Routledge Building Community Capacity (Modern Applications of Social Work Series)

This book focuses on a gap in current social work practice theory: community change. Much work in this area of macro practice, particularly around "grassroots" community organizing, has a somewhat dated feel to it, is highly ideological in orientation, or suffers from superficiality, particularly in the area of theory and practical application. Set against the context of an often narrowly constructed "clinical" emphasis on practice education, coupled with social work's own current rendering of "scientific management," community practice often takes second or third billing in many professional curricula despite its deep roots in the overall field of social welfare.Drawing on extensive case study data from three significant community-building initiatives, program data from numerous other community capacity-building efforts, key informant interviews, and an excellent literature review, Chaskin and his colleagues draw implications for crafting community change strategies as well as for creating and sustaining the organizational infrastructure necessary to support them. The authors bring to bear the perspectives of a variety of professional disciplines including sociology, urban planning, psychology, and social work.Building Community Capacity takes a collaborative, interdisciplinary approach to a subject of wide and current concern: the role of neighborhood and community structures in the delivery of human services or, as the authors put it, "a place where programs and problems can be fitted together." Social work scholars and students of community practice seeking new conceptual frameworks and insights from research to inform novel community interventions will find much of value in Building Community Capacity. Review -Building Community Capacity makes a major contribution to the community development literature in a variety of ways. First, it presents an amazing synthesis of literature related to leadership development, organizational development, community organizing and organizational collaboration while managing to be both accessible and critical. Second, treatment of the typically controversial topic of 'conflict versus consensus' organizing is pragmatic and insightful. Finally, the most compelling features of the book is the thorough integration of examples into the conceptual discussion. For each point made, an illustrative real-world example follows. In addition, detailed case examples of three organizations and brief synopses of the work of more than twenty other organizations appear in the appendices.- --Michelle Livermore, Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare -Building Community Capacity... addresses a broad constituency of theorists, activists and practitioners, focused on urban renewal and social change. In this work their focus is upon the amelioration of poverty in urban settings. They seek to revitalize a community's understanding of itself through examining its shared misfortunes... Building Community Capacity is successful in providing a venue for renewed interests and commitments with the underclass through grass roots community action... What Chaskin, Brown, Venkatesh, and Vidal provide is the deepening relevance of community capacity-building, especially in an increasingly class stratified American society.- --Edward J. Martin, Administrative Theory & Praxis -We continually hear the buzzwords -community building,- -social capital,- -human capital,- and -community collaborations.- All these buzzwords and more are deciphered and broken down in Building Community Capacity.- --Michael Eichler, APA Journal -If policymakers have not been serious about addressing urban problems, that is not the case for many scholars within and outside of academic institutions. The authors of this volume are serious students of the city. This book reflects that concern.... Building Community Capacity identifies some of the most difficult issues facing policymakers, scholars, and residents of the nati