Community involvement is now at the centre of the UK government's social inclusion, neighbourhood renewal and health development programmes, resulting in many challenges for managers involved in such work. The bestselling first edition of this book discussed the meaning, principles and application of managing community practice, focusing on the role and skills needed by managers. This will be required if ambitious regeneration and social inclusion programmes are to work in partnership with the active involvement of communities and exploring a wide range of examples from practice. Since the first edition, there has been a perceptible increase in the structured involvement of communities in developing, delivering and evaluating public policies and projects. In this new edition all chapters have been fully updated in the light of recent developments and new case examples have been included to illustrate such changes. A new chapter on The Managers Role in Community Research has been added and a new concluding chapter explores key challenges which need to be addressed. This book is an essential resource for operational and strategic managers in local government, housing, health and other service delivery agencies, social inclusion and community regeneration projects. It will be essential reading for tutors and students on a wide range of undergraduate and Masters courses.

With the increasing focus on 'community' as the site for renewing democracy, improving policymaking and enhancing service delivery, this book provides a challenging approach to understanding community practice. It offers a much-needed theoretical perspective, sets out an analysis of power and empowerment and explores new ways of understanding active citizenship. The book covers a wide range of theoretical and practice topics. First presenting a model of critical community practice, the authors draw upon a variety of case studies from Britain and elsewhere to discuss this in the context of work in and with community groups; management; policy and politics; and development of the critical practitioner. Demands being placed on individuals and organisations have become increasingly complex and greater clarity about community practice is needed. This book, designed to complement the authors' edited volume "Managing Community Practice" (The Policy Press, 2003) provides just that. The book's content will be of particular interest to those following the debates on community involvement in regeneration, social inclusion and health improvement programmes. It will provide a resource for those already engaged in community practice and thus inform the work of local authorities, government agencies, voluntary organisations and partnerships. It will be relevant reading for all those people working to promote change and development in communities. It will also be an essential text for students on a range of professional and management programmes in community development, health, housing, planning and other disciplines with a community focus.

When Jay Stevens' best friend Jimmy Burletson, made the decision to keep the black baby that somebody had abandoned on his front porch, Jay had to make a choice. He could either accept what Jimmy had done, despite how crazy it was, or he could turn his back on his friend.

Then too, there was the problem of the good-looking high-yaller named Sweet Alice Nelson, whom Jimmy had hired to help out. She was always around, and, to Jay's consternation, he found he enjoyed being in her company. That was a strange feeling for a white man in Southwest Mississippi, and he knew it.

When Sweet Alice moved to New Orleans, Jay could have put her put of his life completely then and there, but he didn't. If he had, his life would have been very different, but he was quite certain it wouldn't have been as interesting.

What would you do if in a matter of seconds you went from being healthy and strong to being so badly damaged even your loved ones would have trouble recognizing it was really you? If you wound up being robbed of the ability to see the world as you had always done, how could you make up for such a loss? What kind of future could you have if you were no longer the person you'd always known yourself to be? The author of this autobiography had to start facing these questions when he was only 20 years old. His answers provide insight into his true character and portray the people and the era from which he came.

On the last day of August in 1959, somebody left a baby with skin the color of dark chocolate on Jimmy Burletson's porch. There it was, lying in a clothesbasket, looking up at him with big brown eyes. "Lord," he said, and then just stood there. In all of his 23 years, he had never even touched a baby. In desperation, he asked himself, "What on earth does a white man in Southwest Mississippi do with a black baby?"Up until that day, his life had been just about ideal. He was widely admired and a good-looking young woman held him in high esteem. He didn't want to jeopardize his future, but he couldn't violate his principles either. His mind said, "do the logical thing," but his heart said, "do the right thing." He didn't want to keep the baby, but remarkably, that's what he wound up doing. Many people objected strongly to his decision, but he had the consolation of knowing he had done what he felt he should. For those who would say he had done the wrong thing, he knew he could look them in the eye and ask, "Well, what would you have done?"