Focuses on the community disintegration caused by violence and conflict in South Africa. Examines the need for social reconstruction and development and the challenges facing community workers in the changing social and political context. (SK)

Empowerment is a contested concept, an ideology creating new forms of control. Conceptualizing it as a multilevel construct is a step toward building a new hegemony for the working class, by raising consciousness of control, participation, shared vision, and ownership. (SK)

Draws on a wide range of theoretical and empirical literature and community-development experiences to investigate soulful practices within the field. Suggests that it is time to talk openly about soul in community development. (Author)

Community work is critical pedagogy because it is located at the interface of liberation and domination. Community workers are situated either as perpetuators of the status quo or as agents of transformative change. (Contains 29 references.) (SK)

Describes features of learning communities: they transform themselves, share wisdom and recognition, bring others in, and share results. Provides the case example of the Upper Savannah River Economic Coalition. Discusses actions of learning communities, barriers to their development, and future potential. (SK)

Seeks to justify the educational practice of dialogue and its contributions to community development. Contends that the central element and cause of dialogue is constituted within the non-formal educational process. States that Paulo Freire emphasizes the role of words and its basis as a creative synthesis of theory and practice. (BT)

Inauthentic participation may be limited to providing inputs, giving the community no power. However, even weak participation in the form of utilization, contributions, enlistment, cooperation, and consultation can have benefits. (Author/SK)

A study of participatory evaluation by learning teams at 10 rural sites of the Empowerment Zones/Enterprise Communities program showed the importance of separating indicators of participation from project impacts. Evaluation of three categories was recommended: citizen participation (process indicators), impact of participation on individuals and…

Groupware was used to survey rural development practitioners and policymakers about professional relationships, skills, and expertise. The software created an inventory of the social and knowledge capital of this community of interest but was not enough to sustain ongoing, active participation. (Contains 42 references.) (SK)

To better understand the long-term effects of rapid boom growth, we reexamine four subjective indicators of community satisfaction and social integration in Delta, Utah, which were originally analyzed by Brown, Geertsen, and Krannich in 1989. With 24 years of longitudinal data, we find that within approximately a decade of the boom period three of…

A community school is a place and a set of partnerships between the school and community resources. The community school strategy integrates academics, health and social services, youth and community development, and civic engagement to improve student learning and to develop stronger families and healthier communities. This report presents a…

A pervasive anti-statism often blinds us to the democratic victories in the past and thus to possibilities in our future. This article argues that big government can democratize society and uses historical investigation to make the point. The study of history emancipates us from the tyranny of the present. Progressive social change has come about…

This article offers an original review of research and reports about young Indigenous children's language development needs and approaches to meeting them. The review addresses not only children's acquisition of an Indigenous language but also their acquisition of other languages (e.g., English and French), because their progress in one linguistic…

Universities, because of their vast human and fiscal resources, can play the central role in assisting in the development of school-centered community development programs that make youth development their top priority. The Futures Academy, a K-8 public school in the Fruit Belt, an inner-city neighborhood in Buffalo, New York, offers a useful…

Critical approaches to HRD do not focus solely on improving organizational performance; instead, they address previously undiscussable issues such as power, politics, class, sexism, racism, and heterosexism. Since critical HRD often seeks to raise problems instead of solve them immediately, it is sometimes criticized for being elitist and detached…