Our Model for Community Change and Improvement:
Some Lessons Learned on Community Organization and Change
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WHAT IS COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION?
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WHAT ARE THE TYPES OF COMMUNITIES THAT ORGANIZE?
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WHAT ARE SOME MODELS OF PRACTICE IN COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION?
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WHAT ARE SOME LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION AND CHANGE?
WHAT IS COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION?
Community organization is the process of people coming together to address issues that matter to them. Community members developing plans for how the city can be a place where all its children do well. Neighbors joining in protests to stop drugs and violence in their community. Members of faith communities working together to build affordable housing. These are all examples of community organization efforts.
WHAT ARE THE TYPES OF COMMUNITIES THAT ORGANIZE?
Community organization can happen in the variety of contexts that define "community."
SHARED PLACE
People come together who share a common geographic place such as a neighborhood, city, or town. For example, local residents might come together to address neighborhood concerns such as safety, housing, or basic services. Problem solving through community-based organizations (CBOs), neighborhood associations, and tenants -- organizations are common forms of place-based practice.
SHARED WORK SITUATION OR WORKPLACE
Community organizing also occurs among people who share a work situation or workplace. For example, union organizing among industrial or farm laborers brings together those concerned about working conditions, job security, wages, and benefits.
SHARED EXPERIENCES OR CONCERNS
It's a good opportunity for community organization when people share a common experience or concern. For example, organizing might happen among people who are poor about jobs, housing, education, and other contributors to financial security.
Organizing frequently occurs among those who have concerns about the same issues such as substance abuse, violence, or child welfare. Those who share a common race or ethnicity may organize around issues, such as discrimination, that are barriers to achieving common goals. Finally, those who have physical disabilities, such as mobility or visual impairments, may come together to create conditions that affect independent living.
WHAT ARE SOME MODELS OF PRACTICE IN COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION?
Should community organization be about collaboration among people sharing common interests or confrontation with those in power? This is a false dichotomy that ignores the context of the work. Several models of practice emerged in various contexts of community organization work (Rothman, 1995).
SOCIAL PLANNING
Social planning uses information and analysis to address substantive community issues such as education, child development, or environmental health. For example, planning councils or task forces engage (usually) professionals in setting goals and objectives, coordinating efforts, and reviewing goal attainment.
Social planning might occur in a context of either consensus or conflict about goals and means. For example, information about high rates of adolescent pregnancy, and factors that contribute to it, may help communities focus on the goal of preventing teen pregnancy, and even decisions about using controversial means such as sexuality education and enhanced access to contraceptives. Use of social planning helps build agreement on common results.
SOCIAL ACTION
Social action involves efforts to increase the power and resources of low-income or relatively powerless or marginalized people. For example, advocacy organizations, such as those for disability rights or tobacco control, often use social action approaches. They might arrange disruptive events -- including lawsuits, sit-ins, or boycotts -- to draw attention and focus to their concerns by those in power.
Organizers create events, such as a protest or strike, that those in positions of power (such as employers) can avoid or stop by coming to an agreement. For example, people with disabilities might stop picketing a business when it modifies policies that discriminate against people with disabilities. Or, a tobacco company might avoid a lawsuit by tobacco control advocates by eliminating advertising directed at minors. Social action tactics are used in lots of situations involving conflicting interests and imbalance in power; they usually take place when conventional negotiations aren't working.
LOCALITY DEVELOPMENT
Locality development is another way to get people to work together. It is the process of reaching group consensus about common concerns and collaborating in problem solving. For example, local residents in urban neighborhoods or rural communities may cooperate in defining local issues, such as access to job opportunities or better education, and in taking action to address the concerns.
COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS OR COALITIONS
There are many hybrid models that combine elements of the three approaches. For example, community partnerships or coalitions combine elements of social planning and locality development when people who share common concerns, such as child well -being or substance abuse, come together to address them. The goal of many coalitions is to change community conditions -- specific programs, policies, and practices -- that protect against or reduce risk for these concerns. These models, and their variations, may be implemented at local, state, regional, and even broader levels.
WHAT ARE SOME LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION AND CHANGE?
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