Hardly anyone can have failed to pick up on the recent flurry of stories in the national press about the Big Society, sparked off by Dame Elisabeth Hoodless's remarks that funds for volunteers are disappearing at an alarming rate, and that this is undermining the very idea of a "Big Society". At the same time, under the government's…

Increasing demands for human services and current government fiscal policies may make volunteerism the major way of improving the individual living conditions and society as a whole. Extension agents are in the front line of persons capable of developing volunteerism at the local level. They have a direct link with local citizens and are familiar…

This is a case study of the TRY Foundation, a privately funded non-profit corporation devoting its resources to "community and human development in disadvantaged areas." Activities sponsored by its primate unit, the Willowbrook Chapter of Watts, Los Angeles, include: thrift shop, preventive dentistry clinic, Operation Vegetable…

This document is intended to assist local authorities in England and Wales who are interested in forming local strategic partnerships (LSPs) with the community and voluntary sectors. Section 1 presents the following guidelines for LSPs when developing a community strategy to meet local priorities: (1) have each local area prepare a plan to improve…

The scope of Western development service organizations includes acting as employment organizations assuring work experience; educational organizations building skills and knowledge; and nonelitist participatory organizations promoting citizen involvement. The organizations provide the following general kinds of services: (1) training and…

The result of extensive research by the Southern Rural Development Center Functional Network on Citizen Participation in Rural Development, this bibliography contains 2,310 citations on citizen participation, 530 of which carry an annotation or abstract. Materials come from computerized information services, published bibliographies, and books or…