R. Benjamin Wiley has led the Greater Erie Community Action Committee (GECAC) in Erie, Pennsylvania, since 1969, creating a wide range of human services programs. His passion for education is reflected in the GECAC Learning Center, which offers numerous training and educational programs for residents of all ages, and in the GECAC Community Charter…

This study examines the perceptions of teachers, administrators, parents, community members, and high school students about the science learning environment. The participants were active members of a grant project aimed at creating community action teams. Varrella and Burry-Stock's (1997) Beliefs About Learning Environments (BALE) Instrument was…

The field of environmental health promotion gained new prominence in recent years as awareness of physical environmental stressors and exposures increased in communities across the country and the world. Although many theories and conceptual models are used routinely to guide health promotion and health education interventions, they are rarely…

This paper sets forth an interdisciplinary interpretation of social capital that will permit the concept to be used with precision in scholarly and scientific work. If the interpretation is accepted, the social capital concept cannot be regarded as a social theory, nor as a statement of normative goals. The interdisciplinary concept proposed here…

Migrant farmworkers are the most disadvantaged of minority groups, but their needs and problems go unnoticed and unmet in most communities. Mobility, language and cultural differences, and health and nutrition problems combine to produce negative effects on school achievement. An estimated 70 percent of adult migrants have not completed high…

Substance abuse treatment has been demonstrated to be effective in reducing not only substance use, but also the economic, health, and social costs associated with substance abuse. This document examines how health care reform can preserve and enhance community substance abuse services. The cost effectiveness of funding substance abuse prevention…

This document is composed of two parts: a bibliography of community organizing and support materials and a directory of community organizing resource centers. The 25 bibliographic entries are grouped according to subject, and include author, title, publication date, publisher, number of pages, annotation, and ordering information. Subjects…

This guidebook is part of a series of publications about public/private partnerships. The guidebook has a three-fold goal: (1) Spark the aging network's interest in developing and expanding public/private partnerships in volunteerism; (2) Provide guidance on how to create such partnerships; and (3) Share examples of partnerships that other aging…

Written as a response to fear, helplessness, and the sense of powerlessness that can be caused by pervasive violence in society, this book provides ideas for actions that individuals, along with friends, family, and neighbors, can take to prevent violence and create a safer environment. The book is divided into three main parts. Part 1, "Joining…

This handbook is written to help community coalitions and other groups fighting substance abuse develop indicators that describe the scope and nature of local substance abuse problems. These indicators can be powerful tools in efforts to combat substance abuse. They provide a picture of the local impact of substance abuse problems and make it…

The recent upsurge in persistent urban poverty has been generated by a particular set of American political responses to structural transformation of the global and domestic economies, exacerbated considerably by a long process of highly subsidized suburbanization and racism. Persistent poverty is connected to the following structures and…

This analysis is the third of a series of seven reports on the ways that the urban fiscal crisis has affected children. There has been little reorganization of government services on the state, regional, or local level to compensate for the benefits to children lost as a result of local property tax limitations enacted under Proposition 2-1/2 in…

The tremendous economic, cultural, and social changes that have taken place in the United States in the past 30 years have significantly altered family life. To meet the needs of families, communities and family structures have changed. For the past 10 years, the National Government has been redefining its role in relation to the family. While it…

Since its founding in 1983, The Jefferson Foundation has engaged increasing numbers of Americans in study and discussion of the U.S. Constitution. Through participation in Jefferson Meetings on the Constitution citizens will come to a fuller understanding of how the Constitution was made, why it designed the national government the way it did, and…

This case study concerns the forming of a Marietta, Ohio unity committee, entitled Citizens for Social and Racial Justice, in response to the local Ku Klux Klan's (KKK) request for a parade permit in order to demonstrate against blacks in this city. Marietta, the county seat of Washington County, Ohio, has a population composed of both white and…