A study visit was made to four adult education and community work projects in the London area. The agencies visited provided the opportunity to view outreach activities in a wide variety of organizational settings, varying from statutory educational work provided by local authorities under legal requirements to voluntary community work agencies dependent upon political goodwill for their financing at the local authority level. The projects represented four approaches to outreach work: access through lowering barriers to participation, advocacy on behalf of unmet needs, community outreach to the unorganized, and community action supporting semi- and organized community groups. Information from the study visit indicated that social and political considerations basic to the development of outreach included concern for a more equitable distribution of educational and welfare resources, a questioning of more traditional approaches to recruitment in adult education, and an increased concern for action research. Social educational assumptions were that outreach work is regarded as redistributive interventions guided by positive discrimination and involved consciousness raising about educational opportunities among individuals and groups. Approaches to outreach work differed in their definitions of the target groups and working methods. (YLB)