Geographical, economic, social and cultural barriers to accessing services in rural areas are widely reported. Less widely discussed are dilemmas posed by individual and community reluctance to address sensitive health issues. This article, focusing on the highly sensitive area of mental health, and employing a participatory action approach,…

Experimental efforts to carry out a program of neighborhood one-to-one volunteer activity by urban low-income black elderly were unsuccessful. An alternate program of volunteering for group activities emerged. Environmental perils, limited professional supports, and volunteer characteristics were seen as accounting for the changed focus. (Author)

The author argues that direct citizen participation cannot influence educational policy or restore the power of lay boards in public education. Asserting that more can be accomplished by a technically trained organization working within the bureaucracy, he cites the accomplishments of the Education Clearinghouse, a nonprofit group of…

After many efforts to lift the achievement of its high numbers of culturally and linguistically diverse students, a district in Massachusetts realized that the missing link was parent involvement. In this article, the author describes a program the district created to improve relationships between teachers and families and the enormous difference…

Developed by the Gulf Coast Jewish Family Service, this handbook describes the Adopt-a-Grandchild Program, which matches older volunteers with children in need of adult guidance. The handbook is divided into the following sections: (1) program description; (2) guidelines for professional volunteers; (3) a job description for volunteers; (4)…

This review concerns the influences of the community on learning. These influences are numerous and complex, and include family, culture, and local customs. This review analyzes representative cross-sections of the literature within three domains: community constructs, the program literature, and the research literature. (BW)

Concurrent with a needs assessment and community input study, a research team undertook two behavioral science research efforts. The first was an identification and examination of the influence network through which local leadership was organized. The second was an examination of how those who constituted the network of policy-making influentials…

Discussions about the social responsibility of businesses have led to questions about the social responsibility of academic institutions. As governmental support of community activities appears to be lessening, activities by educational institutions in support of local communities becomes more essential. New developments in the linkage between…

The proceedings at fifteen career education site visits are detailed in this phase 2 final report. (Phase 1, community organization mini-conferences, is described in CE 020 110.) Notes from these visitations cover such programs as career education centers, school system-based programs, and education-work councils. Several site-visit purposes are…

The model, structure, program, and impacts of the Newton (Massachusetts) Community Schools are described as exemplary of community education service delivery. The Newton Community Schools have two components: education of the whole community and the involvement of citizens in program and policy decision-making. Section 1 of the report provides a…

This paper describes a 1993-94 pilot program in Memphis (Tennessee) that was developed to increase the number of minority students prepared for, matriculating to, and graduating from postsecondary institutions. The communitywide partnership of institutions that implemented the program is described, along with the needs assessment commissioned by…

The economic and political forces behind recent calls for excellence in education are pointing to necessarily dramatic changes in the nature of the teaching profession. Members of the business community, state political leaders, and teachers are working together--with substantial private and state monies--to implement a radical reform agenda that…