Community Building

Last week, for my internship, I went to the local Beyond the Bench summit. If I understand it correctly, this is an annual event to address juvenile court issues and developments to better serve the youth involved in the system. The summit began with a video of 6 local former foster youth candidly discussing their experiences in the system. It was really powerful- and not at all sugar-coated. There were a few complaints about some foster homes they had lived in, but social workers were by far the biggest complaint. Many of them mentioned how they cycled through social workers and never really felt like their social workers got to know them very well. One individual mentioned that one of her social workers just expected her to 'spill her guts' when she barely even knew her. The day concluded with members of the Humboldt County Transition Age Youth Collaboration presenting on how to best include youth in meetings, committees, and planning for services. It was an incredibly well-developed and professional presentation.
Because of both of these presentations, several of the other speakers reflected on the value of hearing the voices of those that we serve. Why is this always an afterthought? I was thinking about this again while reading for class in our Community Practice book, which said one of the critical social functions that community builders need to be aware of is participation. It's simple- it is essential that those who's community is being impacted be involved in the process and have a say in what is needed and wanted. It seems so logical, and yet is so often forgotten. This concept is really a cornerstone of community organizing- it informs the idea of power with rather than power over. But, again, as social workers, it is so easy to believe that we know what is best for someone or a group of people, as well as how to go about getting desired resources and outcomes. And really, we don't!
Something else that stuck out in the reading for me was the impaction of perception on action. How we perceive a situation, and whether or not we believe we can achieve something, is such a huge piece for action to occur. The book pointed out that inaction is common, because we are socialized for passivity and fear. That is so true!!! And so as community organizers we must facilitate empowerment, a feeling of self-efficacy, and hope. Obama and his campaign organizers obviously knew this, perhaps because of his community organizing days. This isn't a new idea, but I just really liked the emphasis on how inaction is the norm, and action is rare, but possible.