Chapter 6 Flashcards
True of false: There is no single, universally accepted method for understanding all the elements that make
up a community
True
Community Development
– connects people to existing resources to engage in activities
such as community building, economic development, affordable housing, etc
“working with multiple community residents and using their strength in
numbers to participate in empowering the collective to pursue social change” What is…
Community Organizing!
“can include program development, coordination, and evaluation as well as processes to design projects, programs, and services. The focus may be on local neighbourhoods, states, regions, international level programs.” What is…
Community Planning
“Pursuit of community change through political activism and even
radical reforms of advocacy. It may involve policy practice targeting change, coalition building, and participation in social movements, and can range from the local to international efforts.” What is…
Progressive Change
What are the four approaches to community change?
Community development; community organizing; community planning and progressive change
Three reasons why community practitioners need a systematic approach to conceptualizing and assessing communities and their strengths and social problems:
The Person-In-Environment view; An understanding of the significant events in the history, values, attitudes and traditions; Communities change/evolve
Explain the Person-In-Environment view:
requires consideration of how people function within LARGER SYSTEMS. A person’s ENVIRONMENT INFLUENCES their values, beliefs, problems faced, and resources available, etc. The effective social worker understands influences beyond individual control.
Without this knowledge, the practitioner will have insufficient understanding of important factors such as values, attitudes, and traditions along with their significance in either maintaining the status quo or allowing for change.
An understanding of the significant events in the HISTORY and development of a community that influence the ways in which people view contemporary issues
“Communities change/evolve. Individuals move in and out of power. Economic and political environments change, funding priorities shift, as well as citizen’s roles and expectations. Having a framework for assessing communities can be helpful in recognizing and interpreting these changes.” Is an example of one of the reasons why community practitioners need…
a systematic approach to conceptualizing and assessing communities and their strengths and social problems.
“Communities change/evolve. Individuals move in and out of power. Economic and political environments change, funding priorities shift, as well as citizen’s roles and expectations. Having a framework for assessing communities can be helpful in recognizing and interpreting these changes.” Is an example of one of the reasons why community practitioners need…
a systematic approach to conceptualizing and assessing communities and their strengths and social problems.
Assessing communities is an iterative process, as new information is gathered, previous information is seen in a new perspective. How many tasks are in the framework for community assessment?
4 Tasks
TASK 1: Identify focal community
Learn history and population characteristics
o Collaborate with target population
o Determine community boundaries
TASK 2: Locate data and information
Identify data sources
o Gather info on target population needs
TASK 3: Assess community assets
o Focus on strengths, values, and differences
o Locate sources of power and resources availability
TASK 4: Assess community structure and capacity
Examine service delivery units
o Identify influence, control, services
o Determine linkages
In Task 1: How does each category affect/influence community members and perceptions?
History
Demographics
Population (at risk or in need) There are degrees of inequitable distribution of income, opportunity, political representation, personal safety, and other social
resources. This means, underserved populations exist and one single effort
cannot address all the inequities they encounter.
Sources of social information – gov’t, library, organizations, etc.
Intersectionality of place/community
In Task 1: Boundaries are established in many different ways:
Legal boundary (Jordan’s Principle) Social boundary (ethnicity, colleagues, family, neighbourhood, etc) Psychological boundary (values, worldview) Membership boundary (Who is in and who is out (selective membership, shared identities)
Task 2, locate data and information on community needs, issues, and problems.
What data sources are available?
Provincial and national, there are multiple sources of data available, e.g., municipalities,
Tax records, property information, election records, school boards, government funded
organizations, census Canada, CMHA, other non-profit organizations.
Task 2: Methods for data collection
Needs Assessment (See Table 6.1, page 168)
Task 2: What major issues or social problems have been identified by their spokesperson?
Table 6.2 Continuum of Care (p. 169)
Individual need versus social need
Condition versus Problem (as discussed in Chpt. 4)
Incidence and prevalence of problems
Incidence – a phenomenon actually occurring over a period of time
Prevalence – the percentage of a population affected
Task 2: A healthy community has adequate functioning systems of service and sufficient _______ to enable their citizens to achieve basic standards of living, i.e., economic base, jobs & income, affordable housing, transportation, health services, education, public safety, freedom to pursue obligations and interests.
Supports
Task 2: What extent are problems interconnected? Is there a priority?
Establishing a profile of issues and problems helps understand the context in which the
problem occurs. Direct contact with individuals/groups affected and searching the
professional knowledge base on the experiences of similar populations helps inform the
macro social worker
Task 3: Not all problems require government intervention. It is important for the social work practitioner to identify what the community can do to ____ itself when possible.
help
Task 3: When community deficits are highlighted (assets ignored):
Funding goes to services rather than people
Look for resources outside of the community
Emphasizes a ‘client’ mentality rather than a ‘community’
Leaders have to denigrate their community to attract resources
Deepens the cycle of dependency (powerlessness)
Encourages a top-down approach
Doesn’t consider community members’ priorities/needs
Guiding principles & values of asset mapping (p. 144, chpt. 5)
All communities have strengths, assets, resources
Community members must participate in decisions that affect them
A collaborative process is an ethical requirement in relationships
Any intervention should reflect the input and priorities of community members
Cultural humility must guide practitioners
Participants in the process communicate in the spirit of collegiality, mutual respect
Dynamics of difference
The “dynamics of difference” may
involve cross-cultural exchanges where groups with diverse histories and values interact.
There is always the possibility of misunderstanding and misinterpretation when this occurs.
“Both will bring culturally-prescribed patterns of communication, etiquette, and
problem-solving. Both may bring stereotypes or underlying feelings about serving or
being served by someone who is different”
Recognizing deserving and undeserving attitudes Age Cultures Affiliations Identities Occupations
This type of power structure assumes that a small number of people have disproportionate power in various community sectors and that this power remains constant regardless of the issue.
Elitist structure
This type of power structure implies that, as issues change, various interest groups and shifting coalitions arise.
Pluralist structure
In this type of power structure no persistent pattern of power relationships exist in the community
Amorphous structure
Task 3: Examples of resources – economic, occupational, symbolic, information, status of people,
- Health
- Welfare
- Education
- Housing
- Recreation
- Employment
- Business
- Religion
Task 3: Service access is affected by a number of variables:
Population density Distribution of service Ability to pay for those services not covered Competition among providers Transportation
Task 3: Dimensions of community
Geographical
Social/relational
Political
