Describes a personal experience in the effort to avoid widespread herbicide spraying. Provides insights for building a successful campaign: involvement, finding support, acceptance of differences of opinion, autonomy from political factions, and not assuming people are closed to healthier alternatives. (MCO)

Community reaction to an address by a speaker for Gay Liberation at Schroeder High School, Webster, New York is described. (DE)

Discussion of decision making focuses on a study that was conducted to examine how policymakers at the local community level use social science information in making decisions. The use of social science information and other information sources in two communities examining health care issues is described. (Contains 18 references.) (LRW)

This paper reviews the New York State Small City School District (SCSD) school budget voting policy debate. State policymakers are debating whether to change from representative to referendum school budget voting in the 57 SCSDs. After examining the arguments, recent research, and possible costs and benefits of referendum budget voting, three…

This directory offers an annotated listing of over 600 of the most active individuals and groups in the United States working on alternative energy technologies. It details their activities, publications, and services with a contact name, address, and telephone number for each. The entries are listed by state and cross-indexed by areas of…

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)

Describes the establishment and results of a study committee asked to review existing pesticide policy, vegetation management programs and provide improvement recommendations in Thurston County, Washington. (MCO)

As an outgrowth of work to establish collaborative relations and to develop strategies for creating, monitoring, evaluating, and improving community programs, this planning guide has been developed to help Urban League chapters and others plan and implement programs for local needs. The guide is organized into the following nine steps: (1) build…

Discusses the history of a citizen's organization on San Antonio's West Side, Communities Organized for Public Service (COPS), which only organizations such as churches, block clubs, and civic groups, can join. Concludes that "COPS has proved that it has vote-getting ability far past the 5,000 people who attend citywide conventions."…

Community activities of Black, former student activists, and nonactivists who attended college during the 1960s were investigated in a longitudinal study conducted in 1969 and 1978. Community involvement among both groups was similar. Although the sample size is small, this is the only study where the data was obtained while subjects were still…

A survey in an unincorporatedurban area compared the major community problems of concern to two groups: (a) randomly selected citizens, and (b) recognized community leaders. The results showed a large divergence of concerns as well as a striking number of citizens who felt themselves to be without spokesmen. (Author/JB)

The cable television situation in New Jersey, particularly as it pertains to the educational potential of the medium is disucssed in this brief document. The stated purpose of the report is to inform New Jersey citizens of some of the options and opportunities that remain open to them in developing municipal cable television systems that are…

This article relates the history of a successful campaign waged by concerned citizens in a community against the local planning commission to preserve an endangered portion of woodland. (JD)

The recent upsurge in persistent urban poverty has been generated by a particular set of American political responses to structural transformation of the global and domestic economies, exacerbated considerably by a long process of highly subsidized suburbanization and racism. Persistent poverty is connected to the following structures and…