Community Development Chapter 1-2

Neighborhoods Provide...

- socialization for youth - social construction (gangs.crimes) - shape social outcomes through institutional processes

3 Elements of Community Development

1. territory or place 2. social organizations, institutions that provide social interaction 3. social interactions involving a common interest

A fundamental tenet of community development is capacity building. Define this term. Name and describe two broad strategies on how to do this.

Capacity building is a fundamental tenet of community development with the ultimate goal being to help communities help themselves. It can be broadly defined as the ability to become active agents (rather than objects) of change). One strategy that community development practitioners use is leadership development. By identifying and expanding the pool of leaders, communities can improve public participation and the quality of their leaders. Leadership programs are often used to to create better facilitators, enhance processing skills and improve confidence in personal abilities. Ultimately, leaders will improve the ability of communities to make good decisions. Another strategy used by community development practitioners is organizational development. Capacity building focuses on strengthening existing organizations by improving board management, member recruitment and resource allocation and also establishing new organizations that address community need

Working Definition of Community Development

Community development is a planned effort to build assets that increase the capacity of residents to improve their quality of life.

History of Community Development

Comprehensive approach, focusing on education, social services, jobs, and physical conditions - Promoting collaborating between experts and citizens to address problems ● City Planning traces its starts to this period as well - Citizen participation is key.

Assets?

Gifts, skills, capacities of individuals, associations, and institutions A special kind of resource that an individual, organization, or entire community can use to reduce or prevent poverty and injustice.

Define Self Help

Helping people learn to help themselves (practitioners facilitate This approach is based on the belief that increasing the capacity of residents to address their problems will ultimately result in long term improvements in quality of life. An example of this would be a community development practitioner identifying goals and increasing the capacity to participate in the solution of collective problems while maintaining neutrality and sharing the leadership role with residents.

New Deal

Housing Act of 1937: basis for public housing; cleared slums WPA paid prevailing wages for infrastructure projects local control of programs caused problems in the south

Transparency

Level of Trust between individuals and between individuals and their government

Neighborhood Effect

Phenomenon in which social problems tend to be bundled together

Five Freedoms of Development

Political Economic Social Transparency Guarantees Protective security

Define Conflict Model

Problem is lack of power (practitioners organize) assume that the fundamental source of a community's problems is the lack of power. The goal is to determine who has power and what strategies can be used to change the situation. An example of this would be community organizers assessing the local power structure, then choosing a problem and organizing the community around it.

Social Freedom

Societal arrangements for the conditions to improve quality of life: school, healthcare

Community Sustainability

a focus on local practices and policies, evaluating whether they contribute to the long-term survival of the social, economic, and environmental base of the locality.

Political Freedom

civil liberties

Organizing communities to build power as a basis of social change is most consistent with which approach to community development?

conflict

Protective Security

institutional arrangements that provide a social safety net for preventing the population from suffering from abject misery: ex. starvation and death

Examples of Growth w/o development

more health but in a few hands more jobs, but for people outside the hood more stores but chains take profits away from community more resource extraction industries but unsustainable methods

The Triple Bottom Line emphasizes the relationship between three important components. Which is not one of those components?

political goals

Define Technical Assistance

problem is informational (practitioners consult) approach that assumes that the most important obstacle of a community is information. Those who provide the technical assurance are more concerned with the eventual outcome than enhancing the capacity of residents. An example of this would be a community development practitioner working as a consultant through ongoing local assistance or short term consulting.

Growth

quantitative or qualitative numerical- increased quantities of specific phenomena- Jobs/ population/income Qualitative- Better jobs and more security

Economic Freedom

resources that families have to produce, consume and exchange in the marketplace

Which community-development approach tends to emphasize the importance of the role of facilitation and minimizes the significance of the outcomes and impacts of community intervention?

self help

Which of Sen's five instrumental freedoms refers to the right of adequate health care and education to be able to fairly compete in the market place?

social freedom

Difference Between Community and Neighborhood

social interaction on matters concerning a certain interest vs physical barriers

Development

structural change in the community enabling residents to have more choices and opportunities