An inner-city "community school district" in Washington, D.C. is a pilot project in decentralized urban education. The Anacostia Community School Project (ACSP) was founded in 1968, and comprises 11 schools. The population of the school district is poor, black, and young, and lives largely either in the housing projects or more expensive but often dilapidated garden apartments. Typically, families have recently moved, often because of eviction for urban renewal. ACSP has provided an opportunity to use a variety of techniques in mental health consultation. A group of consultants has encountered several issues which impede the education of poor, black, urban children: mistrust, prejudice, and despair appear when divergent groups have attempted to work together. A consultant, too, must confront issues of his own in moving into this setting--especially his messianic ambitions. Sharing both hopelessness and hope, discussing techniques which succeed and those which fail, and supporting firm leadership, appear to be useful principles of consultation. Ultimately, local community control of schools appears to be a necessary prerequisite of educational reform (Author/JM)