Local Government-Sponsored Community Development

Abstract

Local governments are increasingly turning to community-based organizations (CBOs) to support improvement in low-income neighborhoods. Perceptions of more than 70 community leaders and 120 citizens involved in the formation of a CBO in the Orlando, Florida, metropolitan area are used to illuminate relationships between community empowerment and community improvement. Congruent with expectations, findings suggest that both local government responsiveness and community involvement in decision making are linked to perceptions of community improvement. In contrast to expectations, findings suggest that in early stages of community development, citizen involvement in the development activities of the CBO is not strongly correlated with either the perception of community impact or the anticipation of positive change. As a result, local governments sponsoring similar ventures need to recognize the importance of information and communication as tools to secure citizen participation until such time as citizen volunteers are more fully engaged in the development process.