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The theme of empowerment has flourished these last years in the literature issued from international institutions such as the World Bank. In North America, empowerment is a core dimension of community development; in line with the community organizing tradition inspired by Saul Alinski, it raises the question of minorities’ access to power and is rather focused on building counter-powers. To some extent, it has been integrated into political-administrative discourse, as shown by the Empowerment Zones program launched by the Clinton administration in 1994. Analysis of the arguments, methods and schemes developed in this program shows how ambiguous the notion of empowerment and how diverse its interpretations are.