Explores how a community of learners maintains itself through the inclusion of new generations, using the example of new parent volunteers at an innovative public elementary school. Describes four models of community maintenance defining the relationship between the community and newcomers. (Author/SLD)

Empowerment is a multidimensional social process that helps people develop power to use in their lives, communities, and society. The Connecticut People Empowering People program builds on the theory of critical adult education to develop skills and supports for empowerment. (SK)

Summarizes findings from studies that address the effects of assets on personal well-being, economic security, civic behavior, women's status, and children's well-being. Examines implications of asset-building demonstrations and research, presenting it as a new way of thinking about antipoverty strategies where resources are emphasized more than…

Interviews with 55 British and 40 Australian community development practitioners identified common phases experienced under New Right governments: retreat/isolation, adaptation/defense, and rebuilding. Britain's experiences suggest that community development practice is resilient, but reliance on government funding may restrain activism. (Contains…

Women participating in grassroots community development in Chile received financial aid, training, and technical assistance in housing, repair and community organization. Relationships and gender played a powerful role in community change. However, their experiences illustrated the constraints on local action. (Contains 31 references.) (SK)

Concept mapping of case studies resulted in nine organizational domains for community empowerment: participation, leadership, organizational structures, problem assessment, resource mobilization, critical awareness, linkages, outside agents, and program management. The domains provide a way to define and measure empowerment. (Contains 45…

Nonformal education can have a significant impact on community development only when education is introduced into the total development process. Content must answer actual needs of the community, and community members should participate in planning, organization, and implementation of education. (SK)

Clarifies the value-laden meanings of "community" in community work discourse. Centers on the concepts of Gemeinschaft (community), Gesellschaft (association), and Bund (league or federation). Examines the insights of community studies and the practice of community work within the Judeo-Christian value system. (SK)

Adult educators can support communities in search of sustainability by helping them resist globalization and build civil capital (community action that blocks or challenges unsustainable activities). Grounded in life values, civil capital can form the basis of a civil society. (SK)

The arts can play a role in regeneration of areas of economic, social, cultural, and environmental disadvantage. Field study of four arts projects in Scotland identified (1) the need for community consultation and involvement; (2) uses of hard and soft data; (3) strategic use of the arts within overall community regeneration policy; and (4) the…

Study of three community collaborations in family violence coordinating councils identified factors influencing sustainability: clearly stated goals, identification of key members, and good internal and external communication. Collaborations succeed when they enable individuals and their organizations to agree on vision, mission, and goals. (SK)

Considers whether two rural traditions of Irish community development--community councils and community cooperatives--conform to models of radical and pragmatic collective action. Shows that both have features of both models but gravitate more toward pragmatic, populist action rather than radical transformative change. (Contains 24 references.)…

Funding for community development in Ireland promotes a conflict management approach. Defining women's roles as apart from conflict is a political maneuver that does not aid reduction of conflict, obscures women's political agency, and limits the access of women's organizations to funding. (Contains 52 references.) (SK)

Describes the development of a new transformational vision for Albion College in Michigan, which led to a community envisioning process off campus. The result was a new city-college partnership designed to promote the development of the city of Albion as "The Smart Community." (EV)

Principles for participatory community development are as follows: humility and respect; power of local knowledge; democratic practice; diverse ways of knowing; sustainability; reality before theory; uncertainty; relativity of time and efficiency; holistic approach; and decisions rooted in the community. (SK)