This article documents how an MSW student in an introductory community practice course took her class assignment and over the course of two years revitalized, democratized, and transformed a sclerotic, corporate-run Home Owners Association (HOA). While the community analysis assignment required the student to interview six of her neighbors, the…

The relevance of the researched problem is caused by existence of differentiation in development of separate regional units (urban districts and municipalities) within the region. The aim of this article is to offer a method, which determines the level of differentiation in development of various components of the region, and also in producing a…

Many academic departments are making efforts to increase faculty and student community engagement as part of a movement to revitalize the civic function of higher education. A case study of the development of a public sociology program provides examples of steps that can be taken to involve educators and students in communities in multifaceted…

Community strategic visioning is a citizen-based planning process in which diverse sectors of a community collectively determine a future state and coordinate a plan of action. Twenty-one communities in rural Montana participated in a multi-phase poverty reduction program that culminated in a community strategic vision process. Research on this…

There is an increasing interest in the humanitarian engineering curriculum, and a service-learning placement could be an important component of such a curriculum. International placements offer some important pedagogical advantages, but also have some practical and ethical limitations. Local community-based placements have the potential to be…

Community visioning is based upon principles that maximize group participation in a creative problem-solving process. The process itself is structured to solicit and use the full range of interests and expertise within a given community to develop an implementation plan that specifically addresses the needs of the community and that fosters change…

Differences between old-timers and newcomers and their effects on community social dimensions have been the object of much research. These studies have shown how extensive in-migration of people with different socioeconomic backgrounds, values, and perspectives contribute to heightened social conflict in some communities. Popular media accounts…

Explains the process of community development and points out ways in which a librarian's knowledge of the community can be enhanced by this community planning process if librarians involve themselves in the identification of community problems and participate in their solution. (Author/PF)

Criticisms of rational synoptic planning are that it is elitist, simplistic, and supportive of existing power relationships. An alternative, people-centered community planning, views the population to be studied as ideological and historical beings, uses knowledge of and by the people as a base, requires interpersonal as well as analytical skills,…

Intended to help Future Farmers of America (FFA) members develop skills in improving their communities under the Building Our American Community Program, this publication provides guidance on how FFA chapter members can be active citizens and use democratic processes. Section I, Identifying and Analyzing Communities, consists of four chapters.…

What 4-H members need to know about their community and how they can be promoted into participation as citizens are problems investigated in this study. The objectives were to develop descriptions of needs and extent of youth involvement in varied community social structures and to ascertain the types of implementation that are best suited to…

Brooks Farm is an independent Black farming community unique in the Mississippi Delta. A community case study shows that, despite declining population and resources, Brooks Farm has drawn on the strength of its traditional institutions (family, churches, civic groups) to sustain community life and to continue to provide services to the elderly,…

In this article, the author talks about the experiences of many of the people involved in the Carnegie Project, an effort in the 1960s to establish ties with the "tribal community"--people who spoke Cherokee as their first language and lived in small kin-related settlements spread across five counties in northeastern Oklahoma--and…

This book represents a collection of 7 works by authors arguing for the support of public spending on the arts: (1) "Introduction: The Value of Economic Reasoning and the Arts" (Harry Hillman-Chartrand), examines the changing social perception of the arts over time, and describes the interaction among the sectors of the arts; (2)…

The two communities compared tended to support the proposition that communities following an integrative style of development are characterized by coordinative structures including associational, while the contrary is true for communities following the autonomous style. Available from: Editorial and Business Offices, Piazza Cavalieri di Malta, 2,…