communities. These concerns include time in course curricula for discussion and reflection on field-based work, adequate supervision in…

The Uniontown, Alabama Community Health Project trained and facilitated Community Health Advisors (CHAs) in conducting a theory-based intervention designed to reduce the risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) among rural African-American women. The multiphased project included formative evaluation and community organization, CHA recruitment and…

Discusses the increased interest in community development and the support for community-development training. Describes community-development training aimed at practitioners in the professional sector and at public servants in the bureaucratic sector. (JOW)

O'Gorman provides "Five Points for Reflection" on nongovernmental and community organizations in Brazil. Speyer and Tedrus discuss "Community Libraries: An Experience in Community Development in the Periphery of Sao Paulo." (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)

A reading campaign among Palestinians combined learning with community building at the level of personal and community abilities, values, and beliefs. The project created long-lasting change by combining local resources and fostering the ability to work cooperatively and solve problems collectively. (SK)

Discusses various aspects of community work in Australia: national context, consensus politics, early community work, literature and training, current trends in Australian community work, localist programs, and community work politics. (CT)

Community-based Learning (CSBL) is based on the idea that learning is facilitated when the classroom is linked with real-world experience. This paper presents an overview of the pedagogical basis of community service-based learning (CSBL) and compares CSBL projects carried out in two very different settings. The findings indicate that in order to…

Six community builders in Edmonton, Alberta, planned, developed, and implemented Listen and Learn II, a reflective research project in asset-based community building, over a 6-month period in 1998. They met regularly over 2 months to plan the research and design a method that was open to participation at any stage, encouraged exchange of…

The Torrens Valley Youth Programme in rural Australia is an example of a partnership between a community center and a nongovernmental organization to provide youth services. The program overcame such barriers as differing organizational values and culture, different approaches (top-down, hands-on), insufficient funding, and opposition from the…