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Models of Community Practice 4007 2015 PDF
Models of Community Practice 4007 2015 PDF
Just as there are many ways to define and understand communities, there are
many models of community practice. Some models place greater emphasis on
mobilizing people at the grassroots while other emphasize the technical nature
of problem solving in the macro arena. Some models emphasize the inequality
and injustice that exists in most communities and seek to radically alter the
broad social structural factors that contribute to these problems. Others believe
that people in the community must identify and define problems for themselves
and that professionals may be able to support their efforts but they can't do it
for them. Some models place considerable emphasis on the process of electoral
politics. Others seek to ignore the role of political systems in favor of
encouraging local self-reliance, thereby freeing the community from the
broader political environment. Some models are most appropriate for
mobilizing support for mass movements such as the Civil Rights Movement,
the Nuclear Disarmament Movement, and more recently, the environmental
movement. Other models are more suited for addressing locality based
problems that are of special concern to local neighborhoods. No mater what
model is used, the common thread running through all of these models is
people working together to change the conditions that directly effect them in
their daily lives.
When we talk about social planning, I think its worth distinguishing between
social planning and physical planning. Social planning is concerned with the
provision of goods and services to members of the community. Physical
planning is concerned with land use management, zoning ordinances, and the
structure of physical facilities. They are generally treated as separate and
distinct. However, they are closely related. The way we plan and structure our
physical environment can have a tremendous impact on our social environment.
For example, new highways cutting through inner-city neighborhoods,
dislocation of low-income neighborhoods to make room for a convention
center, the design and structure of public housing projects such as the infamous
Pruitt-Igo in St. Louis.
The social action model assumes one segment of the community is being
overlooked or by-passed. The focus of this model is on organizing those
segments of the community to stand-up for their rights, to demand that their
needs and concerns be addressed. Emphasis is on bringing about basic change
in major social institutions or community practices, and to redistribute power,
resources, and decision-making processes in the community or a formal
organization. I call this an inside-out model because it starts with a committed
core of people who work to develop a collective consciousness among all
people who are effected by the conditions. It represents a model which tries to
challenge the status-quo through a wide range of disruptive, confrontational,
and often conflictive tactics. This model brings issues of social justice, equity,
oppression, and discrimination to the forefront of the community's
consciousness.
• Mass Mobilization
• Social Action
• Citizen Participation
• Public Advocacy
• Popular Education
• Local Service Development
Mass mobilization seeks to bring about change by organizing and massing large
numbers of individuals around issues. It assumes that visible public actions can
generate power and compel concessions from targets. From this perspective,
the issue is the critical focus of the change effort. Therefore, issue selection is
very important. Issues must be selected that will appeal to a large number of
people. If supporters are not committed to the issue, it is unlikely that mass
mobilization will produce significant change. This strategy is often used as a
response to existing conditions but rather as an independent force for change.
The goal is to win on specific, time-limited issues rather than to create a
permanent organization for future change efforts.
References