Community Development Journal Advance Access originally published online on August 22, 2005
Community Development Journal 2007 42(2):167-180; doi:10.1093/cdj/bsi096
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Including Young Mothers: Community-based participation and the continuum of active citizenship
Address for correspondence: School of Social Work, York University, Kinsmen Building, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, Ontario, M3J 1P3. email: sgreene{at}yorku.ca
In the United Kingdom, the role of the active citizen is often understood in terms of the importance and value attached to community-based citizen involvement. However, the structural issues that prevent people from participating are often ignored. Drawing on in-depth interviews with twenty young mothers living in Greater Pilton, Edinburgh, this paper argues that the involvement of young mothers in their community must be viewed as existing along a continuum of active citizenship that highlights the factors that influence how and when young mothers participate in their communities as well as the barriers that young mothers experience regarding their inclusion in community based participation.