This book is about ways that people can build and exercise power to influence the systems that affect their lives. Each chapter provides a deep examination of a different approach. This introductory chapter begins with a discussion on definitions of empowerment and then lays out five perspectives that orient the contributions in the book. It then describes the structure and contents of the book, which are organized into six parts: (1) organizing and activism, (2) participatory governance, (3) civil society and coalitions, (4) enterprise, (5) participatory and community arts, and (6) education and engaged research. This is followed by reflections on the book’s scope and potential uses by different audiences.

The chapters in this book have each examined different approaches to building community power through organizations and participatory processes. Some of these approaches represent long-standing and widespread forms of practice (e.g., community organizing, neighborhood associations, participatory urban planning) that are continuously evolving. Other approaches are more emergent or are currently spreading to more localities (e.g., action civics, participatory budgeting) and are exerting influences on existing organizations and forms of practice. Research into each of these approaches varies accordingly, with some approaches having a robust foundation of research-based insights and others that have only recently become the focus of empirical studies. The contributors to this book are at the forefront of advancing research on each of these types of community empowerment processes. Many of them are doing so from an action research orientation, in collaboration with the organizations, initiatives, and networks that are establishing and supporting these efforts.

Neighborhood associations are geographically bound, grassroots organizations that rely on volunteer membership and direct participation to identify and address issues within their neighborhood. Often these groups serve as intermediaries between residents and local decision-makers, such as government officials, developers and business owners, and providers of public goods and services. As a case example, we describe the Minneapolis Neighborhood Revitalization Program (NRP), launched in 1990. The NRP is a notable long-standing attempt to bolster the role of neighborhood associations in municipal governance. It demonstrates many of the potential benefits as well as the challenges of neighborhood associations as vehicles for locally scaled democracy. After this, we examine dynamics of community power and empowerment processes in neighborhood associations and make recommendations for practice and future research.

Design Your Neighborhood (DYN) is a place-based action civics curriculum that teaches urban design as a tool for increasing civic participation among youth. The DYN curriculum consists of six-week cross-curricular units for seventh and eighth grade that address local urban design issues that have exacerbated inequality in a rapidly growing southeastern US city. This chapter presents findings related to critical consciousness collected from an ongoing longitudinal, quasi-experimental, mixed-methods study of DYN. Quantitative data includes two measures of critical consciousness collected from treatment and control groups at two timepoints. Qualitative data comes from focus groups with students who completed the curriculum. Although qualitative findings suggest students’ critical consciousness increased after engaging with DYN, descriptive and inferential analysis of quantitative data indicate variation in student outcomes related to critical consciousness. These findings suggest pathways for place-based action civics to better support students’ development of critical motivation and critical action in and out of the classroom.