Each participant has a stake in improving the community's governance and programs, using all the assets and resources that communities have available. The group will need to be diverse, but all must have a commitment to collaboration as a mechanism for creating a better community for all. Using collaborative approaches helps communities improve their education, housing, job, transportation, environment, health and quality of life in a manner that benefits all segments of the society. In the U.S., the focal point for local problem solving is not always city government. Further, city government is seen by some as exclusive and tending to rule out the consideration of counties, rural areas, or metropolitan areas that include central cities and suburbs.
Experience shows that a community is defined in different ways in different places.
In some cases, a community may be a city and other cases a metropolitan or rural region. In other areas, a community might be a large neighborhood. In New York City for example, people don't think of themselves as being from the city as much as they think of themselves as being from a borough, or even a neighborhood which is part of a borough. In some cases, the point for action would be smaller than a city. In rural areas with small towns, decision makers may choose to work from a sub-state regional perspective.