Social Change and the Empowerment of the Poor: Poverty Representation in Milwaukee’s Community Action Programs, 1964-1972

This is a social history of seven anti-poverty Community Action Programmes (CAPs) in Milwaukee’s inner city that were started in the 1960’s. The analysis concentrates on three thematic issues: the political dynamics associated with CAPs; the role of poverty representation in the CAPs; and the coverage and types of social services furnished by the CAPs. The research presented in the book finds how Milwaukee’s deteriorating neighbourhoods were not transformed by these initiatives. However, the author argues that CAPs empowered the poor, reformed leglisation, created new organizations, provided opportunities, expanded services, and challenged elites. The book aims to dispel the notion that CAPs were a categorical failure and also to provide encouragement for those searching for solutions to the pervasive social problems found in many of America’s inner cities.