Building and Maintaining Community Capacity

Abstract

Abstract: This chapter details the work of the UMSSW/TAC to connect with informal leaders and support neighborhood residents in accomplishing their goals. The TAC led or supported several strategies that directly assisted residents of the six Good Neighborhoods communities. These include the Leadership Academy (a co-designed model of individual capacity development), the Small Grants Resident Decision-Making Panel, workshops and issue forums, and staffing or participating in the various learning communities. Engaging and training residents and the creation of learning communities became signature tools of Good Neighborhoods. The learning communities include the Good Neighborhoods Learning Partnership; the Youth employment learning community, which eventually formed what is now the Detroit Youth Employment Consortium; the Ready to work, ready to hire learning community; and the Neighborhood-based transportation learning community.