Community Work:

This article presents a typology of models of community work currently extant in the United Kingdom. It focuses on clarifying theoretical points through analysis of the currently most widely accepted contemporary models in use throughout the UK: community care; community organization; community development; social/community planning; community education; and community action, and developing models of feminist community work, and black and anti-racist community work. The typology presented is organized on a continuum from models focused on ''care'' to those focusing on ''action.'' Each model is analyzed in relation to the following characteristics: strategy; workers' main roles; and typical agencies and examples of work. Selected critical key texts treating each model are documented. Discussion highlights similarities and differences among the models particularly with regard to techniques and skills and ideological traditions to provide a framework to understand community work practice.     

Community Connections: Social Capital and Community Success1

This article examines the impact of two types of community social capital—ties between civic organizations formed through shared members and ties between residents formed through socializing in local gathering places—on residents’ subjective appraisals of community success. Community social capital studies tend to focus on the first of these types of ties, networks of civic engagement, while the second, gathering place networks, has received relatively little scholarly attention. Studying both allows me to assess the formal and informal arenas of community sociability, providing a more thorough understanding of social capital and community life. I assess the effects of community‐level social capital networks on the individual‐level experience of residing in the community using survey data on 9,962 residents from 99 small towns in Iowa. This rich data set allows me to avoid two shortcomings common in social capital research: I construct genuine network measures of social capital (rather than infer network structure from community attributes) and conduct multi‐level analyses (rather than rely on disaggregation). My findings indicate both types of social capital are positively and significantly associated with resident ratings of community success, suggesting community networks—in both the formal and informal sectors—have important consequences for small towns and their residents.     

Community Foundations: A Growing Resource for Community Development

Like many nonprofit organizations, community development corporations (CDCs) rely on various sources of funding and support for their activities in poor and distressed neighborhoods. Funders often include the federal government, state and local government agencies, financial institutions, and philanthropic organizations. The author explains how community foundations are different from other philanthropic organizations and describes the various mechanisms that community foundations use to support community development. She suggests that there is a natural fit between the purpose of community foundations and the philosophy of community development, concluding that it is important for CDCs, as well as other nonprofit organizations, to understand how community foundations are different from other philanthropic organizations so that they may better position themselves to take advantage of the many resources that community foundations bring to their communities.     

Modelling Community Work:

This paper argues that the most useful aspect of Rothman's development of his models for community practice back in 1968 was his specification of the variables which he used to differentiate between ''three important orientations to deliberate or purposive community change in contemporary American communities, both urban and rural, and overseas'' (Rothman, 1970, p. 21). While Rothman referred to these three orientations as Models A, B, and C, my contention has been that they would be described more accurately as approaches to practice which are adopted as the outcome of modelling activity using the variables Rothman identified. Indeed it is to the point that Rothman now refers to these as ''modes.'' Yet, ironically, this core feature of Rothman's work on modelling community practice is largely overlooked in subsequent literature on models even though it is this aspect which is an invaluable tool for practice, especially for students embarking on placement or on their first job. This paper starts from the premise that a model is a simplification of reality that is intended to order and clarify our perception of that reality while still encapsulating its essential characteristics. To have analytical value a model should specify key variables to be considered in assessing a situation in order to develop and evaluate possible action plans. Thus a model should enable prediction of likely outcomes if a particular plan of action is pursued. The paper starts, therefore, by refining the variables identified by Rothman in order to frame them as a model that can hold Rothman's Three Core Modes of Community Intervention. It is proposed that, with some refinement to take account of the insights from further theoretical and practice developments, this can also serve as a simple diagnostic tool to enable analysis by contemporary community workers. The outcome such analysis seeks is the specification of a basic orientation to practice and thus to the clarification of the strategies, roles and skills that are likely to be most useful given the particular approach chosen. The paper indicates how different theoretical perspectives, as well as approaches and strategies that have been identified since Rothman's original work, inform or fit into the proposed four-square model. In short the paper illustrates how an approach analogous to that employed by Rothman is still essential for reflexive community work.     

Interdisciplinary Community Collaboration: Perspectives of Community Practitioners on Successful Strategies

ABSTRACT

Six focus groups were convened to collect data on successful interdisciplinary community collaboration (ICC) strategies. Participants came from a variety of disciplines but shared the common identification of having worked in similar communities. Participant assignment to one of six groups was designed to insure diversity by gender and race or ethnicity. They discussed four questions received in advance. Prior consented tape-recorded sessions were transcribed and reviewed by group facilitators using a process of member checking. Data analysis utilized the qualitative methodology known as grounded theory. Results indicate that organizers must have (1) a knowledge base of strategic planning, management, and administration, (2) an intra- or interpersonal skills set, and (3) well-defined values and attributes. The Practice implications are that further research is needed to more fully explore the complexity of ICC work.     

Community media: local is focal

Given the limited nature of global media with its emphasis on‘infotainment’ driven by commerce, it has very littlerole in community development. We see the alarming and growingimpact of the global media on the socio-cultural life of differentcommunities in India. The rampaging growth of centralized distributionsystems has not only undermined local expressions but is alsoloudly proclaiming its sole legitimacy and relevance. Wheredoes that leave the diverse forms of local media that aboundin our cultural landscape? Abhivyakti Media for Development,a Nashik-based Indian development communication organization,believes that local media forms have a vital role in shapingcommunity life and its development. Abhivyakti has initiateda programme in the Maharashtra state of India that seeks toidentify those who are already using some media forms in orderto support them to participate in a loose informal network.This network mobilizes their creative energies to focus on thelocal and, in doing so, brings a host of diverse realities intopublic awareness and generates alternative nodal centres todistribute these voices and images. The programme is alreadyshaping different possibilities and allowing them to emergeas viable alternatives for community empowerment.     

Elderly Living in the Community:

Helping an older individual remain in the community requires the creation of living environments that maximize the individual's strengths while providing supportive services in the areas of decreasing competency. Historically, the community care system has not been viewed by reimbursers as terribly important. The aging of the population, plus the high cost of institutional care has resulted in renewed interest in services provided in one's own home. However, there are both challenges and opportunities in providing such service. Adapting supportive housing and neighborhood environments which help unstable persons remain in their homes is crucial to this effort.     

The Community Child Placement Budget:

This article presents a mechanism for empowering communities to take responsibility and control for their vulnerable children. The community placement budget is based on the daily living costs associated with children in state custody. Based on data from a real community, the budget includes where these children are living, the cost associated with these placements, and who is paying. Strategies are suggested that will help community groups compare ideas about what they want for children in their community and identify possible areas for change.     

品牌社区——一种后亚文化景观

"品牌社区"是当前传播学和市场营销学领域的热门话题,研究者多着眼于品牌社区的商业功能(即维持顾客忠诚度)这一维度,却很少从"亚文化"的角度来对其特征和功能加以反思。以亚文化研究中的关键词为切入点,对品牌社区的风格表意实践和差异的传达功能进行的研究发现,在后现代主义的语境下,品牌社区已经被"新族群"的概念所涵盖,成为一种"后亚文化"的景观。     

Model Development in Community Practice:

No abstract available for this article.     

Community Media Studies: An Overview

This essay provides an overview of the field of community media studies. Like the study of “alternative media,” “citizens' media,” “independent,” and “radical” media – to mention but a few of the terms applied to participatory communication projects – academic inquiry into the structures, forms, and practices of community media has surged in recent years. While scholars often use these labels interchangeably, this essay focuses on academic and practitioner perspectives that explicitly and purposefully employ the term “community media.” The overview identifies and briefly considers three prominent conceptual frameworks – media democratization, civil society, and the symbolic construction of community – which shape and inform this vibrant field of study. This overview concludes with some thoughts on the limits and possibilities of community media theory, and practice, in the new millennium.     

Linking Systems and Community Services:

A panel of experts from the legal, medical, adult protective services, criminal justice, and family counseling/mental health professions discuss, in depth, two difficult elder abuse case studies. The goal is to showcase as "interdisciplinary team approach" in developing solutions to the problems of victims of abuse and their abusers.     

Linking Professionalism and Community Organization:

A resurgence of community practice requires that the historical tension between professionalism and community organization be resolved. This paper proposes a scholar/advocate approach to forge a link between professionals and community organizations. The scholar/advocate approach facilitates social change, provides an opportunity for social work professionals to participate in community organizing, and empowers grassroots groups. The benefits and limitations of this method for professionals and community groups are illustrated by its application with three community organizations concerned about the urban poor and homeless. The paper argues that it is time for a resurgence of community-based social work and the development of new methods to attract students to this traditional, and still relevant, field.     

Community Care: Relationships and Control

Analysis of the relationships available to people with learning difficulties has received much attention in recent literature and has also become the focus of work undertaken by service personnel. This paper presents an analysis of networks of people with a learning difficulty in Wales and illustrates the paucity of close relationships in people's lives. It is argued that community care involves the removal of custodial forms of social control and their replacement by mechanisms which place greater emphasis on relationships as a form of imposing sanctions on individuals. In an attempt to assist the move to improve networks the authors argue the need to develop a theoretical understanding of the social processes by which individuals are excluded and as a result inform the means by which individuals may be included.