Bibliography Update

(As of September 15, 1999)

    Entries appear alphabetically under the chapter headings in  the table of contents

I.

     Examples of Community Economic Development: Mostly Faith-based

Harper, Niles, ed. 1999. Urban Church, Vital Signs: Beyond Charity Toward  Justice. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans .

Several authors profile 28 congregations engaged in extensive community ministries, including economic development (a majority include some form of CED). The churches, most of them Protestant, and seven of them Presbyterian, are in 15 cities across the country and are Anglo, African American or racially diverse. The profiles are well constructed, take account of theological underpinnings and have a clear vision of community economic development as a growing component of urban ministry.

Kraybill, Donald B. and Steven M. Nolt. 1995. Amish Enterprise: From Flows to Profits. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

  This is not the usual kind of community development story but it is instructive about how a faith community relates its religious commitments to the challenge of making a living. Set in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, the book describes Amish life, the challenges of modernity, the moral dimensions of business and how a traditional community relates to technology. Written in a popular style, the book could benefit any practitioner of CED or general community building .

Nored, Ronald. 1999. Reweaving the Fabric: How Congregations and Communities Can Come Together to Build Their Communities. Montgomery, AL: Black Belt Press.

This small book (144 pages) packs a wallop. It is at once the dramatic story of a church-based CED effort in Birmingham, Alabama, and a here's how guide on the organization and maintenance of a faith-based CDC with multiple partners. The author is the pastor of the Bethel AME Church in an old "steel town" named Ensley. He also heads B.E.A.T.-Bethel-Ensley Action Task, which has virtually recreated the area around the church and also plays a big role in a larger community redevelopment plan. A valuable appendix contains primary documents on planning, community assessment, building standards and community vision. Strongly recommended.

Plon, Dafne. 1998. "Boston,"  Peace in Troubled Cities: Creative Models of Building Community  Admidst Violence. Geneva: World Council of Churches Publications  .

  This description of the Ten Point Coalition in Boston is one of seven profiles demonstrating hope in environments of violence across the world. The author gives a terse, informative account of a ministry that sets out to "save" young inner city youth, from drugs, crime, abuse and desperation. Associated with the Rev. Eugene Rivers, the Ten Point Coalition has developed good rapport with the local law enforcement, which has introduced a job procurement component to community policing .

  II 

The Practice of Community Economic Development 

Glickman, Norman J and Lisa J. Servon, et. al. 1998. More than Bricks and Sticks:  Five Components of CDC Capacity. New Brunswick, NJ: The Center for Urban Policy Research  .

Written for the Ford Foundation, this 39-page report identifies and describes five components of capacity: resource, organizational, programmatic, network and political. A detailed table set forth the needs, strategies, effects and potential limitations of each component. The conclusion wisely observes that more research is needed to better under the community development process and the role of nonprofits in it.  (See Sources)

NeighborWorks. 1997. Guide to Community-Based Development Terminology. Washington, DC: Neighborhood Reinvestment Corp.  

A very good glossary of CED and community-based development terms . Can be purchased or used on the Internet . Downloading requires pdf viewer (such as Acrobat).

III

Historical Background

VI

Religious Resources

Berk, Stephen E. 1997. A Time to Heal: John Perkins, Community Development, and Racial Reconciliation. Grand Rapids: Baker Books .

This biography traces the long, productive life of the founder of the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA), from his roots in a Mississippi sharecropper's family to national and international renown for commitment to economic justice and racial reconciliation. Several chapters are devoted to Perkins' own grassroots work in community development both in the South and in southern California, where he lived for many years. Particular attention is given to his evangelical theology that includes a strong commitment to Christian social action.

Billingsley, Andrew. 1999 . Mighty Like a River: The Black Church and Social  Reform. New York: Oxford University Press .

This long-awaited volume is really two books in one. The first traces the history of Black Church social involvement, beginning with the First African Baptist Church in Savannah, Georgia, the oldest Black congregation in the nation. The second part presents and interprets data on the contemporary forms of community action and reform. Housing and economic development ministries figure prominently in the findings. Around 1,000 congregations were surveyed, initially in the Northeast and North Central areas and later in Atlanta, Denver and South Carolina. Contains helpful charts, graphs and tables. Billingsley's work continues and in some degree updates that of Lincoln and Mamiya in  The Black Church in   the African American Experience  (see Annotated Bibliography).

Caldwell, Kirbyjon. 1998. The Gospel of Good Success . New York: Simon & Schuster.

This is a "road map to spiritual, emotional and financial wholeness" written by the pastor whose theology and congregation have spawned an amazing CDC. Caldwell leads the 11,000 member Windsor Village United Methodist Church, a semi-suburban, predominantly African American congregation. Out of Windsor Village has come Pyramid CDC, which turned an old K-Mark into the Power Center, housing a school, commercial space and community space. Pyramid is planning a 234-acre residential community built around a Prayer Center. The CED work rests on the theological foundations, called "holistic salvation," spelled out in this book.

Hellwig, Maureen, ed. "Faith and Activism in Chicago ," PRAGmatics, The Journal of Community-Based Research, Fall, 1998, Vol. 1, No. 3, special issue, published by the Policy Research Action Group, Loyola University, Chicago. (See Sources)

The entire issue is relevant to faith-based development, including features on Black storefront churches, religion and organized labor and the heritage of religious social action in Chicago. Shorter items deal with Pilsen Resurrection, a faith-based CDC, tips on how to raise funds from religious sources, and a church-policy project on the Westside. The major tenets of Islam are also described.

V

Economic and Public Policy Resources

Briggs, Xavier de Souza, ed. "Racially and Ethnically Diverse Urban Neighborhoods,"  Cityscape: A Journal of Policy Development and Research, 1998, Vol. 4, No. 2. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Entire issue.

This thick journal reports on what is called nation's "best-kept secrets:" the existence of racially and ethnically diverse urban neighborhoods. Based on a HUD study, a dozen or more authors profile neighborhoods in Philadelphia, Memphis, Denver, New York, San Antonio, Denver, Seattle, Houston and Milwaukee. The relevance of this information for community development, and especially for faith-based development, is the interracial and interethnic collaboration found in many--not all--locales. Very positive things are said about community-based and religious organizations in setting a tone of acceptance and cooperation.

Newman, Katherine S. 1999. No Shame in My Game: The Working Poor in the Inner City  . New York: Russell Sage/Knopf.

A Harvard University anthropologist and her students explore and lives and expectations of the "working poor" in Harlem, painting a picture of people who work hard to support themselves in low-paying jobs. The study looks at a number of incentive programs based in corporations (one sounding a great deal like McDonalds). The book is better at describing persons and families than in dealing with economic development as a community issue, but it is worthwhile in giving an alternative view to that of "welfare queens" and lazy teenagers. The author seems aware of general and faith-based CED but tends to think in terms of individual economic achievement.

Potapchuck, William, et al. 1998. Building Community: Exploring the Role of Social Capital and Local Government. Washington, D.C.: Program for Community Problem Solving, National Civic League  .  (See Sources)

An excellent introduction to the concept of "social capital" -the "glue" of a community--in strengthening families and neighborhoods. Prepared for the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the document explores the theme of how a social capital approach brings the diverse assets of a community's people and institutions to bear on the welfare of the whole. The term "social capital" derives from the work of Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam but this booklet can be read and understood by anyone.

Potapchuck, William R., Jarle P. Crocker and William H. Schechter. 1998. System Reform and Local Government: Improving Outcomes for Children, Families, and Neighborhoods. Washington, D.C.: Program for Community Problem Solving, National Civic League . (See Sources)

This report looks at how citizens can draw together, overcoming some of their own natural differences, to make local government operate for the betterment of children, families and neighborhoods. Several short case studies describe experiences in such places as Santa Fe, Louisville, Little Rock and Eugene, Ore. Longer looks are taken at projects in Indianapolis and Charlotte, NC.

VI

Lessons from Experience

Schorr, Lisbeth B. 1997. Common Purpose: Strengthening Families and Neighborhoods to Rebuild America. New York: Doubleday   .

The author, a professor of social medicine, is a strong advocate of local initiative in strengthening families and building neighborhoods, and her emphasis is on "getting results." She is convinced that comprehensive planning and accountability to the community are the secrets to the small successes in the six communities she profiles. These cases come from Baltimore, New York City, Newark, Boston, Atlanta and Savannah, Georgia. Several of these have faith-based involvement. The key, she says, is bringing all the parties to the table at the outset and keeping them there.

VII

Delivering the Goods: CED Products

Belden, Joseph N. and Robert J. Wiener, eds. 1998. Housing in Rural America: Building Affordable and Inclusive Communities. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

More than a dozen essays explore a broad range of issues affecting often overlooked populations. Topics covers are affordability, regional characteristics, housing for the elderly, homelessness, government policy and practice, privatization, mortgage credit, new forms of housing for the rural poor and land trusts. Notable for including the border colonias of the southwest and farmworkers in various areas.

Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. 1999. The State of the  Nation's Housing. Cambridge, MA: Joint Center for Housing Studies. 

  This easy to read report covers the full spectrum of housing in the United States, including home building and sales, and includes the housing situations of the poor, evaluated by region. The document assets that "affordable housing needs grow" and that "the working poor are struggling to afford even modest rentals," despite the surge in housing production. Broad gains in homeownership are recorded with minorities (African Americans and Hispanics) said to be making "limited progress" in closing the persistent homeownership gaps. This is a valuable resource for any CDC engaged in housing.

  Herman, Christina Cobourn. 1999. Poverty Amid Plenty: The Unfinished Business of Welfare Reform. Washington ,DC: Network: A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby.

This is a hard-hitting critique of the welfare-to-work policy of the United States, skeptical of statistics that say the reform plan is "working." Sponsored by a coalition of Roman Catholic women's orders, the Network Watch Project has collected a range of statistics used to claim, among other things, that many former welfare recipients are not today earning a living wage or enjoying health benefits for themselves or them children.

Rapoza Associates. 1999. Reinventing Communities: How CDCs Create jobs and Hope. Washington, DC: Rapoza Associates.

This is a collection of 14 brief profiles of CDCs engaged in job and business creation. Several of the entries (Bethel New Life, New Community) are identified as faith-based and several others either work with faith-based groups or themselves have religious roots or affiliations not identified.

VIII

Periodicals for Faith-based Practitioners

Updated list in Bibliography Description and Samples.

IX

Interactive Internet Sites

Updates list in Bibliography Description and Samples.

Appendices

Updated version in Bibliography Description and Samples.