This book provides a rationale and conceptual framework for teaching and learning about community. It focuses on what community means in multiple contexts, outlines the needs and assets of communities, and discusses different approaches to community change. The book provides real life examples of integrated approaches to community transformation as well as sample exercises to promote a better understanding of community challenges and approaches to solve them. Applicable in the classroom and in actual community work, the book's conceptual and practical approach can be used to study community, or to integrate community issues into learning in virtually any field. Katharine Kravetz is Assistant Professor Emerita in the School of Professional and Extended Studies at American University, USA. She founded and taught American University's Washington Semester Transforming Communities and Public Policy Seminar. Kravetz has received the Harvard/Radcliffe Undergraduate History Prize and the Adjunct Faculty Teaching Award from American University's School of Public Affairs Acknowledgments -- Contents -- Chapter 1: Introduction -- Notes -- Chapter 2: Perspectives on the Meaning of Community -- Individualism and Community: The American Perspective -- Place and People -- Ecosystems as Communities -- Community, Civic Engagement, and Democracy -- Bonding and Bridging Communities -- Inequality, Class, and Community -- Race, Ethnicity, Diversity, and Community -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Chapter 3: Assets of and Challenges to Communities -- Housing -- Inclusive and Affordable Housing -- Home Ownership, Rental Housing, and Community -- Community Infrastructure -- Food and Health -- Safety -- Jobs and Financial Security -- Families and Community -- Education -- Conclusion: Community as an Asset -- Notes -- Chapter 4: Strategies and Agents of Community Well-Being -- Strategies -- Service and Volunteerism -- Advocacy -- Community Development and Social Enterprise -- Community Organizing -- Politics -- Research and Education -- Deliberation and Participatory Democracy -- Agents -- Government -- The For-Profit and Non-Profit Sectors -- Leadership -- Media -- Conclusion: Applying Principles to Practice -- Notes -- Chapter 5: Case Studies in Community -- Moving Out, Moving In, Building Up: Moving to Opportunity, Hope VI, and Promise Neighborhoods -- Responses to Homelessness -- Health, Safety, and Individual Behavior -- Community, Neighborhood Schools, and School Choice -- Vouchers for Low-Income Families -- Charter Schools -- Magnet Schools and Gifted and Talented Programs -- Vocational Schools and Apprenticeships -- Community Schools -- Controlled Choice -- What No School Can Do -- Collective Impact: Lessons from Milwaukee -- Twin Cities Light Rail: Inclusion -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Chapter 6: Learning Through Reflective Exercises and Community Experience -- Community Study -- Learning About Community Through Service Front Matter....Pages i-viii Introduction....Pages 1-6 Perspectives on the Meaning of Community....Pages 7-17 Assets of and Challenges to Communities....Pages 19-40 Strategies and Agents of Community Well-Being....Pages 41-56 Case Studies in Community....Pages 57-83 Learning Through Reflective Exercises and Community Experience....Pages 85-100 Learning Objectives....Pages 101-106 Back Matter....Pages 107-109
