Neighborhood Governance and Voluntarism

摘要

Papers by Howard Hallman and the National Self - Help Resource Center (NSRC) paint too rosy a picture of the neighborhood movement. Most neighborhood councils, formed between 1971 and 1975, relied heavily on Federal support. How they will bear up under Federal cutbacks and increased pressures on Community Development Block Grants remains to be seen. The neighborhood movement has proclaimed multiple competing goals. Multiple goals -- especially in a time of scarcity -- mean that hard choices and unpleasing tradeoffs will have to be made. Hallman shows some sensitivity to this need but does not provide much guidance as to how such tradeoffs are to be evaluated. What is needed is a more serious analysis of values and priorities. Moreover, neighborhood control entails intergroup conflict, which neither paper considers in all its dimensions. This critique suggests that the neighborhood movement, if it is to survive and prosper, must address the development of a theoretical and practical accommodation with the concept of a strong national government. Recommendations to pursue this goal are delineated. Neighborhood groups must reorient Government to their needs, not ask Government to leave them alone. A total of 12 footnotes are included.