ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the problem-solving capacity of Chicago's communities. It focuses on citizen involvement in the city's problem-solving program. Community capacity was measured using a variety of data sources. One important problem-solving asset enjoyed by some communities but in short supply in others, is the extent to which residents actively represent the community norms by intervening to safeguard one another in threatening situations. Organizations offer a related, but distinct, vehicle for neighborhood problem solving. In Bungalow Belt, active community organizations busily worked to eradicate community problems, particularly those concerning delinquent youths and gangs. The mass political mobilization component of the index combined election turnout and the survey measure of a community's resistance to a police-station closing. Racial composition of the beats also did not translate directly into beat meeting involvement. Experienced organizers were conect to believe that neighborhood residents so involved would be more likely to sustain their problem-solving efforts between meetings.
