Examines how citizens' concern for education can be used to encourage family and community involvement in improving learning. Highlights "America Goes Back to School" program as an opportunity for parent and community involvement in schools. Gives examples of school-family-community partnerships. Lists seven challenges to American…

Examines the role of ethnography as a resource in the process of needs assessment in a multi-ethnic, low-income section of Philadelphia. Analyzes the relationship between the targeted neighborhood's socioeconomic characteristics and human service environment and discusses the work done with neighborhood leaders in developing a plan based on the…

An ethnographic study analyzed parent-child socialization in Mexican-American immigrant and first-generation families in California. Collectivism characterized the childrearing of the immigrant parents and remained a value for the first-generation parents, though socialization practices shifted in an individualistic direction. Both generations…

Determines inner-city community perspectives on quality education; phrases these findings in the context of beginning teacher language, experience, and thinking; and provides advice for beginning classroom teachers. Study findings reveal a number of practices for successful teacher practice, the problems faced by high school students, and teacher…

The Brushy Fork Institute at Berea College, Kentucky, helps develop the leadership skills that rural Appalachian communities need to solve local problems and spur economic development. Community members from 42 rural counties in 4 states (plus 2 student groups at Berea College) have attended weekend workshops at Berea College and returned home to…

Surveys of factors associated with mothers' interest and participation in community task forces for preventing adolescent alcohol use, as part of Minnesota's Project Northland, found nine factors related to interest and participation (e.g., membership in community organizations and contact with parents of children's friends to discuss…

The National Institutes of Health (NIH/NIMH), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the HIV/AIDS Bureau of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) support the CDC's Serostatus Approach to Fighting the HIV Epidemic (SAFE; Janssen et al., 2001). One aim of the strategy is to help individuals living with HIV (and…

At the core of democratic citizenship is deliberation: citizens' tendency and capacity for debating issues of common importance. This study considers civic organizations--often found to be political mobilizers--as political microcultures: environments for political discourse that structure participants' understanding of the practice of…

Historically, schools serving impoverished families trapped in America's urban "ghettos" have been resistant to community participation. Enhanced participation is critically needed, however, if long-term urban school-reform projects and efforts to develop more empowering, community-supporting forms of pedagogy are to succeed. This article examines…

Examples of effective community-based action in defence of minority indigenous language are relatively few. However, three indigenous language committees of Northwest Cameroon, the Bafut, Kom and Nso' language committees, provide dynamic models of the role that community-based organisations can play in the development and maintenance of minority…

The Youth Leadership Institute (YLI), was founded in 1989 to address the clear need among youth-serving institutions, such as schools and school districts, community organizations, health care providers and the public health system, and the juvenile justice system, to give young people a real say in the key decisions, programs, and systems that…

The Innovation Center for Community and Youth Development is a Washington, D.C.-based organization engaged in programming, research, and policy development related to youth civic engagement. Its mission is to unleash the potential of youth, adults, organizations, and communities to engage together in creating a just and equitable society. Strong…

This guide was developed to help new literacy practitioners in Ontario, Canada, become familiar with designing, developing, and delivering literacy programs in the community. The guide is organized in 10 sections according to subject area. The three sections of part 1 deal with the developmental stages of planning, designing, and launching a…

This book presents a step-by-step approach to organizing or strengthening volunteer groups to conserve and manage natural resources. The approach is applicable to both small focused groups and large nonprofit corporations. Three case studies point out the common characteristics of successful conservation organizations, including clear goals, a…

Geared to refugee women, the storytelling project developed by the Refugee Women's Alliance (formerly the South East Asian Women's Alliance) in Seattle, Washington, combines language, cross-cultural, and family skills. The project included development of the storytelling curriculum for English-as-a-Second-Language students, training instructors,…