The Power Within the Community
As the society advances in medical and health care, public health interventions and preventative methods are starting to become a popular tactic to improve health and the quality of life among the general population. There are many health models that provide structure on how to create healthier communities. One model is explained in From clients to citizens: Asset — Based Community Development as a strategy for community driven development by Alison Mathie and Gord Cunningham. Generally, Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) is a method where “people in communities can organise to drive the development process themselves by identifying and mobilising existing (but often unrecognised) assets, thereby responding to and creating local economic opportunity” (474). The ABCD model is based on a needs-based approach. There are four components to the ABCD model:
“theory and practice of appreciative inquiry; the concept of social capital as an asset for community development; the theory of community economic development; and lessons learned from the theory and practice of building active citizenship engagement and a stronger civil society”(475).
Like the ABCD model, Community economic development (CED) is also a community based model. The Community economic development is based on
“three different development paradigms: (a) developing or improving economic systems and infrastructure; (b) developing the economic capacities of individuals; and (c) developing the economic capacities of groups to undertake community economic development”(481).
CED differs from the ABCD model because CED “rely more on the theoretical contributions of community development than on those of economics”(481). Mathie & Cunningham state that “CED is merely economic development at the community level” (481).
Healthy community building models are used in numerous communities. One great example is in the Canal in San Rafael. It is a program called Voces Del Canal. Their vision statement simply states how they plan to give the residents of the Canal a voice:
“Our cultural values and ethnic heritage will be respected and families will be treated as equal partners working together with local agencies, police, schools, and community institutions to develop joint solutions. Our community of resilience will empower families to fulfill their full potential and live a safe, healthy, thriving quality of life”(2). It is important for the community members to have a voice because the choices they make are more effective. Their choices are more effective because they have pulled their knowledge from living within that certain community.
For the Canal to thrive, there must be assets. like : “Institutions, local schools, and agencies have an important role to play in providing infrastructure and capacity for meaningful community engagement”(14).
Now what? Consider the community you work with: What are some assets in the community, especially things that are not identified as such? Who would you talk to in the community to find out more, both about the resources from within the community, and also what the real issues are that people in the community care about? What are some questions you plan to ask to get to those answers?
Within the Kids Club community, constant communication with families, the school, and the center is key to run a successful program. Also keeping the community engaged by making sure the community members have a say about what is needed from Kids Club and the staff. Kids Club can make life easier for parents and their children. The best people to talk about Kids Club and the community who utilizes the services are Carlos, Kristen, and Lauren because they are in charge of the program. Some issues to keep in mind are how to make sure Kids Club keeps on providing their services and how to improve the lives of the students and their families. A few questions to ask would be: “What are the challenges of keeping contact with the family members and the facility?” “Can you generalize the daily lives of the people in the Canal and their dependency on the after school program.”
