TOWARD COMMUNITY ACTUALIZATION:
ATRIBUTE TO KENNETH P. WILKINSON

by Jerry W. Robinson, Jr., Ph.D.,
Director Center for Community Development
Delta State University
Cleveland, Mississippi
and Professor Emeritus
University of Illinois

INTRODUCTION

  This manuscript presents a conceptional and operational framework for a holistic approach to community development. It spans across thirty-three years of my life, time I spent interacting personally and professionally with Ken Wilkinson, who helped guide me in this approach to community development. I've presented the material in four stages. Much of the information deals with the relationship that Ken and I developed as professional colleagues and collaborators. The goal is to demonstrate how Ken has influenced and continues to shape my life--sometimes like dynamite and sometimes like yeast! The four stages are:

• Stage 1: Fellow Graduate Students and Friends
• Stage 2: Student: Instructor and Dissertation Advisor
• Stage 3: Professional Colleagues and Collaborators: Developing Programs and Models for Community Development
• Stage 4: Riding in the Community Development Omnibus in which Ken Drives