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Structural differences between communities which exhibit a tendency toward innovation and communities which fail to exhibit this tendency are studied. The Model Cities program is used as a test case for the tendency toward innovation, and two samples (applicants and non-applicants) are matched on the basis of population size. Four structural elements are examined as related to applicant status: community differentiation, community poverty, community social-human resource commitment, and the centralization of local governmental structure. Each of the structural elements is further refined by operationally defining specific measures. Community differentiation is measured by occupational and racial/ethnic differentiation. Community poverty is reflected by economic and educational poverty. The variable of community social-human resource commitment is developed using the following measures: per capita community fund goals, per capita amounts raised, per cent of goal raised, and the number of private social agencies in a community that are devoted to social-human resource needs. The centralization of local governmental structure is measured by the presence or absence of the city manager form of government, the presence or absence of non-partisan election, the size of city councils, and the per cent of the city council elected at-large.

One purpose of the national Model Cities Program was to reduce the incidence of crime and delinquency in poverty blighted areas to levels prevailing in the remainder of the community. A measurable goal projected by the Austin program was to reduce crime in its Model City Area (in comparison to the rest of the city) by at least 8.73 per cent during the operational years of the program. The central problem of the study was to examine the relationships between official crime rates in the Austin Model City Area in comparison to residual areas of the city. Robbery, burglary, and auto theft rates were singled out for intensive study over the six year operational period of the program to see if they were converging with comparable rates in the rest of the city. Ultimate implication: the Model Cities Program was probably a contributing factor in the reduction of selected crimes in the Model Neighborhood and census tracts containing it.