Purpose: Lead is a well-established environmental contaminant that over the last 50 years has become recognized as a neurotoxin with its greatest concern for the developing child (i.e. both in-utero and postnatally). What is problematic is that children exposed to lead often come from lower socioeconomic status (SES), are largely Black communities…

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…

University faculty and outreach program directors have been called to deliver more effective, equitable, and sustainable ways in which neighborhood and university communities may creatively interact. The authors report on the case of the Pittsburgh Studio, an initiative that matches students and resident stakeholders in researching local issues…

This article challenges social (dis)organization theory by investigating the impact of religious culture on civic engagement. Using qualitative data from 'Bridge View,' a historically African-American neighborhood in San Francisco experiencing environmental racism, this article asks: (1) How does the Nation of Islam (NOI) affect social…

A 45-block area of the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, New York was chosen to illustrate how a poor urban community with the physical potential for restoration might be transformed by a local, unconventional college. About 500,000 poor people live in the area, 95% of whom are Negro or Puerto Rican, and almost 50% of these have only a ninth…

Redlining of many urban communities and discrimination against the poor and minorities are common in the insurance industry, and these practices contribute to the deterioration of those communities. The utilization of a structural/disinvestment approach by social scientists should provide additional information about the uneven development of…

Describes the activities of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) in which student volunteers work as organizers with low income neighborhood groups to help them deal with economic and political issues. Includes ACORN state offices and a community organizer job description. (MF)

Community-based development organizations (CBDOs) appear to be a major force for the economic and physical rejuvenation of distressed, low-income communities. A CBDO is a private nonprofit group that serves a low-income community or constituency, is governed by a community-based board, and is an ongoing producer, with at least one completed…

Community foundations can be effective vehicles for channeling support to low income neighborhood organizations. This document comprises a guide for community foundations to help them develop their grantmaking and programming skills and to connect with other elements of community leadership. Chapter 1, "Why Support Low Income Neighborhood…

The lives of poor minority city residents demonstrate the diversity, multiple potentials, and vulnerability to external structures. In spite of the stereotypes of failure and the very real problems of the urban poor, there are many strengths among the so-called urban underclass and there are aspects of life that are successful and productive. In…

The suburbanization of employment is examined as a key change in metropolitan settlement structure. Settlement structure refers to the physical landscape of the city and the social landscape of boundaries and routes. The study seeks a middle ground between the breadth of a national study and the depth of a local study. Conditions that characterize…

This guide shares information about setting up and operating Neighborhood Networks centers. (These centers operate in Department of Housing and Urban Development-assisted or -insured housing nationwide to help low-income people boost their basic skills and find good jobs, learn to use computers and the Internet, run businesses, improve their…

Presented in this book are studies of social projects for economically disadvantaged inner-city youth engaged in neighborhood revitalizations in low-income communities around the country. Children and teens are highlighted as they participate in nonschool initiatives to achieve economic and political self-determination coupled with personal…

Argues that Neighborhood Development Organization (NDO) staffs and volunteers have a faulty understanding of the political economies of poor urban communities, and have adopted a free market orientation. Recommends an alternative "organizing-driven" model of community development. (FMW)

During the 1995-96 school year, the 387 nonpublic schools of Chicago (Illinois) enrolled 104,636 students, while the 550 public schools had an enrollment of 412,921. One of every five Chicago students attended a nonpublic school. About 10% of Chicago private school students are in schools that cater to the upper and middle class, but the majority,…