This paper presents a model of community scholarship. Community scholarship is defined as the products that result from the active, systematic engagement of academics with communities for such purposes as addressing a community need, studying community problems and issues, and engaging in the development of projects that build health. The paper…

Collected in this working paper are summary descriptions of 17 innovative community action programs designed to prevent child abuse. These programs were developed by individuals, community groups, hospitals, and/or state chapters of the National Committee for Prevention of Child Abuse, as well as by other groups and organizations. Located in…

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly by the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) "Equity, Access, and Opportunity": Despite Challenges, More Districts Adopt One-to-One Laptop Programs (Colleen Gillard); (2) Small Kids, Big Words: Research-Based Strategies…

The Center's policy and practice analyses have shone a light on how school improvement efforts deal with the various factors interfering with students having an equal opportunity to succeed at school. Unfortunately, the picture that has emerged is rather bleak. Given the continuing difficulties related to reducing dropout rates and closing the…

This report provides an overview of youth violence in Virginia and a look at what some communities are doing about it. Although there is no way to measure all acts of youth violence in Virginia, the extent of the problem can be described through juvenile arrest statistics and school discipline reports. In 1997, Virginia law enforcement officials…

The Family to Family initiative has encouraged states to reconceptualize, redesign, and reconstruct their foster care systems. By 1996, the initiative was being implemented in five states, five Georgia counties, and Los Angeles County, California. This paper describes an approach for nontraditional partnerships that work to rebuild the foster care…

The Child Sexual Abuse Treatment Program (CSATP) of Santa Clara, California, uses professionals from the community, volunteers, and self-help groups of parents and children to provide treatment with a humanistic attitude. A case study illustrates CSATP treatment for father-daughter incest. Effects of father, mother, daughter, and family are…

A mentor program designed to coordinate community experiences for gifted and talented students in 43 schools (grades K through 12) in Springfield (MA) is described and examples of program activities based on J. Renzulli's Enrichment Triad Model are cited. (CL)

The article describes Life Experiences, Inc., an organization in Cary, North Carolina, that operates and maintains facilities and programs for handicapped adults and assists them to function as productive citizens of the community. (DLS)

When the manager of Santa Clarita (California) Valley's local radio station phoned the author to invite fourth through sixth graders to do book reports on the air, teachers enthusiastically agreed. The result is a Tuesday morning program (sponsored by a bookstore) featuring student panels that critically evaluate children's literature. (MLH)

The Iowa Community Betterment (ICB) program provides support to communities attempting to maximize their own resources and create development. In two ICB projects, Edgewood citizens developed badly needed affordable housing and built a golf course, and Greene residents boosted tourism by building a paddlewheel riverboat and supporting local…

Family-and-consumer-sciences students worked with community agencies and residents to prepare an exhibit of family photographs. The project supported development of students' cross-cultural competence and professional skills. (SK)

Discussion of a survey on non-governmental organizations involved in community-based rehabilitation for people with disabilities focuses on differences between collaboration in industrialized and less developed countries; resource dependency; and structural characteristics of organizations that influence their interactions. The limited public…

Reports preliminary evidence on an innovative approach to gang violence which relies on community mobilization, social intervention, suppression, opportunities provision, organizational development, and targeting. Describes program processes and outcomes. The project involved teams of community youth workers, tactical police officers, adult…

Examples of creative programming to meet community needs in State College, Pennsylvania, are described: summer arts and crafts for K-6, intensive English courses for Russian refugees, brown-bag parent education seminars for employees of a local business, and a summer reading initiative. (SK)