Efforts of health professionals are shifting away from programs that "deliver health" toward those that build the capacity of communities to work together to create healthy places. The Healthy Communities Initiative (HCI) is a community development model in central Alberta (Canada) that involves the creation of a widely shared vision of…

Educational attainment for rural African Americans is lower than that of urban African Americans or rural Whites. The African American Church has always had a strong role in providing educational opportunities for African American children and in community activism in general. This digest discusses partnering with rural African American churches…

Asset mapping involves documenting tangible and intangible resources of a community viewed as a place with assets to be preserved and enhanced, not deficits to be remedied. Kretzmann and McKnight (1993) are credited with developing the concept of asset-based community development (ABCD) that draws on appreciative inquiry; recognition of social…

For organizations providing support to mental health consumers, "cultural competency," or the ability to reach out effectively and appropriately to individuals of different cultural backgrounds, is central to meeting the needs of a diverse community. The Cultural Competency Initiative, which was launched in the year 2000, assisted…

Reexamines definitions of "ruralness" and "resources." Describes three types of support services common to human service agencies. Discusses influence as a program development resource, advantage of rural programs, incumbent social work roles related to resource development, and what makes a program successful. Lists four program development…

This report presents data on the civic involvement of U.S. adults, including sources of information, community and political participation, and attitudes toward government and democratic principles. The data are from the 1996 National Household Education Survey, Adult Civic Involvement component. A brief summary of the data is included in the…

This guide, Part 2 of a 6-volume guide, is designed to assist program managers in maintaining comprehensive family-support programs through creative funding. It stresses building a portfolio of resources to serve the families within the communities. It also examines the general principles of financing strategy, potential funding sources, tips on…

This paper examines strategies for state and local leaders to finance supports and services for young children and their families in the wake of welfare reform. It focuses on strategies for revenue reform and for creating public/private partnerships to provide decision makers with current and relevant information on a variety of effective tools…

Because most decisions that affect quality of schools are made in the community, citizens should become school partners in education. This booklet offers the following suggestions for citizen actions: (1) Get informed. As "owners" of the local school board, citizens have a right to know what students are expected to learn. Individuals should…

A Local Education Fund (LEF) is a third-party, nonprofit entity whose agenda, at least in part, consists of developing supportive community and private sector relationships with a public school system. It provides limited private sector support to launch initiatives and broker relationships leading toward school improvement. LEFs are funded by the…

Beginning with a review of recent literature on social conflict, this study adopts Coser's distinction between realistic conflict, which seeks to balance both sides of a disagreement, and nonrealistic conflict, which seeks domination by only one party. Where nonrealistic conflict develops in intense labor-management disputes in public school…

The social studies curriculum for grade 3 in Manitoba, Canada, is presented. The focus of this guide is communities today. Main objectives are to explore: (1) needs, wants, advantages, and disadvantages of people living in communities; (2) ways in which communities depend upon, interact with, and change their environment; and (3) the extent to…

The Carl D. Perkins Vocational Education Act authorizes the use of community-based organizations of proven effectiveness, such as Opportunities Industrialization Centers of America (OIC), to be involved in improving the overall vocational education delivery system. State assistance for vocational education support by community-based organizations…

The increasing institutionalization of teaching has been a central aspect of educational developments in education in Norway because important teaching functions, previously preserved informally in the home and in the local community, have been gradually replaced by formal education. The school-community network has been weakened because few…

Under a Title I grant of the Higher Education Act of 1965, Stark Technical College initiated a community task force for expanding minority opportunities in technical education. The task force, composed of community leaders and college representatives, became operational during the 1976-77 academic year. The need for this program was seen in the…