Patterns in Nongovernmental Community Action in Small Communities

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Abstract
Leaders in small communities often search for information about successful community projects conducted in communities other than their own. This need helped to prompt a series of case studies of upstate New York community development projects. The seven projects studied were located in communities of 10,000 or fewer people and ranged from the establishment of a medical clinic to the development of an arts and crafts facility and program. A primary purpose was to search projects for basic patterns in leadership, community organization, and action processes. Community development process patterns were found in the area of leadership commitment and specialization, goal orientation, method of organizing for action, nature of citizen participation, need for local network development, and source of finances in support of projects. An awareness of these patterns and their possible implications will be useful to community leaders and community developers alike. Further research is suggested, especially in view of changing national policies and their potential impact on small communities in the 1980s.

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