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Learning Outcome Number One:

Summarize the historical roots of community development and organizing, advocacy, and social movements.

Saul Alinsky was one of the most notable community organizers who used his listening skills to identify community needs. His goal was to empower the people to face the issues head on (Eichler, 2007). Community organizers define a problem that needs to be addressed, the solutions that need to be reached, and a method to reach the solutions including the people that need to be involved and other resources needed.

“History is a relay of revolutions; the torch of idealism is carried by the revolutionary group until this group becomes an establishment, and then quietly the torch is put down to wait until a new revolutionary group picks it up for the next leg of the run” (Alinsky, 1971).

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There is power in numbers in community organizing. In conflict organizing, the power that emulates from the group of people is used to put pressure on a personalized target in order to create improvements in the community (Eichler, 2007).

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Social Movements:

The Women’s Rights Movement was a long standing social movement where women who had no power standing alone came together and organized group protests in order to illicit publicity for the cause. The women campaigned for equal rights. Although women eventually achieved the right to vote in the 20th century, women are still under-represented in U.S. Politics. There are smaller scale movements that share the same goal: CHANGE.

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Advocacy and Social Movements

The child abuse case of Mary Ellen McCormack was one of the first cases of child abuse to be brought to the public forefront. The case was introduced by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals . This case eventually led to the formation of the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children which advocated for the protection and fair treatment of children (Markel, 2009). In order to make alterations to the social order of society, there needs to be someone to stand up and identify what change needs to take place. This is how movements begin.

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Learning Outcome Number Two:

Analyze community systems and structures, and design and evaluate processes to initiate and sustain change through specific strategies, tactics, activities and social policy advocacy.

If we focus on the potential and not on the problem, we can begin to see a world of possibilities. The developmental approach is about “building onto strengths, identifying resources within the individual, the group, or the community that can be more fully cultivated and utilized” (Homan, 2011, p. 78). The developmental approach can be used for ongoing capacity building within the community.

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Preparing Effective Messages:

In order to facilitate change, people will need to be recruited. In order to recruit people, the change agent should consider the market, medium, and message. The market is the recipient of the message and the medium is the technique used to get the message e across. Social media can be used as a medium to get the message to the intended market in order to garner the appropriate response that could facilitate change (Homan, 2011, p. 290)

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When we analyze the needs of the community, we can identify the gaps that exist. We can use the identified gaps to create a vision or goal for the community. Homan (2011) explains that “you start where you want to end up out there somewhere in the future, and then move closer and closer to the present, becoming more and more specific about what you need to do” (p. 184).

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“Diversity is a source for strengthening the effectiveness of groups who can learn how to draw forth its potential” (Homan, 2011, p. 22). When working with culturally diverse groups, it’s important to gain an understanding of the values, family structure, history, communication patterns of the diverse cultures in the community and also try to understand the experiences that the cultures have had with the dominant group. This knowledge will help improve communication, increase trust, and acknowledgement of mutual interest, and can be used in capacity building in order to build a stronger community.

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Learning Outcome Number Three:

Record, assess, and reflect on experiences with community and the influence of human services values, attitudes, and ethics in relationship to community change.

Human services values, attitudes, and ethics influence the communities in which services are provided to by providing third spaces for client’s to come together in the community and have a space outside of work that can open up dialogue. “This type of dialogue underpins a healthy democracy because it exposes people to viewpoints other than their own” (S. Kincaid, personal communication, February 6, 2014).

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Human Services values, attitude, and ethics can influence the community by providing outreach services to populations that would otherwise not have access to services. Outreach also provides public education on issues concerning the human services organization.

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Human services values, attitudes, and ethics travel beyond the walls of an organization and help shape the community . Human services professionals advocate for change in the community on many different levels including policy changes, lobbying, lawsuits, working closely with schools, local law enforcement agencies and other community agencies and organization’s that are weaved into the fabric of the community.

Learning Outcome Number Four:Analyze the systemic issues related to culture, diversity, and social class in the context of community systems.

Then Now

The Personal is The PoliticalThere are still unequal political and social power relation’s between men and women today. If we considered these issues personal and not political, then issues such as child abuse and domestic violence would still be considered a private issue and not a community issue or societal issue. When the issue is considered political, there could be a change in policies and social norms and these alteration's could alleviate systemic issues.

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The social and political systems hold many people in place. Healthy communities should support inclusion and help reduce systemic barriers and challenges that these individuals face.

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Oppression:Poverty, child abuse, domestic violence, and other persistent social problems are systemic subjugation’s of people in order to benefit the interest of the people or systems who want to remain in control. We can not eliminate an issue by treating the oppressed. The issue is embedded into these structures and we become a partner with the oppressors by ignoring it (Homan, 2011, p. 10). (Courtesy of Google Images)

It is no easy feat to initiate change, organize, and/or develop in a community. This mission takes power. Although you may be the one initiating change or leading a group of people, ultimately, the power and success of the mission resides in the relationships that are fostered within the community.

Building relationships within the community will help identify undiscovered assets and keep the community engaged in the change. A community is like any other system; one part of the system affects all parts. The relationships between each part of the system needs to be nurtured in order to remain stable.

Personal Learning Objective: The Power of Relationships in the Community

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References• Alinsky, S.D. (1971). Rules for radicals; a practical primer for realistic radicals (1st ed.). New

York: Random House.• Davis, K. (2009, September 21). 5 Things you should know about your camera's LCD.

Popphoto.cm. Retrieved March 14, 2014, from https://www.popphoto.com/how-to/2009/09/5-things-you-should-know-about-your-cameras-lcd

• Eichler, M. (2007). Consensus organizing: Building communities of mutual self-interest, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

• Fighting Oppression. (n.d.). Thinkquest.org. Retrieved March 9, 2014, fromhttp://library.thinkquest.org/07aug/01443/fo_fo.html

• Goodenow, E. (2013, September 16). Outreach program teaches clergy how to help domestic violence victims. ChronicleTelegram. Retrieved March 16, 2014, from http://chronicle.northcoastnow.com/2013/09/16/outreach-program-teaches-clergy-how-to-help-domestic-violence-victims/

• Harrison, M. (2011, February 23). Shifting population changes face of South King County. The Seattle Times. Retrieved March 16, 2014, from http://seattletimes.com/ABPub/zoom/html/2014314513.html

• Homan, M. S. (2011). Promoting community change: Making it happen in the real world (5th ed.). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.

References Continued…

• Markel, H. (2009, December 14). Case shined first light on abuse of children. The New York Times. Retrieved March 1, 2014, from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/15/health/15abus.html?_r=1&

• McVeigh, K. (2012, November 7). Washington joins Main and Maryland in endorsing same sex marriage, Theguardian.com. Retrieved March 10, 2014, from: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/nov/07/washington-same-sex-marriage

• Mirza, A. (n.d.). Five effective communication tactics. Hongkiatcom RSS. Retrieved March 9, 2014, from http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/effective-communication-tactics-for-designers/

• Myers, A. (n.d.). Ariz. law could drive day laborers out. msnbc.com. Retrieved April 28, 2010, from http://www.nbcnews.com/id/36836884/ns/us_news-life/t/ariz-law-could-drive-day-laborers-out/#.UyXxe_ldWSo