Showing results in community organization

This article describes a community organization program and its tangible results in a stigmatized neighborhood in the center of Israel. The program lasted six years; its central goal was the autonomy of the community, the empowerment of its residents, and collaboration among the human services workers and between them and the resident leaders. The results, measured objectively and quantitatively, included a large increase in the number of community activists; strong and statistically significant increases of self-esteem and mastery of surroundings; increase in family, service delivery, and community empowerment among the activists, and the participation of residents and outsiders in a project to build their own homes in the neighborhood.