This guide suggests that truancy is not just a school problem but a community problem, and the whole community needs to come together to devise solutions. This monthly action kit provides tools to help communities combat truancy. It contains: (1) important facts about truancy; (2) some ideas on how to assess the local problem; (3) actions that can…

A conference in Washington, D.C., brought together leaders from six communities to share their strategies to mobilize residents to fight substance abuse problems. The actions taken by community groups and leaders in the following cities are described: Portland (Oregon); Hampton (Virginia); Baltimore (Maryland); New Haven (Connecticut); Newark (New…

The engine that drives the America 2000 strategy is the Community Challenge--a nationwide movement designed to help America move itself, community by community, toward the six National Education Goals. A community can do four things to become an America 2000 community: (1) adopt the six national education goals; (2) develop a communitywide…

The Goals 2000: Educate America Act calls for partnerships across local, state, and federal levels. This document offers suggestions for community organization to achieve the national education goals. The first section includes information on forming a steering committee, creating task forces, avoiding turf battles and finger pointing, defining…

Noting that the skills of community-building are some of the same skills needed to help families, this newsletter issue focuses on enhancing the resources and leadership in the community as the best way to provide support for families. The articles in the newsletter include: (1) "Building on the Strengths of Communities"; (2)…

Rural social work has its roots both in social movements and in personal social services. Social workers in rural areas need to be effective not only in individual change, but also in organizational or community change, defined as the process by which people attempt to promote the well-being of their community. Similarities exist between…

In a foreword to this document, David Mathews, president of the Charles F. Kettering Foundation, describes in what ways effective communities are different from ineffective ones. Following an introduction, a section on school use suggests that most schools offer nothing to adults without children, so it should be no surprise that many adults are…

This paper reports the effects of Hurricane Hugo on mental health workers and indigenous community members. The response and perceptions of mental health staff from the South Carolina Department of Mental Health (Go Teams) from areas unaffected by the hurricane were compared and contrasted with those of a subsequent Hugo Outreach Support Team…

A new county extension agent, having community development responsibilities, will be concerned with identifying projects, organizing for action, identifying key people for the projects, and identifying the resources needed to undertake new initiatives. Three methods of community action planning are discussed step by step. The social action process…

Substance abuse among adolescents is modeled and reinforced by the peer culture. Experimentation with drugs seems to have become a typical part of normal adolescent development. The solution to adolescent substance abuse will only be arrived at through gathering facts and designing intervention programs based on those facts. Since the two most…

Designed to inspire parents throughout the United States to develop parent support programs, this book describes one such program which successfully operates in a community of 150,000 people. The Postpartum Education for Parents (PEP) program is designed to offer free assistance to families following the arrival of a baby. Specifically, the…

Developed to provide an introduction to the issues surrounding the use of chemical pesticides, this booklet encourages individuals and communities to become active in determining the safe use and regulation of pesticides. The major components of the guide include: (1) an explanation of the issue; (2) pesticides and their effect on human health;…

Involvement of the church in rural community life was investigated by examining the "Fifty-Year Index to Rural Sociology." Findings revealed that 43 separate articles were published from 1944 to 1977 under categories of community life (7 articles); ministers: elite control (4); attitudes (5); beliefs, practices (6); churches (6); church…

Rural economic development depends on implementation of strategies that capture the competitive edge of the total rural environment. It will not succeed by weak duplication of traditional urban development strategies. The historic dependence on the natural resource base that is the common denominator for rural areas must be regarded not as a…

Blacks have been deprived of dignity, pride, and self-esteem by societal conditioning, a denial and lack of knowledge of the black self, and the pervasive presence of disasters and near disasters. Blacks have been victimized and stultified by society's negative attitudes towards them. These negative responses have created a profound lack of…