restore neighborhood stability by inviting neighbors to meet, interact, and problem solve in informal settings. The Boulevard House is situated in a neighborhood which uses the civic model for its organization, providing space for work and planning groups, as requested. Community Building Model The community building model focuses on mobilizing community members through collectives, organizations and agencies. Rather than focusing on individuals, per se, this approach focuses on combined power and influence through more formal structure and governance. This approach holds that collective organizations have greater ability to counter and negotiate with government or powerful private interests. Although the Boulevard House chooses to minimize this approach in favor of grass-roots organizing, its association with the University of Michigan and ability to leverage certain resources which are external to any one community places it within this model. Transformative Model The transformative model, as defined by Smock, is concerned with formation of extra-local networks, based on shared ideology and concerns. The model, by this definition, seeks to help local activists connect direct experience with large social systems by emphasizing critical thinking and education in theory. The settlement house model provides a literal space for these connections to take place, as well as a place where social issues and their themes can be deconstructed in a group forum. The emphasis in this approach is ultimately to challenge and change structural causes. Pyles uses "transformative" in a different way, citing the philosophies of practitioners like Paulo Freire. Freire asserts that community members have "ownership of the social meaning that will form the basis for social change" and "a single isolated individual is never conscientized alone, but as part of a community whereby solidarity is developed in relation to a common situation." The focus is on process rather than ends, and it is both revolutionary and ideological in nature. As a community space wherein groups come together to learn, plan, organize and act as agents in the community, settlement houses exemplify this understanding of transformative work. The Boulevard House, in particular, has staff working on a Resident Community Activist concept for Fall 2015; this would draw from the transformative models cited by both Smock and Pyles by selecting an organic activist within the community and providing residential support with academic training in theory in order to deepen his/her local practice. Marxism Marxism is relevant to community organizing because it critiques structural barriers within society which