Buidheann Coimhearsnachd Caibideil 1

• Community organization is about realizing improvement through collective action.
• It involves planning, implementing, and assessing actions to improve systems, policies, and practices.
• Community organization considers financial, human, physical, natural, and intangible resources.
• It relies on understanding community structure for successful program implementation.
• Chapter 1 aims to cover community types, organizing concepts, needs analysis, resource mobilization, networking, community service, student mobilization, and volunteerism.

Core Concepts

• Community, in sociology, is a group with a social structure who work together to organize social life in a specific place.
• Community members are bound by a sense of belonging across time and space.
• The word "community" comes from the Latin "communitas," meaning "common" or "shared."
• A community is a group living in the same place or sharing characteristics like norms, religion, or identity.
• It's where people live, work, play, solve problems, and resolve issues.
• Communities can be grouped by age, ethnicity, gender, religion, location, or profession.
• Ferdinand Toennies contrasted: Gemeinschaft (close social ties in rural societies) and Gesellschaft (impersonal ties in urban societies).
• Chris Drew defines community as a social unit sharing a common network of values, interests, goals, and kinship.

Community Types

• Chris Drew identified five main categories of communities:
• Communities of place.
• Communities of interest.
• Identity-based communities.
• Communities of need.
• Communities of practice.

Communities of Place

• Urban: Dense, unique structure, reliant on peripheral communities for resources.
• Suburban: Less dense, family-oriented, focused on education and cost of living.
• Rural: Agrarian, concerned with access to healthcare, politically conservative.
• Neighborhood: Small, local services, close proximity.
• Suburb: Larger than neighborhoods, local government, shared interests.
• National: "Imagined communities" with shared identity promoted by media and government.
• Global: Encompasses everyone in the world.

Communities of Interest

• Subcultures: Common beliefs and interests distinct from the dominant culture (e.g., surfing, gaming).
• Countercultures: Oppositional to the dominant culture (e.g., hippies, Amish).
• Sporting: Shared interest in a sport, developing unique practices and events (e.g., football community).

Identity-Based Communities

• Religious: Shared spiritual beliefs and practices, providing support networks.
• Virtual: Online, forming identities and support networks based on interests.
• Ethnic: Shared history, practices, cultures, and beliefs.

Communities of Need

• Disabled: Sharing experiences, advocating for needs, providing support.
• Deaf: Shared language (sign language) and distinct culture.
• Elderly: Sharing experiences of aging, medical resources, and community building.

Communities of Practice

• Professional: Sharing a profession or expertise, advocating, setting standards, learning.
• Guilds and Associations: Linked to hobbies or crafts (e.g., woodworking, birdwatching).
• Business: Advocating for businesspeople and entrepreneurs, sharing experiences.
• Economic: Larger-scale than business, linked to nation-state economies (e.g., APEC, European Economic Community).

Community Organizing

• Community organizing involves methods and strategies that strengthen people's capacity to work together and address public problems.
• Eduard C. Lindeman (1921): Community organization involves a community's conscious effort to democratically control its affairs, securing services from specialists and organizations.
• Walter W. Pettit (1925): Community organization helps a group recognize and meet common needs.
• Sanderson and Polson (1939): Community organization is a technique for obtaining consensus on values and how to achieve them.
• Community organization applies knowledge and practice to help communities achieve planned change and improvement.

Models of Community Organization

• Locality Development: Involves common needs, democratic processes, and community involvement.
• Social Planning: Involves welfare needs evaluations and blueprints for service delivery, working in coordination with the government.
• Social Action: Involves groups confronting power structures to address inequalities and deprivation.

Six Steps in Community Organizing

• Community Assessment: Understand community needs and trends.
• Community Outreach: Surveying and listening to people's concerns.
• Clarify Goals: Align mission and goals, categorize objectives (internal and external).
• Frame Strategies: Create an actionable and impactful plan.
• Build Local Leadership: Elect community leaders to manage initiatives.
• Mobilize People: Gather people and take collective action.

Community Organizing Importance

• Identifying issues impacting the community through communication and exposure.
• Supporting inclusivity by promoting equal power distribution through leadership selection.
• Influencing policy changes through planned and focused actions.
• Amplifying unheard voices of diverse groups by giving them a platform.
• Building power and influence by working together, especially for marginalized groups.

Other Considerations

• Community problems often arise from a lack of knowledge and power to implement solutions.
• Community development is a planned effort to equip individuals with the skills for democratic participation and problem-solving.
• Community development is enhanced through collaborative, consultative, and participative approaches.

Wheel of Participation

• The Australian Institute of Family Studies' highlights the wheel of participation as a good guide in attaining community development.
• Community refers to citizens in a geographical area, not service providers or organizations.
• Consultation gathers opinions via surveys, interviews, or focus groups.
• Participation involves community members in planning, delivering, and evaluating initiatives in a meaningful way.