Neighborhood-based governing bodies have assumed increasing importance with the shift of social policy toward local community responsibility. Research in Baltimore, Boston, and Portland shows that these organizations help increase local resident engagement in community planning and implementation efforts, but that turf battles, resource limitations, and incomplete representation limit their ability to act as proxies for their constituencies.

This paper explores the range of organizations in three cities that take on some aspect of the role of neighborhood-based governance. It attempts to draw lessons form participants in these endeavors about the impact of relevant dimensions of context, structure, participation, organizational capacity, relationship to local government, and placement among other structures and processes on the conduct and effectiveness of neighborhood-based governance mechanisms.