Critical Community Practice

Community developers, activities in health or housing and those who deal with civic engagement on a professional or managerial capacity will find these essays and case studies interesting resources, particularly those on the model of critical community practice and its place in the recognition of relative power and empowerment. Consultant Butcher and his co-authors, who hail from academia and private practice, apply the model of critical community practice to a variety of settings, including in communities of disadvantage, exclusion and oppression. They give best practices for working in and with community groups and organizations and describe how the model applies to organizational leadership and management, politics and public policy, and in the development of community practitioners. Although written for the UK consultant or practitioner, the model and concepts also serve well in other locales in which the disenfranchised and others have become engaged with civic matters. Distributed in the US by ISBS. Annotation c2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)