For community actors, participation to the provision of urban services is related to a series of institutional and political aspects. The problem of social inequalities as well as the Welfare State reform and the responsibility of the local state are at stake. At first, the main aspects of these components are reported in order to highlight the issue of community action. Secondly, recent literature on urban services is overviewed. The focus is on main interpretations useful to understand an empirical case. Finally, the last section describes preliminary data concerning services offered to youth and women by the community in reference to the Montréal case. The discussion sheds some light on the ambivalence of the relationship between the community sector and the local state according to the partnership process.