Community Building

Renewal, Well-Being, and Shared Responsibility

In welfare reform and other cost containment policies, self-sufficiency is emphasized as a goal. Yet it is clear that self-sufficiency can be achieved only in the context of a facilitating community. People acting alone do not acquire economic security, education, health, housing, and cultural sustenance; they acquire these necessities through networks of mutual interdependence in communities. When community resources and decision-making capacities are impoverished or when social institutions fail to meet their share of responsibility in caring, the well-being of communities and their members is threatened.

The new era of community renewal has dramatically changed the role of social workers in community practice. Social workers once assumed the role of change agent, mobilizing community members through locality development, planning, and social action. Today, greater emphasis is placed on encouraging community members, including youths, to participate and assume leadership roles in all phases of community capacity development. This realignment of roles is sometimes characterized as a shift from "community organizing" directed primarily by professionals to "community building" directed primarily by community members.

In community building, community members should have opportunities and supports to

• define community interests

• define assets that already exist

• define assets that are required

• develop community capacity in governance

• strengthen mutual helping processes toward shared responsibility

• identify and strengthen local leadership capabilities

• improve participation of all populations, including youths, women, and people of color, in decision-making

• reform oppressive structures that are harmful to community well-being.

Within this framework, community members identify and determine improvements needed in the physical environment, housing, economic opportunity, safety, education, and health care.

In the past, community programs in such areas tended to be conducted as independent initiatives. Emphasis is now on broader, more comprehensive programs such as those sponsored by community development corporations and comprehensive community initiatives. The federal government, charitable foundations, and other entities have indicated through funding investments that more effective and meaningful outcomes for communities can be achieved through multifaceted approaches than with singular modes such as economic development or social services.

Because of the broad-based nature of current initiatives, organizations previously in competition with each other are required to collaborate productively. Organizations are also redirecting their focus of accountability from a "community-based" to a "community-centered" status. The first emphasizes the physical location of programs in communities, collaboration among professionals, and the integration of professional services, but gives little accountability to community members. The second recognizes the importance of community participation and accountability and treats families and other community members as equal partners in social enterprises.

Beyond community-centered accountability, it is important for organizations to recognize affiliations for mutual assistance organized by community members themselves. Such affiliations are represented, for example, by the provision of kinship care and by peer-led social movements. When community members organize for mutual assistance, the role of professionals is to appreciate, perhaps to facilitate, these efforts, taking care not to deter the changes that affiliations can make for community well-being.

As such, social workers and other professionals must rethink how they understand and approach communities. The task is not easy; it requires major adjustments in professional mindset—from principles of practice to breadth of services provided, empowerment of natural support systems, styles of collaboration with families and other community members, accountability to communities for services rendered, and redefinition of professional roles and functions.

Community Building: Renewal, Well-Being, and Shared Responsibility provides examples of community building brought about by community members and professionals working in partnership. This book is intended as a resource for practitioners, students, educators, researchers, and policymakers in all fields of social work practice. The book makes a timely contribution to current dialogue and collaborative work on community renewal and shared responsibility, advancing social workers to the forefront of community practice in the 21st century.