This qualitative study conducted in urban Miami, Florida, explored the essence of juvenile delinquency and recidivism: its causes, its relations to communities, the roles of families, and the myriad roles of residential treatment programs at rehabilitating young offenders. Data were collected from nine young adult participants who had satisfied…

This report summarizes many of Austin Independent School District's parent and community involvement activities for the 2006-2007 school year.

Social support from intimate and confiding relationships has received a great deal of attention; however, the study of the community as a relevant source of support has been comparatively lacking. In this article, we present a multidimensional measure of community support (Perceived Community Support Questionnaire, PCSQ). Through exploratory and…

The purpose of the current study is to explore the effects of community service work and community involvement on perceptions of self-entitlement--expectations of others to do things for oneself--among undergraduate students. Over the course of a 16-week semester, 26 randomly selected subjects (20 community college psychology students and six…

Hispanic seminary students in American theological schools face considerable challenges as they work to pursue their degrees. Many balance service to the ministry and community involvement with the rigors of academia. Cultural barriers leave students pulled between two worlds. Focus groups of Hispanic seminary students and data drawn from the…

Successful transition planning is a lifelong process in which the student, family members, friends, and professionals come together to develop and act upon a plan that will lead to a successful adult life. For this reason, transition planning has become a part of several federal laws. The most encompassing of these laws, the Individuals with…

This report describes the importance, collaboration procedure, and principles of linking integrated service systems that are community-based and school-linked, established by the National Consensus Building Conference on School Linked Integrated Service Systems. The consensus principles aim to create comprehensive, effective, community-based…

How to build and support the Empowering School is explained. The Empowering School is one in which caring adults empower students to learn to hold meaningful jobs, to enjoy close relationships with caring adults, and to learn to communicate in positive ways. The Empowering School is also a center for social service. Part 1 of this book describes…

This booklet is a guide to setting up a formal mentor program in the community. Mentor programs can take many shapes, whether sponsored through the schools, by businesses, or by churches and volunteer agencies. Like any operation, a volunteer mentor program has various management functions. The planning function sets a mission statement, goals,…

Providing training for teachers and educators in home-school-community involvement is important for an obvious reason: schools don't operate in a vacuum. To be successful in the primary mission of educating the community's children, educators need to know a great deal about the community and the families from which the children come. The focus of…

Community policing and Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) are evolving initiatives that can respond to changing social problems and demands. However, many of the challenges faced by both programs arise out of the fundamentals of human nature. Among the greatest barriers to overcome are: (1) the resistance to change that affects law…

A renewed call from national and state governments to strengthen connections between public schools and their communities invites people outside of the school system to play an active role in the decision-making process. Despite recent efforts to connect public schools and their communities, the two parties remain disconnected. This paper reflects…

Doing something positive about youth gangs will require hard work, attitude change, and enlisting the help of many people. In addition to the many obvious causes of gangs, there are less well-known factors, such as academic achievement, that are related to youth participation in gangs. Participation in extracurricular activities helps young people…

The National Parent Teacher Association (PTA) has developed standards for parent and family involvement in education in conjunction with the National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education and in keeping with the National Education Goals of 1990. These standards are research-based and grounded in sound educational philosophy and practical…

This paper discusses education reform and the need to involve communities in making significant changes to the educational system. The introductory section discusses schools as communities of learners. In such schools the community emerges from a collaborative relationship among parents, community institutions, and the school. Schools will be…