The result of a rural development conference, this publication emphasizes the theory of rural public service planning and is addressed to middle and/or top level planners and public administrators and/or researchers concerned with the delivery of public services. The objectives of this 12-paper collection are: to review existing methods and…

This issue of "Civic Partners" is a call to action on behalf of American's cities. The issue opens with John W. Gardner's discussion of the "responsibles" whose vision and energy sustain communities. He stresses that all of us are "responsibles." Among the many tasks that face those responsible for urban improvement is the teaching of conflict…

Asset mapping involves documenting tangible and intangible resources of a community viewed as a place with assets to be preserved and enhanced, not deficits to be remedied. Kretzmann and McKnight (1993) are credited with developing the concept of asset-based community development (ABCD) that draws on appreciative inquiry; recognition of social…

Knowledge and skills needed by lay participants in community development (CD) were proposed by 14 consultants around 10 topical areas. One hundred knowledge and skills statements resulted. The importance of these statements was judged by CD youth leaders and adult specialists. Judgments were factor analyzed, and nine factors emerged. (Author/SSH)

This book is directed at the following audiences: adult educators and others who are either involved in or desire to become involved in community-based work; students of education, the social sciences, or related disciplines who desire information on community involvement as a career or means of fulfilling civic responsibilities, and persons in…

A non-government program trains local action-researchers from villages of Java, Indonesia, to work for grass-roots social change within their communities. Begun in 1977, the program trains local men and women to work with their neighbors to revitalize existing institutions and to gain control over the development programs and social services…

The 3-year Citizen Leadership Program was designed to develop citizen-directed planning in Wisconsin. The first year focused on citizen involvement in land use planning; the second year, on community goal setting; and the third year, on community development projects. A representative group of 30 citizens participated in the program's workshops…

The 2.5-day workshop described in this manual was designed to meet the growing concern that small projects administered by the Peace Corps were not truly community projects or priorities. To foster more community involvement in the design, implementation, and evaluation of projects, this workshop is geared to the training of Peace Corps volunteers…

To help high school students learn first-hand about county and local government, educators in New York state developed a community internship program. The program stressed frequent discussions between students and officials to review meetings they had attended and to assess student progress on journals of local government activities, community…

This report is intended to stimulate public interest and participation in revenue sharing programs, particularly among citizens concerned with the rights of minorities and women. To accomplish this aim, the report describes in considerable detail how revenue sharing works, examines its civil rights implications, and suggests ways in which local…

This volume presents information from a social indicators project designed to shed light on factors affecting civic health in twenty-six communities where John S. and James L. Knight published newspapers and provided grants to improve quality of life. Seven chapters discuss research results: (1) "Listening and Learning" (e.g., growth of…

Discusses the development and implementation of a simulation game for a sixth-grade class that used the structure of Thornton Wilder's play, "Our Town," to examine the geographical issues involved in community planning. The land development issue discussed was based on a real-life local concern. (MJP)

Describes a community-based model for undergraduate education that employs the concept of the citizen scholar. Citizen scholars integrate their academic activities of teaching, research, and community service into a coordinated whole. Discusses development of this model, and the implications and effects of its implementation. (MJP)

This book explores how community functions in "Bremer," a small rural town in eastern Washington. Human interactions in a variety of contexts are analyzed within a framework that posits three distinct eras of social and economic organization: community-control, mass-society, and information eras. Contexts examined are farming (the…

General objective of the workshop was to provide a forum for Asian rural leaders in which they could discern the significance and implication of crucial processes by which human potentialities are harnessed for the integral growth of rural peoples and communities. The central question addressed was how to combine economic growth with social…