This document examines the supports communities provide to adolescents and the contributions adolescents in turn make to communities. In the first section of the document, the capacities adolescents need to function in adult roles are discussed and the supports for developing these capacities available from public policy are described. The…

Disengagement, the final phase in the community development process, receives little attention in the literature. Many community development practitioners make decisions regarding disengagement intuitively. This exploratory study of disengagement from community units was based on interviews with eleven University of Missouri Extension Community…

Strategies and techniques for developing community-based programs for mentally retarded persons in rural areas must take into consideration local circumstances, resources, and characteristics. Rural norms such as overt racial segregation, social conformity, the importance of church, and the stigma of obtaining human services for personal problems…