Working with Communities explores critical ideas about community work and associated concepts such as social inclusion, social capital, community participation, community capacity building, and community partnerships.

It provides students with theoretical and conceptual knowledge of community work with strong links to current practice through case studies, practitioner perspectives and discussions about skills.

The book is divided into three sections:

Part 1 explores the theoretical foundations of community work;

Part 2 then presents conceptual approaches and practice frameworks for working with communities and Part 3 focuses on the practical applications and processes for working with communities. It encourages readers to explore, question and engage with community work to help them understand how to work effectively with communities, in a diverse range of contexts and settings. 

 Key features

• Case studies highlight the relationship between theory and practice, bring key ideas together and encourage critical reflection
• Practitioner perspectives from diverse practice backgrounds provide real-world, relevant insights into community work within a range of settings
• Practice exercises throughout help readers identify activities that might be involved in practice with communities