COUNTERING URBAN DISINVESTMENT THROUGH COMMUNITY-BUILDING INITIATIVES

This article reviews policy approaches to and legislation for communit y revitalization and discusses how early federal policies contributed to the segregation and isolation of poor neighborhoods. The article de scribes how new community-based programs counter the urban disinvestme nt practices that have fed to segregated communities and points out ap proaches and policies that transcend people-place dichotomies by recog nizing the need for comprehensive community-building strategies. Two n ational policy initiatives, the Empowerment Zone Program and the Urban Revitalization Demonstration Project (HOPE VI), which reflect the fiv e guiding principles of community building, serve as examples of this trend and as a framework for future social policies and social work pr actice.