The paper introduces a 3-level paradigm for community assessment. First, Raza communities are conceptualized as belonging to three phases--culturally homogeneous, culturally in transition, and culturally heterogeneous. Each phase is determined by the proximity of the cities'"barrios" to the home country (Mexico, Puerto Rico, Central America) and by those pockets that have developed in some of the larger cities where Raza people can come in and be in a totally Latino environment. Further analysis develops Tonnes and Nisbet's concept of "gemeinschaft" (cultural homogeneity) and "gesellschaft" (acculturation), or the movement from an autonomous community to one that is dependent on outside services, and the implications this has for meaningful intervention. Second, a causal model of community development that assumes a common disenfranchisement of the Raza is introduced. Using basic path analysis, a cause and effect relationship is conceptualized. This relationship may take either a functional or dysfunctional path based on the "barrio's" experiences with the dominant system and the efficacy of developing grass-roots leadership along those lines. Last, the three-cultural phases are combined with the functional developmental community stages, and the possible areas of leadership action are analyzed with a matrix. The paper addresses issues of cultural pluralism, concepts about communities, and such concepts as community "sociotherapy", anomie, political alienation, empowerment and Raza impact on social problems. (Author/NQ)