ABSTRACT
The U.S. community development field originated as a movement for the self-determination of urban poor Black and Puerto Rican communities, emerging from the social justice activism of the 1960s and 1970s. Political empowerment and economic autonomy was the means to transform “ghetto” circumstances and conditions into thriving, healthy, prosperous, and equitable environments for poor and segregated African-Americans and Latinos (Ferguson and Dickens, 1999; Goldsmith, 1974; Newman and Lake, 2006; Tabb, 1970). Key ingredients included “community organizing, political power, training, and participation” (Vietorisz and Harrison, 1971).
