Objective: Child Advocacy Centers (CACs) are designed to improve the community collaborative response to child sexual abuse and the criminal justice processing of child sexual abuse cases. CACs, in existence for 16 years, now have standards for membership developed by the National Children's Alliance (NCA) that include nine core components. And…

This essay turns to feminist ethnography and postcolonial theory to address how the figure of "the stranger" haunts the project of community service learning. By explicating the immediate and broader relations of power that structure these "strange(r) encounters," we are more likely to produce the kind of agitated pedagogy that creates…

Refugee students, although frequently subsumed under the "immigrant" heading, often suffer from effects of significant trauma that can make them more vulnerable than children of voluntary immigrant families. This study evaluated a program created specifically for refugee youth at-risk for academic failure and "social death." The program goals…

In this article, the author talks about "honor" and describes how the word has been taken for granted in schools. He explains that "honor" traditionally, has had two meanings, and that the National Honor Society (NHS) reflects the most ancient of them. Like Aristotle, who described honor in his "Nicomachean Ethics" as "the prize of virtue and the…

This article begins by reviewing the development of community education in two-year colleges. It focuses on the five major types of community education programs: adult education, continuing education, lifelong learning, community services, and especially community-based education. The article concludes by discussing the challenges community…

Community-based mental health services are increasingly challenged by waiting lists for individual counseling. A strengths-based, brief solution-focused counseling (BSFC) model was used to increase the number of clients served while maintaining high-quality services. Clients who participated in BSFC experienced both shorter wait times than did…

People facing unemployment or who are underemployed need access to community and financial information and resources 24/7. Collaborating with community agencies and organizations, FCS educators developed a website with comprehensive local and state resources and educational tools that the consumer might otherwise not have been aware were…

Large increases in the need for long-term care (LTC) services are expected as baby boomers age. Little has been published about patient and caregiver preferences for information about LTC. However, our qualitative research findings suggest that potential consumers may find it difficult to obtain accurate and timely information about LTC programs…

The findings of an experiment designed to test and evaluate the impact of two-way cable television (CTV), located in three neighborhood communication centers in Reading, Pennsylvania, on the delivery of public services to senior citizens, indicated that CTV can effectively serve the information needs and preferences of all urban citizens as well…

Describes the Consumer and Homemaking Education Program (CHEP) designed by the Illinois Cooperative Extension Service to help low-income families improve their use and management of available family resources. Description of the program includes program delivery, program assistants, teaching materials, and recent program innovations. (TA)

Background: Surveys of community-based programs are difficult to conduct when there is virtually no information about the number or locations of the programs of interest. This article describes the methodology used by the Helping Young Smokers Quit (HYSQ) initiative to identify and profile community-based youth smoking cessation programs in the…

Professors create their careers through three forms of work: research, teaching, and service. Teaching and research are well defined in most professors' careers and in higher education at large. However, faculty service is nebulous. In this article, the authors define service as faculty members' contributions to (a) the governance, management, and…

Revenue, expenditure, and employment data indicate that county governments--once taken for granted and playing "second fiddle" to municipalities--are playing an increasingly important role (and sometimes a role equal to that of municipalities) as vital service providers. Therefore, one would expect that county governments and municipal governments…

Chronic shortages of health, social service, and mental health professionals in rural areas necessitate creative partnerships in support of families. Cooperative extension professionals in Family and Consumer Sciences and community health nurses, who can bring critical skills to human services teams, are introduced as trusted professionals in…

Background: Community health efforts often include outreach activities designed to increase awareness and ensure uptake of services or programs. Yet, few comprehensive outreach evaluations exist, particularly those designed to improve access to and use of mental health services. Purpose: This article summarizes the use of two established…