Progressive Reform, Gender and Institutional Structure: A Critical Analysis of Citizen Participation in Detroit’s Community Development Corporations (CDCs)

This article examines the institutional context in which community-based organisations are embedded. Two emergent themes in the literature on community development are
examined critically: the woman-centred model for community organising; and the thesis concerning the community development industry system. The analysis is based upon data from field
research with community development corporations (CDC) in Detroit, Michigan. The findings
from this research indicate that the prospects for developing progressive community development
strategies in grassroots organisations are constrained by barriers to financial resources and
limited access to the policy-making process. As a result, recommendations are forwarded for the
creation of autonomous funding sources, expanded democratic decision-making in communitybased organisations and the linking of progressive reform to broad-based coalition building and
multiple oppression politics.