Everything you need to know:

1
Everything you need to know

• About Community Organization

2
Community Organization is different from other
types of social work practice

• The client is the community
• Communities can include geographic communities,
  people with common cultural backgrounds, people
  with common interests, or people with common
  problems.
• Community organization focuses on people who are
  members of oppressed groups who do not have power
  to get the resources they need.
• Community organization helps people get power!

3
Oppression

• Often comes from institutional discrimination or
  stigmatization groups are perceived as unworthy
  and organizational or government practices
  reflect that perception.
• It results in some people having unequal access
  to resources.
• It causes people to have a negative perception of
  themselves (internalized oppression) and is
  psychologically harmful.
• It causes people to become disconnected
  (alienated) from others and to feel hopeless
  about their ability to change their lives.

4
Types of Oppression (CRAASH)

• Classism
• Racism
• Ageism
• Ableism (discrimination of people based on mental
  or physical status/disability)
• Sexism
• Heterosexism

5
Helping people gain power is one way to overcome
oppression

• They acquire leadership and other skills that
  help them feel better about themselves.
• They become connected to their communities as
  well as to friends, neighbors, and local
  organizations.
• They learn to advocate for themselves.
• They gain the political power to get the things
  that they need

6
Social workers who are community organizers take
on one or more of the following roles

• Facilitator
• Broker
• Advocate
• Planner
• Policy analyst
• Political campaigner
• Coordinator

7
Community Organization uses strategies and
tactics to help people get power and things that
they need

• Strategies are long-term plans to achieve social
  change.
• Tactics are short term activities that are used
  to carry out a strategy.
• Strategies and tactics are associated with what
  we call models of practice.
• Models of practice incorporate theories,
  perspectives about how we should practice, and
  outcomes.

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We use the following models in CO
Practice.Social ActionSocial PlanningCommunity
DevelopmentTransformative Feminist Multicultura
l
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Basic assumptions of Rothmans Model
Practice Model Change Goal Staff Role Constituents Target of Change Change Strategy
Community development Increase community capacity and integration Coordinator Enabler Catalyst Citizens Participants Programs or services Develop a consensus among groups
Social Action Change resources power dynamics Advocate Negotiator Activist Victims of oppression Constituents Employers The power structure Mobilize people to take action against powerful
Social Planning Problem-solving Expert Data analyst Problem Solver Consumers of Service Community Systems Collect data choose the best plan
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Basic Assumptions of Transformative Models
Practice Model Change Goal Staff Role Constituents Target of Change Change Strategy
Transformative Personal Social Change Expert Teacher Equal partner Learner Experts on own lives Change Agents Learners Individuals Society Teaching Group Consensus Confront powerful
Feminist More power for women Equal partner Facilitator Activist Partners Change agents Decision-makers Individuals Change services to meet needs Patriarchy Group consensus Confront power structure
Multicultural Social change Bring cultures together Equal partner Facilitator Learner Learners Decision-makers Partners Individual Group Attitudes Social Change Dialogue Group consensus Confront powerful
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Basic points about Community Development

• Based on collaboration (individuals and groups)
• May be difficult to get agreement on goals and
  cooperation
• Organizations may fight over turf
• CD is used to bring people together, link up
  people and organizations, and can be used to
  reduce alienation in communities.
• Two of the techniques used include strengthening
  informal networks and organizations and
  undertaking community projects such as building
  parks, planting community gardens, or painting
  murals.
• Process is more important than outcome

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Basic points on Social Action

• Outcome is more important than process.
• Point is to win (gain power or resources)
• Some people think that it is important to win
  using any means necessary.
• Method should not be used when people agree on
  goals or when they talk to each other on a
  regular basis. Should be used to bring opponents
  to the bargaining table if it is the only way to
  do it.
• Targets of change (decision-makers) are sometimes
  regarded as the enemy.
• Methods range from mild pressure on targets
  (lobbying, media campaigns, to protests, to
  direct confrontation with targets (strikes,
  boycotts, civil disobedience, and direct action.
• Some methods of action may not be consistent with
  social work principles and are not necessarily
  covered in the code of ethics.
• It is important to fully inform participants of
  the consequences of their actions.

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Basic Points on Social Planning

• Uses the problem-solving model.
• Planners are considered experts on the problem.
• Do research to find the best plan and the best
  method to carry out the plan.
• Some planners work cooperatively with
  beneficiaries of the plan.
• Some planners must persuade decision-makers and
  the public that their plan is the best one.

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Basic points on transformative models

• Focus both on changing individuals as well as
  political and economic systems.
• People learn skills.
• Organizers are teachers and other experts, but
  they must learn to respect other participants
  especially those people who may be from different
  social classes, ethnic groups, or who are
  otherwise marginalized in society.
• All people should be considered experts about
  their own lives.

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Which of these methods

• Do you feel comfortable with?
• Are ethical?
• Are mandated by the social work code of ethics?

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Collaboration and Coalition-Building

• Process through which organizations obtain
  resources and acquire power.
• Collaboration among organizations focuses on
  putting informal/formal agreements together to
  conduct assessments, coordinate cases, recruit
  clients, and share resources.
• Service coordination is also thought to reduce
  duplication in service delivery.

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Coalition-building

• Individuals advocating for change on their own
  have limited power or resources.
• An organization engaged in advocacy can use
  professional expertise, resources, and money
  raised from others to advocate for change.
• Organizations and groups working together have a
  great among of power, social and business
  connects, media contacts, money, and strength in
  numbers.
• Most powerful of all are social movements
  alliances among organizations serving different
  communities and different geographic areas to
  band together to advocate for change (usually to
  fight for their own rights or to advocate for
  people or things that cant advocate for
  themselves (children, mentally ill, animals,
  environment). Other examples of social movements
  are Immigrants Rights Movement, Civil Rights
  Movement, Womens Movement etc.

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Problems with Collaboratives and Coalitions

• They need to select leaders and create an
  organization structure.
• They need to raise funds.
• It takes time to get people to agree on goals and
  plans of action.
• People sometimes dont trust one other.
• Members may not agree on all issues.
• Individual members or groups may want to protect
  their own turf rather than to cooperate.