The Challenges of Fostering Community Participation: A Case Study of a Community-Based Organization in Rural California

Community development professionals commonly espouse participatory ideals regarding citizens' involvement in planning and decision-making, hut enacting these ideals is another matter. This case study of a community-based organization (CBO) examines how staff members attempted to involve residents in planning and implementing projects and the challenges they faced in doing so. These challenges included achieving broad participation, especially with White residents and youth; selecting decision-makers and delineating decision-making authority; building residents ' skills so that they could participate effectively; eliciting residents' ideas; and deciding when to plan with or for residents. Staff also sought to foster participation by cultivating a welcoming organizational culture. The study shows that the level and type of participation can vary widely within the same organization and illustrates how local power relations and inequities complicated practitioners ' efforts to encourage residents to participate. Consequently, the ways CBO practitioners work with citizens can alter relations among more or less powerful community groups and institutions.