The adoption of neo-liberalism by Western governments has led to a transfer of responsibility for social welfare from the state to individuals and their communities. In this paper, I investigate the impact on communities of this shift towards increased self government by exploring both the benefits and challenges posed by downloading social welfare to the community level. The paper highlights the many opportunities now available for communities to finally gain control of their welfare affairs, yet it also discusses how community self government forces people to become responsible for their own social welfare without being able to access the necessary resources required to actualize their welfare delivery plans. As such, I argue that people’s entitlements to social welfare are being eroded under the current system. It has been my experience that communities do not remain inactive under such conditions. Thus, in the final section of the paper I claim several opportunities are still available for progressive community capacity building, and initiate a discussion on how resistance actions can be taken so that communities begin to direct welfare delivery in a manner conducive to their needs and wants