Stories of renewal : community building and the future of urban America

This paper from the Rockefeller Foundation uses case studies from four states in the United States (Atlanta, New York, California, and Maryland) to discuss the challenges and benefits of community building initiatives. It seeks to demonstrate how community building in poor urban communities can help to strengthen the social fabric of the communities and address the issue of urban poverty. Furthermore, it offers various institutional approaches to community development and describes five pillars of community building: leadership, patience, realistic but high expectations, community-wide capacity building, and courage and candor about race.