A community school is a place and a set of partnerships connecting a school, the families of students, and the surrounding community. A community school is distinguished by an integrated focus on academics, youth development, family support, health and social services, and community development. The community school strategy is central to efforts…

Background/Context: Parent involvement in education is widely recognized as important, yet it remains weak in many communities. One important reason for this weakness is that urban schools have grown increasingly isolated from the families and communities they serve. Many of the same neighborhoods with families who are disconnected from public…

This report describes residents' efforts to generate urban change and arrest the decline of their community, Edgewater, a suburb of Chicago, Illinois. The report also examines how events in Edgewater affected and were affected by developments in Uptown (the adjoining predominantly commercial district) and in the Winthrop-Kenmore Corridor that…

A University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign program involving faculty and students in participatory action research to improve community-based organizations in East St. Louis (Illinois) is described. The project's origins, management, community development strategy, and accomplishments are documented, and some of the institutional, environmental,…