This handbook presents the essential components of a comprehensive family service system for low-income families. It shows, through the documentation and description of two low-income African American communities over 4 years of development work, the types of information that should be collected about community functioning so that informed decisions can be made. It also lists key components of comprehensive family service systems, and makes recommendations for systems development based on the key belief that service systems should be oriented toward developing support structures that empower individuals and families to become confident and competent, and enable them to seek and receive needed services. Section I of the handbook describes the communities in which the development work took place: San Francisco (California) and Marin City (California). Section II lists the four major components of an effective comprehensive family service system: a health system, a social services system, a housing system, and an education system. In addition to the four systems, a coalition strategy must also be developed to link the key systems. This section offers a description of each component, their major elements, and recommendations for implementation. (Contains 29 references) (JB)