| This dissertation examines the idea of neighborhood community development within the context of contemporary market globalization and associated urban restructuring. Many urban areas have witnessed substantial changes that have flowed from global, national and regional dynamics. Neighborhoods close to the downtown cores which have been home to working class, racial and ethnic communities, have experienced sustained social distress and abandonment. Community Development Corporations (CDCs) are not-for-profit organizations that have attempted to rebuild and revitalize urban neighborhoods and rural communities since the middle 1960s. In spite of significant changes in the political and social context since the middle 1960s and early 1970s, the idea of community-based development has survived. This dissertation involves a case study of a CDC named NEWSED in Denver, Colorado. The case study evaluates the work of NEWSED as a vehicle for economic reconstruction and community democracy. The case study used documents from NEWSED archives, secondary literature and interviews with NEWSED staff, associates and neighborhood residents. The discussion then extends the themes from the NEWSED case study, to a critique of the CDC model in general. |
