Analyzing the Contributions of a Community Coalition in an Urban Neighborhood in Kansas City, Missouri: An Empirical Case Study of the Ivanhoe Neighborhood Council

Abstract

Community coalitions aim to facilitate changes in community outcomes and conditions by addressing problems and determinants of health and well-being. Although there is increasing support for community coalitions, there is limited evidence of their effectiveness in facilitating change and improvement in communities. This study presents an empirical community-level case study of the change process of a community coalition, the Ivanhoe Neighborhood Council. It systematically examines the unfolding of community changes (i.e., new or modified programs, policies, and practices) to improve neighborhood conditions in a declining neighborhood in Kansas City, Missouri. Using an empirical case study design, it examines the implementation of the community change framework and 12 related community processes to support the facilitation of community changes by the Ivanhoe Neighborhood Council from 1999 to 2002. The results suggests that the Ivanhoe Neighborhood Council was effective in implementing community changes; and these changes were associated with modest improvements in targeted outcomes particularly related to housing and crime. Implementation of the community change framework was associated with accelerated rates of community change and enhanced the capacity of the community coalition to facilitate change and improvement in the declining neighborhood. The results suggest that the community processes may be important to facilitating community change, and, perhaps ultimately community improvement.