URPA 5330: Community and Neighborhood Organization
Spring 2011
Instructor / Maria Martinez-Cosio / Phone / 817-272-3302Office / University Hall 544 / E-mail /
Office Hours / M 12- 3 pm & Thurs 3-6 pm /
THIS IS A COMMUNITY SERVICE PROJECT COURSE THUS THE SYLLABUS IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE BY INSTRUCTOR.
Time and Place of Class Meetings:
Thursday 7-9:50 p.m.
Description of Course Content:
This course examines the structure and processes in the development of community and neighborhood organizations. Special emphasis is given to poverty and minority communities and neighborhoods. We will examine the processes of organizing and empowering communities, and how these are linked to public policy in the United States.
A central element of community organization is civic participation. This issue will be placed in the context of debates on social capital, and on the limits of the welfare state and the state's role in rebuilding the urban community's social infrastructure. The focus will be on:
- building community and civic capacities for problem solving; and
- developing public policies that reinforce this and expand active and responsible
roles of citizens.
Students will be expected to engage in active and collaborative learning, particularly in presenting case studies and connecting these to underlying analytic issues and policy options.
Measurable Student Learning Outcomes:
•Students will be able to differentiate between different approaches to organizing neighborhood groups, underserved communities and special interest groups.
•Students will gain a historical perspective to the numerous challenges to community organizing
•Students will acquire strategies for assessing community strengths in an targeted neighborhood
•Students will link theory to practice through the experiential component of this course.
•Students will have the opportunity to work as part of a community organizing team with a nonprofit in the Metroplex.
Textbook and Other Course Materials Requirements:
Kretzmann, John and John McKnight. 1993. Building Communities from the Inside Out. Chicago: ACTA Publications.
Rubin, Herbert & Irene Rubin. 2007. Community Organizing and Development. New York: Allyn and Bacon. ISBN-10: 0205408133.
Reading packet to be distributed by professor via MavSpace.
Course Requirements:
1. REFLECTION PAPERS
Each student must submit FOUR papers. Each paper must be 3-4 pages for graduate students. The papers should link the literature with your experiences in the field. Please use APA citation.
2. FINAL PAPER: The final paper will take the form of a project report that will developed as a group, with each student accounting for their piece of the project. The report will be presented to the city of Mesquite staff and residents at the conclusion of the course. Students should use the report presented by the Fall 2010 students who gathered data in Casa View and Truman Heights and are available on MavSpace.
3. CLASS PARTICIPATION: Students are expected to actively engage and participate in the class discussions and elements of the project, including attending neighborhood meetings and collaborating actively with their team members.
Descriptions of major assignments and examinations with due dates:
60 points : each reflection paper is 15 points (4x15)
35 points : Final paper
15 points : Class participation
100 points
Course Expectations
1. To attend the entire class sessions every week. In class activities and discussions are part of our learning together. Absences will reduce your participation points.
2. To participate in class discussion and all activities. As a graduate level student I
expect for you to learn to engage intellectually with the course readings, share your views of issues pertinent to this class in a collegial manner, to question and analyze your own and other's assumptions and viewpoints and to take initiative in all aspects of the progress of the course.
If you are uncomfortable speaking aloud in class, plan to meet with the instructor during her office hours (or by appointment) to discuss the readings or any parts of the assignments. Make certain that the instructor knows who you are, and has heard some of your thinking about issues covered in this class.
3. To complete all assigned readings to prepare for discussion, use the readings in written analyses and know content for exams.
4. To submit all written assignments on the due date. Late assignments will be docked one grade level every day after the due date.
Librarian to Contact:
Mitch Stepanovich in the Architecture and Fine Arts Library: .
E-Culture Policy:
The University of Texas at Arlington has adopted the University email address as an official means of communication with students. Through the use of email, UT-Arlington is able to provide students with relevant and timely information, designed to facilitate student success. In particular, important information concerning registration, financial aid, payment of bills, and graduation may be sent to students through email.
All students are assigned an email account and information about activating and using it is available at New students (first semester at UTA) are able to activate their email account 24 hours after registering for courses. There is no additional charge to students for using this account, and it remains active as long as a student is enrolled at UT-Arlington. Students are responsible for checking their email regularly.
Americans With Disabilities Act:
The University of Texas at Arlington is on record as being committed to both the spirit and letter of federal equal opportunity legislation; reference Public Law 92-112 - The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended. With the passage of federal legislation entitled Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), pursuant to section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, there is renewed focus on providing this population with the same opportunities enjoyed by all citizens.
As a faculty member, I am required by law to provide "reasonable accommodations" to students with disabilities, so as not to discriminate on the basis of that disability. Student responsibility primarily rests with informing faculty of their need for accommodation and in providing authorized documentation through designated administrative channels. Information regarding specific diagnostic criteria and policies for obtaining academic accommodations can be found at Also, you may visit the Office for Students with Disabilities in room 102 of University Hall or call them at (817) 272-3364.
Academic Dishonesty:
It is the philosophy of The University of Texas at Arlington that academic dishonesty is a completely unacceptable mode of conduct and will not be tolerated in any form. All persons involved in academic dishonesty will be disciplined in accordance with University regulations and procedures. Discipline may include suspension or expulsion from the University.
"Scholastic dishonesty includes but is not limited to cheating, plagiarism, collusion, the submission for credit of any work or materials that are attributable in whole or in part to another person, taking an examination for another person, any act designed to give unfair advantage to a student or the attempt to commit such acts." (Regents’ Rules and Regulations, Series 50101, Section 2.2)
Plagiarism Web Sites with Examples
Plagiarism can range from submitting someone’s work as your own to using long pieces of text or unique phrasings without acknowledging the original source. The following Web Sites not only define plagiarism, but provide examples of the different types of plagiarism:
- Plagiarism Examples (Rob Toreki, University of Kentucky Department of Chemistry)
- Avoiding Plagiarism (UC-Davis)
- Unacceptable Paraphrases (Indiana University Writing Tutorial Services)
Student Support Services Available:
The University of Texas at Arlington supports a variety of student success programs to help you connect with the University and achieve academic success. These programs include learning assistance, developmental education, advising and mentoring, admission and transition, and federally funded programs. Students requiring assistance academically, personally, or socially should contact the Office of Student Success Programs at 817-272-6107 for more information and appropriate referrals.
- Introduction: What is Community Organizing
1/20- Week#1: Introduction
•Introducing ourselves: what brings us to this topic? in what arenas have we been active as professionals and practitioners? how do we expect our work in this course to contribute to ongoing projects, practice, research?
•Discussion of theoretical constructs we will use in class, including Saul Alinsky’s work, Freire’s critical pedagogy and a brief discussion of social capital theories.
•Introduction of community project including time commitments, expectations, etc.
•Dudley Street Initiative movie
1/27 -Week #2: Framing community organizing
Required Readings:
Rubin, Herbert & Irene Rubin. 2007. Community Organizing and Development. New York: Allyn and Bacon. ISBN-10: 0205408133. Chapters 1-3.
Optional Readings
Robert Fisher. 1984. Let the People Decide. G.K. Hall (section on history).
Neil Betten and Michael J. Austin. 1990. The Roots of Community Organizing, 1917-1939. Temple University Press.
Stephen Valocchi, A Way of Thinking About the History of Community Organizing.
Robert Fisher and Peter Romanofsky. 1981. Community Organization for Urban Social Change: A Historical Perspective. Greenwood Press.
Robert Fisher,. (1984) "Neighborhood Organizing: Lessons from the Past." Social Policy 15:9-16.
Saul Alinsky, Rules For Radicals, Vintage Books, 1971.
Saul Alinsky. 1941. "Community Analysis and Organizations." American Journal of Sociology 46:797-808.
Robert Bailey. 1972. Radicals in Urban Politics: The Alinsky Approach. University of Chicago Press.
2/3- Week #3 What is Community?
Rubin, Herbert & Irene Rubin. 2007. Community Organizing and Development. New York: Allyn and Bacon. ISBN-10: 0205408133. Chapters 4-5
Kretzmann, John and John McKnight. 1993. Building Communities from the Inside Out. Chicago: ACTA Publications. Pgs 1-10.
Paper #1 DUE
Paper #1: Describe the Casa View Heights and Truman Heights neighborhoods. Do some research on the internet and find data on the school through the Texas Education Agency ( on the neighborhoods through the Census’ American Fact Finder ( the North Texas Council of Governments ( or the reports on MavSpace.
First write down your impressions of this neighborhood. How does the data either support or contradict your impressions of this neighborhood? What are questions or concerns you have regarding our project in this neighborhood?
2/10-Week #4 Social Capital: What is it? How does it apply to community organizing?-
Required readings:
Rubin, Herbert & Irene Rubin. 2007. Community Organizing and Development. New York: Allyn and Bacon. ISBN-10: 0205408133. Chapters 4-5, 7
Putnam, Robert. 1995. Tuning in, tuning out: The strange disappearance of social capital in America. Political Science and Politics, 28, 4, pps 664-683. MAVSPACE.
Green, Gary Paul & Anna Haines. 2008. Asset Building & Community Development. NY: Sage Publications. Chapter 3: The Community Development Process. MAVSPACE
Optional Readings
James Coleman, "Social Capital," chapter 12 of Foundations of Social Theory (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1990, 300-21).
Theda Skocpol, "Unravelling from Above: Civic Associations in America," The American Prospect 25 (Spring 1996).
Carmen Sirianni, "Citizen Participation, Social Capital, and Social Learning in the United States, 1960-1995," Keynote Address to the National Public Policy Education Conference, Farm Foundation: Increasing Understanding of Public Problems and Policies (1995), 21-35.
Kay Lehman Schlozman, Nancy Burns and Sidney Verba. 1994. Gender and pathways to participation: The role of resources. The Journal of Politics, 56, 4, 963-990. Webpage.
Robert Putnam, "The Prosperous Community: Social Capital and Public Life," The American Prospect 13 (spring 1993), 35-42.
Xavier de Souza Briggs, "Brown Kids in White Suburbs: Housing Mobility and the Many Faces of Social Capital," Housing Policy Debate, 9(1)(1998)
2/17 Week #5 DISCUSSION OF COMMUNITY PROJECT
Kretzmann, John and John McKnight. 1993. Building Communities from the Inside Out. Chicago: ACTA Publications, Chapter 1
Rubin, Herbert & Irene Rubin. 2007. Community Organizing and Development. New York: Allyn and Bacon. ISBN-10: 0205408133. Chapter 9
II. Doing"Organizing"
2/24 Week #6 Participatory Strategies
Paper # 2 DUE
Paper #2: Present a coherent strategy for developing community groups that can function as representative entities for Casa View OR Truman Heights (pick one). Make sure to answer the following questions:
- Who should this representative group include? Who will it exclude?
- How will you recruit and retain residents?
- What challenges can you expect as you implement your strategy for forming this group?
- How do you manage this group so that it functions effectively after our involvement ends?
Kretzmann, John and John McKnight. 1993. Building Communities from the Inside Out. Chicago: ACTA Publications, Chapter 2.
Arnstein, Sherry R. (1969) “A Ladder of Citizen Participation.” Journal of the American Institute of Planners, 35.4, 216-224. (HANDOUT)
Rubin, Herbert & Irene Rubin. 2007. Community Organizing and Development. New York: Allyn and Bacon. ISBN-10: 0205408133. Chapter 10
Optional readings
Krauss, Celene. 1994. Women of Color in the FrontLines. Unequal Protection and Environmental Justice. Communities of Color, Robert Bulard, ed. Also in Race, Class and Gender: An Anthology.
3/3 Week #7
Develop concrete strategies for organizing community groups. Use Paper #2 to brainstorm approaches to organizing these two neighborhoods.
Kretzmann, John and John McKnight. 1993. Building Communities from the Inside Out. Chicago: ACTA Publications, Chapter 3.
Rubin, Herbert & Irene Rubin. 2007. Community Organizing and Development. New York: Allyn and Bacon. ISBN-10: 0205408133. Chapter 12
3/10 Week #8: Developing Community Organizations
Kretzmann, John & John McKnight. 1993. Building Communities From the Inside Out: A Path Toward Finding and Mobilizing a Community’s Assets. Chicago: ACTA Publications. Chapter 5.
3/17 Week # 9 SPRING BREAK
3/24 Week #10: Asset vs. Deficit Approaches to Organizing
Kretzmann, John and John McKnigfht. 1993. A path toward finding and mobilizing a community’s assets. Capacity Inventory and schedule for meeting with residents,
IV. Taking Action in Urban Neighborhoods
3/31 Week # 11
Field Work
4/7 Week # 12
Paper #3 DUE
Paper #3
Using the readings from the course so far, what are three things that have gone well your efforts to organize your target neighborhood, and three things that have not gone as expected. Use the literature to explain why some strategies worked and others did not.
Field Work
Required Reading
Randy Stoecker, "The Community Development Corporation Model of Urban Redevelopment: A Political Economy Critique and An Alternative" Also available in Journal of Urban Affairs, Volume 19, Number 1, 1997 with replies from Rachel Bratt and Dennis Keating and a rejoinder from Randy Stoecker.
Optional Readings
Pratt Institute. "Building Hope: Community Development in America,"
Thomas J. Lenz. 1988. "Neighborhood Development: Issues and Models." Social Policy spring, pp. 24-30.
The Chicago Rehab Network. Development Without Displacement Task Force Background Paper.
Barry Checkoway, 1985. "Neighborhood Planning Organizations: Perspectives and Choices." Journal of Applied Behavioral Science 21:471-486.
Neal R. Peirce and Carol F. Steinbach, Enterprising Communities: Community-Based Development in America, 1990, Council for Community-Based Development, 1990.
Rubin, Herbert J. 1993. Understanding the Ethos of Community- Based Development: Ethnographic Description for Public Administrators. Public Administration Review sept/oct 53:428-437.
Zdenek, Robert. 1987. Community Development Corporations. Pp. 112-127 in Severyn T. Bruyn and James Meehan (eds) Beyond the market and the State: New Directions in Community Development. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Carolyn Teich Adams. 1990. "Non Profit Housing Producers in the U.S.: Why so Rare?" Paper delivered at the Urban Affairs Association annual meetings.
Suzy Croft and Peter Beresford. 1988. "Being on the Receiving End: Lessons for Community Development and User Involvement." Community Development 23:273-279.
Richard P. Taub. 1990. "Nuance and Meaning in Community Development: Finding Community and Development." New York: Community Development Research Center, Graduate School of Management and Urban Policy, New School of Social Research.
Haeberle, Steven H. (1988) "Community Projects and Citizen Participation: Neighborhood Leaders Evaluate Their Accomplishments." Social Science Quarterly 69:1014-21.
Juliet Saltman. 1990. A Fragile Movement: The Struggle for Neighborhood Stabilization. Greenwood Press.
Organizing for Neighborhood Development: A Handbook for Citizen Groups
Sandy O'Donnell and Ellen Schumer. Community Building & Community Organizing: Issues in Creating Effective Models. Shelterforce On-Line
Lee Winkelman. "Organizing Renaissance." In Shelterforce Online
Giloth, Robert. (1985) "Organizing for Neighborhood Development." Social Policy 15:37-42.
Randy Stoecker, "Community Organizing and Community Development in Cedar-Riverside and East Toledo." Journal of Community Practice, Vol. 2, No. 3.
4/14 Week # 13:
Field Work:Developing an organization: type of organization needed? by-laws, structure, vision.
4/21 Week # 14:
Field work and begin write up summary reports
4/28 Week # 15
Paper #4 DUE
Interview a resident that you are comfortable approaching as a result of our community work and ask them to evaluate the community organizing process. Develop a short questionnaire (5-8 questions) and have me review it before you share it with your research subject. Review the Center for Evaluation Innovation article “Evaluating Community Organizing” on MavSpace to help guide your discussion, Write up your interview notes and present an analysis that also uses the literature from the class.
5/5 Week # 16
Field Work and begin wrap-up report
May 7- Finals week
Presentation to Mesquite city staff and residents
OPTIONAL:
Shel Trapp, Basics Of Organizing, links to: Identifying Issues, Leadership Meeting, Public Meeting, Check List for the Public Meeting, Organizing a Demonstration.
The Community Toolbox, by the Community Toolbox Team.Organizing Public Demonstrations, or other sections from
Lesbian Avengers' Civil Rights Organizing Project. Out Against The Right: An Organizing Handbook. See link to: What's Wrong With This Picture? A Critique of the Mainstream Campaign Model, Also see tactics links at: Direct Action for Visibility
Environmental Information Network, The Control Game,
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