In 1977, the Bernard van Leer Foundation began supporting a project in Colombia that had the objective of improving the quality of early childhood care and education in a small village. The Costa Atlantica project offered an approach to development that was based on community organization, social management, participation, cooperation, popular education, and solidarity in the search for the common good. The project began as an attempt to satisfy the needs of children and expanded to include an alternative approach to overcoming poverty. The project team of about 25 people was aided by university students, and received encouragement and partial financial support from the Colombian Institute for Family Welfare. The team claimed to have provided over 100 communities with some form of preschool and a variety of other developments. Such a claim indicated that something in the communities was transforming largely marginalized and disadvantaged settings into positive developmental environments. This book describes the heart and spirit of the Costa Atlantica project. Chapters concern background information, the role of the university as change agent, the role of the community in development, the transition from local experiment to national policy, and the learning that took place during the experience. (RH)