Neighborhood Games as a Community-Building Strategy

ABSTRACT

This paper discusses the use of neighborhood games and contests as an alternative approach to community building, and as a complement to traditional issue or interest organizing. It places these activities within the broader contexts of celebration and festivity, noting the relative lack of such events within modern American secular culture. The planning, implementation, and results of two neighborhood-wide games and contests are then described, as carried out in a representative suburban neighborhood. Though full and accurate evaluation is challenging, the community-building promise of these activities is documented. The prospects for future development and use of similar community events are then considered.     

Out of the Wilderness – Australian Social Workers Embrace Their Campaigning Roots

Abstract

This paper seeks to contribute to social capital research and its applicability to social work practice and social policy. It provides an examination of the complexity of social capital and strategies used to build it in local communities. Drawing on data collected from a large quantitative study collected in a rural city in Australia, experiencing rapid population growth, it reports on levels of social, civic, and community participation related to a range of demographic variables. Results highlight the significance of gender, life stage, socioeconomic status, and the influence of neighbourhood connected to different types of participation. Findings presented in this paper draw attention to the unevenness of participation in social, civic, and community life linked to key demographics. The author concludes by arguing that community-building approaches have some merit, so long as critical differences accessing bonding and bridging social capital are acknowledged, and opportunities to promote participation are facilitated.     

Nurturing the Seeds of Restorative Justice

Abstract

Communities are looking for community-building responses to the issue of crime. Traditional social and political discourses have presented only two responses to crime, “get tough” or rehabilitate offenders. An alternative view has begun to emerge in community criminal justice discourse and practice. Restorative justice emphasizes the restoration of relationships and community peace that are damaged by the harm of crime, and the repair of these social injuries. This article presents the findings of a pilot study that was conducted to assess a community's openness to restorative justice principles.     

Intergenerational Community Action and Youth Empowerment

Abstract

Empowerment theory can provide a useful framework for the design and evaluation of intergenerational community-building programs. Using an intervention research approach that draws heavily on empowerment theory, the author designed, facilitated, and evaluated an innovative model for intergenerational community engagement involving undergraduate students and older adult residents of an assisted living facility. This “Intergenerational Community Action Group” met at the assisted living facility throughout a school year to engage in group-building activities, to discuss and choose an issue of concern to them in the community, and to plan and implement an action project to address the issue. This article discusses the use of empowerment theory in intergenerational community action and similar programs, and reviews the empowerment outcomes for youth participants in the Intergenerational Community Action Group.     

Recruiting Participants for Community Practice Interventions

ABSTRACT

This paper focuses on recruiting participants for community practice interventions. We begin by presenting a case study of the recruitment methods used in a community-based development effort in the southeastern United States. In the next sections, we review some key issues in recruitment as discussed in the community practice and social movement literatures, and use them to reflect upon the case study. In the final section, we try to make social movement theory more accessible to community practitioners by developing a set of principles for use in recruitment.     

The Social Work Outreach Service Within a School of Social Work

ABSTRACT

This article describes a unique community outreach service that is designed specifically to meet the needs of the local community, provide training ground for social work students, and experiment with the development of new practice models. Located within a school of social work, the service was born in an atmosphere in which both the university and the school were being called upon to play a greater part in the community. Since its inception in 1992, it has successfully served the local community through direct service, community organization activities, and consultation. Despite these successes in outreach to the community, internal challenges continue to exist.     

Building on Mutual Goals

ABSTRACT

In this era of diminishing federal and state funds for social services, greater attention has been directed toward how social work and the religious sector can cooperate in providing services. This article suggests that social workers should move beyond this focus and begin to identify and join in collective action with local congregations or faith-based organizations, which take an activist approach toward community needs. The author uses a case study of an activist central city church to illustrate how churches can be involved in community change. Social workers are encouraged to consider all methods of collaboration with the religious sector that would lead to the mutual goal of community betterment.     

The contribution of the intervention in social networks and community social work at the local level to social and human development

ABSTRACT

The primary task of community social work is building social networks by reinforcing people's resources and those of the different environmental and social contexts from three dimensions: personal development, social development and organisational development. The new information technologies today establish a relationship of communication with local communities and citizens that promotes proximity to social networks. Social intervention is supported by a set of methods from human geography that can be used as tools to create maps of the territory and the networks for planning, diagnosing and classifying the management of community network intervention. In this discussion we set out to analyse the contribution of the intervention in social networks as a means of achieving a new configuration of social networks at the local level. This information is obtained from semi-structured interviews with social workers and other professionals in the social sphere in municipalities with over 100,000 inhabitants in the Madrid region (Spain). The research results show that intervention in social networks locally multiplies the opportunities to enhance the quality of people's social relationships, thus expanding their social support by strengthening their bonds, their personal network and support systems; secondly, it increases empowerment to facilitate a type of intervention to strengthen human potential and to gain autonomy and full citizenship.     

Social Adaptation and Welfare Planning in the Post-Nomadic Urban Environment: The Case of the Israeli Negev Bedouin

Abstract

State planning to settle and to provide services for nomadic populations is a complex enterprise. In Israel, the government's efforts to plan, direct, and contain the Negev Bedouins' social development upon settlement has fostered both positive and negative changes in the new communal setting. Women, children, and the elderly have proven to be particularly at risk during the settlement transition period. Proactive efforts on the part of indigenous and Jewish community planners and social workers provide a crucial component encouraging communal adaptation to new environments and lifestyles. Experiences in the Negev may also provide lessons for community practitioners in other previously mobile communities.     

Pentru Voi Fundatia

SUMMARY

This paper presents the philosophy, history, and mission of Pentru Voi Fundatia as a sustainable “best practice” model of interdisciplinary community development (ICD). It is based on positive social, economic, organizational, and/or physical changes that improve the general welfare of the community while providing services to a specific vulnerable population. The Pentru Voi Bakery, one of many programs operated for persons with intellectual disabilities by the Foundation, is used to showcase the key elements of successful ICD. These elements are partnerships, integration, innovation, and transferability. While all community development projects are inherently different, other NGOs interested in creating sustainable programs that utilize the collective agency of local, regional, and international partners can learn from this example. Community Development literature and social entrepreneurship literature are reviewed and discussed as they relate to the Pentru Voi model. Pentru Voi is framed as a practice model based upon the qualities of best practice outlined by the International Labor Office.     

Social work guanxi: a reflexive account of the social work relationship in the Chinese context

ABSTRACT

In a guanxi-driven acquaintanceship, the worker, the client, and the community are tied together more closely than they are in mutually agreed-upon service contracts. This paper re-examines the contemporary boundaries in the social work relationship, especially in Asian nations such as China, where ‘relationships’ are generally translated and perceived as ‘guanxi’. The indigenisation of social work must be managed with care when translating from West to East. Drawing from the experiences of community development projects in rural Hong Kong, this paper discusses how guanxi among social workers, clients and other stakeholders in Chinese communities might challenge the professionalism of social work and breach the boundaries of social work relationships.     

Social Capital and Local Economic Development: Implications for Community Social Work Practice

Summary

Although the concept of social capital has direct relevance to community practice, it is not widely known in social work. This paper defines the concept, traces the development of social capital theory, and examines ways in which community social workers can promote local economic development by enhancing social capital. It contends that community social workers can make a major contribution to local economic development by implementing projects that mobilize social capital and promote the material well-being of local people.     

Opening Doors to Disability

ABSTRACT

This paper describes and analyzes a community intervention class project in a university community that led to the establishment of an officially recognized campus organization, Open D.O.O.R.S. (Disability Organization for Opportunity, Resources, and Services), to address issues of people with disabilities. It emphasizes the need for providing students knowledge of community strategies at a time when the profession is facing increased social problems and fewer social resources.     

Neighbourhood-Reminiscence

Abstract

Social cohesion is one of the key concepts of local social policy in the Netherlands, the basic assumption being that every neighbourhood needs a certain level of social cohesion in order to offer the residents a liveable community in which they feel comfortable and included. When working on social cohesion, special attention is paid to those groups who maintain little to no social contact or amongst whom tensions arise: different age groups and communities with different ethnic and cultural backgrounds.

The Netherlands Institute of Care and Welfare (NIZW) has developed a new method for promoting the integration of generations and cultures: neighbourhood-reminiscence. This method uses memories and stories of neighbourhood residents in order to promote exchanges, mutual understanding and respect between different age- and cultural-groups. Neighbourhood-reminiscence is community development, based on the local neighbourhood level, because the neighbourhood is where people live, where they meet each other and where tensions between citizens with different lifestyles and interests may erupt.     

Teaching Successful Community Practice in Social Work

ABSTRACT

This article identifies and addresses a severe problem in the management of community practice projects of students in their second and third year in the Undergraduate Social Work program at the University of Haifa School of Social Work; namely, the current binary evaluation method based on total success or failure of the project.

Using a systems approach, this study creates a framework by which to ensure effective and positive outcomes for community practice projects carried out by undergraduate social work students (Freund, Arkin & Saltman, 1999). This framework is unique in that it draws on knowledge gained from organizational and community theories, as well as instructional theories for teaching social work practice.

The proposed framework includes three components that describe the factors necessary to help transform the student's learning experience: the organization's characteristics, the student's resources, and the evaluative measures.

This inter-conceptual approach enhances the ability of the instructor, the student, and the organization to build an appropriate organizational foundation for students operating communal programs. The underlying assumption is that an integrative approach promotes a better understanding of the components essential for building and evaluating social plans conducted by social work students.     

Interventions to Developing Community Partnerships for HIV Prevention Planning

Abstract

Since 1985 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have entered into a series of cooperative agreements with the states and territories of the United States to fund human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention activities. In 1994, the CDC mandate shifted from using a central entity to plan HIV prevention programs throughout its jurisdictions to fostering partnerships among a central state or territorial agency, health departments in local counties, and community-based organizations. This article discusses and applies a model developed by social workers to facilitate HIV prevention community planning at the local level. The model used to facilitate community planning emphasizes the use of the social principles of empowerment, self-determination, ownership, and inclusion to foster the development of community-relevant HIV prevention plans. This approach resulted in the completion of a successful HIV prevention plan, and application for continuing and supplemental funds ($6.6 million and $1.2 million respectively) from the CDC for HIV prevention efforts, the continued use of the model in HIV prevention planning, and the ability to use the principles of the model as a basis for providing future technical assistance in community planning.     

Examining the role of sense of community: Linking local government public relationships and community-building

This study examines the relationship between factors central to community building, including local government-public relationships, sense of community, positive Word-of-Mouth (WOM) toward community, and community participation. A national survey of U.S. respondents (n?=?447) was conducted through MTurk. The results indicate that the effects of local government-public relationships on positive WOM and community participation are mediated by individuals’ sense of community. This study advances the relationship-management scholarship by demonstrating that managing government-public relationships is ineffective in community-building when a sense of community is absent. In addition, the results of this study may benefit government public relations practitioners who are interested in public engagement.     

A Gay and Lesbian Congregation Seeks Social Justice for Other Marginalized Communities

SUMMARY

The Cathedral of Hope in Dallas, Texas, is the world's largest gay and lesbian congregation. As an unabashedly liberal church, the Cathedral of Hope views social justice as the foundation of theological beliefs and the heart of community building activities with other marginalized and oppressed people. These actions of social justice and community building have produced an unexpected outcome. Social justice has been returned to this congregation in the form of community affirmation, acceptance, recognition, and advocacy. Thus, one significant way for gays and lesbians to achieve social justice is to work for the same with other oppressed people, devoid of strings or hidden agendas.     

Changes in Community Organization Practice in Quebec (Canada)

Abstract

This paper examines the changes that occurred in community organization practice in the public establishments of Quebec (Canada) in the 1990s. The results of replicated statistical research show that many changes in community organization practice occurred during this period. Most of these changes can be explained by the socioeconomic crisis that took place in the 1990s that affected part of the middle class, driving the reorganization of public social services organizations and important cuts in the government's budget. In this context of crisis, the government of Quebec more easily accepted the local development strategy to overcome unemployment and poverty. These changes can also be explained by a change in community organizers' perceptions of their profession and their strategy for professional recognition observed in the creation of a professional association.     

Strengths and Pathological Perspectives in Community Social Work

ABSTRACT

Current social work theory distinguishes between the traditional pathology-oriented perspective and the strengths perspective. This paper posits that the working model of community social workers is grounded in a strengths perspective, which, in relation to community work, is compatible with and supplementary to empowerment models, providing a methodological base for the values and practice of the macro method of social work. The current study aimed to assess the prevalence of each of these two perspectives towards community activity, and to examine the differences between them regarding the sense of empowerment and professional skills acknowledged by community social workers in Israel. The findings revealed that while the majority of community social workers adopt a strengths perspective in their work, they experience a greater sense of empowerment and of professional skills when adopting a pathology-oriented perspective.