The article uses the Israeli kibbutz of Degem as an example of community planning in an almost ideal setting, yet illustrates how the presence of special interest groups and factional groups complicates pursuing and achieving common objectives. (AG)

This social case describes the foundation of a commission whose object is to organize a recreation group for preschool children. The efforts to choose a commission was affected by the antagonism between the old members and the new members. The worker of the community describes his efforts in bringing the groups together. (Author/RR)

Clarifies the value-laden meanings of "community" in community work discourse. Centers on the concepts of Gemeinschaft (community), Gesellschaft (association), and Bund (league or federation). Examines the insights of community studies and the practice of community work within the Judeo-Christian value system. (SK)

Community work is critical pedagogy because it is located at the interface of liberation and domination. Community workers are situated either as perpetuators of the status quo or as agents of transformative change. (Contains 29 references.) (SK)

A survey of 26 human service agencies in an empowerment zone found the following: 73% used interns, few from social work; 57% used empowerment in mission statements (more economic than social agencies); 69% of these wanted community practice interns; and higher-budget agencies were better able to negotiate the empowerment zone system. (Contains 20…

British local authority and decision making procedures are described for community developers. Included are potential ways of influencing the authority system, and problems and areas of weakness that may be encountered in dealing with the system. (ABM)

Provides an overview of the issues facing community development in Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. Discusses possibilities for international cooperation across Europe in the 1990s. (SK)

This article briefly describes and analyzes (in a historical perspective) the role of local neighborhood committees as they exist in hundreds of urban neighborhoods in Israel, describes the study procedures and the research findings, and in the final part discusses and analyzes the findings. (CT)

This article examines some of the reasons why community workers get involved with neighborhood information centers, and shows how unrealistic expectations of these workers can limit and disguise the achievements of these centers. (SK)

Relationship between neighborhood characteristics and community development corporations (CDCs) was examined in Jackson, Mississippi. CDCs were more likely to be in neighborhoods with significant numbers of disenfranchised groups and disinvestment in the built environment. They act as subcontractors, which limits their power and mirrors structural…

Cross-site observation of Lifting New Voices, a national initiative to involve youth in community development, indicated the following: (1) youth participation has multiple impacts; (2) facilitating factors are youth as leaders, adult allies, and intergenerational bridges; and (3) obstacles include conditioning, withdrawal of disadvantaged…

Discusses the increased interest in community development and the support for community-development training. Describes community-development training aimed at practitioners in the professional sector and at public servants in the bureaucratic sector. (JOW)

O'Gorman provides "Five Points for Reflection" on nongovernmental and community organizations in Brazil. Speyer and Tedrus discuss "Community Libraries: An Experience in Community Development in the Periphery of Sao Paulo." (SK)

Social services in China are provided primarily by local street offices and residents' committees, both serving as mechanisms for social and political control. Improvements in community development are dependent on professional training and separation from political education and mobilization. (SK)

Includes "The Case of Western Europe: Integration and Change in the EEC--The Fortress and the Excluded" (Conroy); "The Case of Eastern Europe: Why Community Development Still Has to Find a Role in Hungary" (Tausz); and "The Case of the Third World: People's Self-Development (Rahman). (SK)