An Irish community organization's experience of partnering with a government agency led to the following recommendations: train staff to understand the partnership process; refine structures for effective consultation and interaction; develop a code of practice and standards; improve communication; and adapt to new methods of working. (SK)

Muintir na Tire was founded in 1931 as a cooperative society for rural development in Ireland. From 1937-70, it shifted to a vocationalist mode; 1970 to the present focused on restructuring the movement. Currently, it needs to press for its share of available funding for community development. (SK)

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)

Considers whether two rural traditions of Irish community development--community councils and community cooperatives--conform to models of radical and pragmatic collective action. Shows that both have features of both models but gravitate more toward pragmatic, populist action rather than radical transformative change. (Contains 24 references.)…

THE OVERALL GOAL OF COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION FOR CITIZEN PARTICIPATION WAS TO REALIZE TO THE FULLEST EXTENT A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY. THE COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION TRIED TO HAVE THE ENTIRE COMMUNITY, FROM THE TOP EXECUTIVE TO THE SLUM TENANT DWELLER, REPRESENTED AT ALL MEETINGS. THIS NEW CITY-WIDE CIVIC AGENCY, ENTITLED ACTION FOR BOSTON COMMUNITY…

Case studies of two British and two Danish community-based organizations show that they developed as a result of both top-down government support and bottom-up community activity, and they operate both in and against the state. Recent reductions in government support threatens the future development of the community base of social policy, even…

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)

Governmental and nongovernmental community work in Israel is examined through five dimensions: locus of initiation, funding, goals, intervention methods, and levels of complexity. A new division of labor among public, voluntary, and private sector community work is proposed. (SK)

Community workers should leave training with a foundation for liberatory practice. Their educational experience should be consistent with the rhetoric of community development; it should use learner-centered methods and transformative learning, and provide conditions in which learners can create their own knowledge. (SK)

This article argues that community workers in schools and colleges are failing to meet the needs of the communities that they are supposed to serve. (Editor)

The Mexican American Unity Council aims to bring about economic and social change to San Antonio's Chicano community. (NQ)

Argues that those activities variously called community development, organization, action, or education involve the imposition of the values and beliefs of community workers or agencies upon their clientele and that community work has a strong, albeit unintentional, manipulative or exploitative aspect. (SK)

In an assessment culture, credit-based education and training are increasingly important in voluntary and community sectors. Examples from Hungary and Britain were used to develop a democratic participative model to identify the need for and relevance of credit and to use qualifications to further civil society. (Contains 53 references.) (SK)