Promoting Community Change: Making It Happen in the Real World

Mark Homan's practical--and often humorous--text addresses the real world experiences facing those in the helping professions who focus on communities and organizations, and who want to learn how to actually affect community changes, not only discuss theory. PROMOTING COMMUNITY CHANGE, Third Edition doesn't simply describe issues related to change--it illustrates exactly how readers can personally become effective change agents. Many Social Workers know the techniques for dealing with individuals, but not as many know the techniques for improving communities in which those individuals live. Homan emphasizes the role a strengthened community can play in preventing problems (as well as producing solutions) to problems that individuals and families experience. Rather than a passive 'service' model, Homan presents a development model that empowers communities to transform their own conditions.

Now retired, Mark S. Homan served as Chair of the Social Services Department at Pima Community College, where he taught for over 30 years. In addition to these duties, Mark has served as adjunct faculty and guest lecturer for colleges, universities, and training consortia in the United States, Russia, and Sweden. A strong advocate of community empowerment, Mark has worked with diverse populations in urban, rural, and reservation communities on a broad range of issues and has developed and directed several human services programs. He is the past Chair of the international Association for Community Organization and Social Administration (ACOSA), a founding member of community organizations and agencies, and has served in executive leadership roles on numerous community boards and councils. He has conducted workshops and delivered presentations on various aspects of community building and community power. The recipient of numerous awards for teaching excellence and for work with communities, Mark is also the author of RULES OF THE GAME: LESSONS FROM THE FIELD OF COMMUNITY CHANGE, which is used both as a textbook and as a practical guide for community change agents.