Recreation and the glenview neighborhood: Implications for youth and community development

The purpose of this interpretive study was to explore the voices of the ecological agents surrounding the youth of Glenview, a low-resource neighborhood. The research focused on a phenomenon that involved the establishment and discontinuation of a community organization effort to provide structured recreation programs for youth. Theoretical frameworks of the ecological perspective and community social organization guided the study. Twenty-one participants were interviewed. Four major themes were constructed front the data through constant comparison: the neighborhood environment, despondence, parental conditions and parental involvement. Implications relate to social capital and recreation's role in youth and community development.