Providing Technical Assistance to Urban Communities: A Guide of Case Studies and Advice for Community Members

In 2005, the Skillman Foundation, a private philanthropic foundation dedicated to improving the lives of children, strengthened its impact by focusing on six targeted, youth-dense neighborhoods in Detroit. The Foundation committed to support a community change initiative by providing direct funding and technical expertise to its "Good Neighborhoods" over a ten-year period, and in so doing, incorporated the expertise of the University of Michigan School of Social Work. Ensuring the capacity of neighborhood members to assume the work of technical assistance providers is an essential component of technical assistance. This document, therefore, serves as a guide to community members in Detroit s Good Neighborhoods and elsewhere for providing technical assistance to new or continuing community change efforts.