How Do We Find Issues Hidden Under Surface Problems?
How do we know if what we do for our community partners actually benefits them? Why aren’t issues like homelessness and educational disparities resolved if we have been doing community service for years? People often do community service without thinking about how it is going to help the community. As people started to take community service less seriously, fixing the root causes of problems became almost impossible. People do service work to “give back to the community,” but in reality, people volunteer without knowing what their community partners need. Instead of assuming what the community needs, we need to listen to what they need. We need to cultivate structural factors with active listening because by putting those together, we can not only best serve the community but also evaluate policies and laws affecting them.
Active listening expands our knowledge about the issues that community partners are facing. First of all, by active listening, I mean listening to what the community actually needs from the community itself. Some might ask, “How can we actively listen to the community?” There are three steps that lead to active listening. First, we should not blame the community for their situation. In his book Writing and Community Engagement, Keith Morton claims that “By blaming the victim, the root causes of problems are ignored.” If we create stereotypes about the community before we even get to know their side, we will interpret their story far away from the truth and distance ourselves from figuring out the root cause. When we create stereotypes, we are more prone to convincing ourselves to the story we want to hear or fit the idea we have created about them. Instead of building assumptions about our community partners, we should ask what factors caused them to get into this position. The next step is to not jump to conclusions. If we create a conclusion from each small detail that they tell us, we might miss the big picture. By this, I mean that instead of interpreting every sentence, we should listen to their whole story without interrupting them. Listening to the story as a whole might fill in the hidden details about the cause of the issue that we might miss when trying to conclude every word they say. The last step is to make sure that we are giving respectful feedback so that they do not feel offended sharing their story. Active listening does not only include listening but also responding back to their story. Asking them questions about something that is not clear and empathizing with their situation is also a part of active listening.
The direct experience with our community partners gives us a chance to actively listen and dive deeper into the issue they are dealing with. Morton claims that “experts define problems differently than the people living them.” Without direct experience, we won’t be able to closely understand what our community partners are going through. To be clear, we hold different views as our community partners because many of us did not experience what they are going through. We often view their problems differently and can misunderstand their actual needs. For example, homeless people might need a career that accepts people with low education but we might think that they need food the most. For this reason, we need to hear the opinions of someone who is actually living the issue. Therefore, direct experience gives us the opportunity to communicate with the people who are going through it.
Understanding the structural factors surrounding the issue helps us see issues hidden under the surface problems. Many people, especially younger generations, are not aware of the structural factors surrounding the issue. Their shallow awareness of structural factors often causes them to miss the root problem of the issue the community is dealing with. For example, in the book Sounds of Freedom published by 826LA, Carlos Odilon talks about his financial struggles as an immigrant. Carlos mentions how his parents tell him “to work hard and do well in school to have a better future” than what they had. Not understanding the structural factors would lead me to match the wrong puzzle pieces and conclude that poor education is the main reason for their poverty. However, there are structural factors surrounding low-income families and immigrants such as high rental costs and unemployment rates in Los Angeles. In the article “3 Kids. 2 Paychecks. No Home”, Brian Goldstone reveals how “many of those coming to his organization for support defy the stereotypes about homelessness: The vast majority of them are working and have simply been priced out of a place to live.” Even with jobs, the high rental costs make living in Los Angeles extremely difficult for high-poverty families. By analyzing these kinds of structural factors, I can find if there are more serious issues that are affecting our community partners.
With the knowledge we gained from combining structural issues with active listening, we can then evaluate policies and laws affecting our community partners. For example, the structural factors surrounding homeless people are high rental costs, discrimination, and unemployment. Recently, I read an article about anti-homeless laws by George Parampathu. Parampathu reveals how “Today, people reliant on homeless shelters continue to face discrimination in employment due to requirements to report their housing history.” These kinds of requirements are unfair toward homeless people. The requirements make it harder for homeless people to become employed. By recognizing the structural factors, we can identify these kinds of discriminating policies and propose a bill that will help our community partners.
While volunteering at 826LA, I plan to recognize the structural factors surrounding students and actively listen to change policies that discriminate against them. The main structural issues my community partner will go through are educational barriers due to the structure of the economy, discrimination, and the distribution of teachers in low-income schools. While keeping these structural factors in mind, I will evaluate if there are any laws or policies that are against them. My goal is to create a comfortable environment for them so that they feel safe sharing their personal stories with me. I will also not assume anything and jump to conclusions.
By understanding the structural factors surrounding our community partners, we can actively listen to their needs and evaluate policies that go against them. By taking this step, we can transform community service into something more than just “giving back to the community.” Implementing structural factors will allow us to expand our knowledge in communities that we are not a part of because by doing so we are able to know what issues are surrounding them and find causes that are often hidden under the “well-known” cause.
Works Cited
Deans, Thomas, et al. Writing and Community Engagement: A Critical Sourcebook. Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2010.
Carlos Odilon, Sounds of Freedom: Beats on Concrete. 826LA, 2019.
Goldstone, Brian. “3 Kids. 2 Paychecks. No Home.” The California Sunday Magazine, 26 Nov. 2019, https://story.californiasunday.com/homeless-families/.
Parampathu, George. “Anti-Homeless Laws May Violate California’s Equal Protection Doctrine.” SCOCAblog, http://scocablog.com/anti-homeless-laws-may-violate-californias-equal-protection-doctrine/?print=print.
