Author: Tia Sherée Gaynor

Publisher:

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 154

ISBN-13:

Community Development Corporations (CDCs) were formed in the United States to address issues in urban communities and often work with municipal governments on these issues (Keating, 1997; Jennings, 2004). In some neighborhoods, CDCs seek to rebuild and revitalize communities that suffered from social unrest, while others react to the lack of government or inadequate programming addressing the economic and social maladies of urban communities. The work of CDCs requires the involvement of all community stakeholders -- particularly city residents and public administrators. Does the dual relationship CDCs have with residents and local government suggest that they bring both closer together? This research studies this phenomenon by using Arnstein's Ladder of Participation to examine the role CDCs play in cultivating citizen participation. Specifically, this study seeks to examine how community stakeholders perceive the role CDCs play in fostering resident participation in local government. As a primary methodological tool for studying individual and group perspectives, Q-method was employed to empirically study community stakeholder perceptions of CDCs. Key research findings suggest that: a) community stakeholders believe that CDCs are currently working to maintain the status quo of participation and advise that the Context of Conventional Participation (1995) is present, b) stakeholders overwhelmingly believe that CDCs should work to encourage participation that incorporates partnership, and c) there should be less distance between residents and decision making, thereby increasing opportunities for engagement. Through the exploration of the subjective, this study exposes the perspective of residents on citizen participation and identifies the need for a new direction of theory development that examines the creation of consensus and partnership building in community development organizations and initiatives. Furthermore, Conditions for Ideal Participation emerges from the data providing a practical guideline for strengthening participation in municipal government. Conclusions from this study have both theoretical and practical implications to the scholarly and administrative work comprised of public administration.