Critical Reflection #6: Engaging in the Community

The readings presented this week focused on two approaches to societal development: The ABCD and CED models. Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) model is rooted in community members organizing to improve their communities themselves rather than relying on the government or the current developmental approaches presently instilled. The ABCD model works by identifying assets that the community possesses, particularly on social assets, which are the talents of individual members and the social capital that exists in the community (Cunningham and Mathie 474). Meanwhile, the Community Economic Development (CED) model is seen more as a strategy that includes a wide range of economic activities and programs for developing low-income communities. It was created in response to poverty and focuses on affordable housing, job creation, affordable health care, and other concepts that revolve around improving the quality of life (Clay and Jones 257). The primary difference between the ABCD and CED models is that the CED is generally program-oriented, while ABCD is reliant on what each individual in the community can attribute to the development and then organizing community members into targeted groups together.

Social capital is defined by Cunningham and Mathie as “the store of goodwill and obligations generated by social relations.” Examples of social capital within the community include networks, community norms, and trust amongst community members (Cunningham et al 479). In terms of social capital, the homeless and LGTBQ+ communities that engage with the Spahr Center may consider their trust in each other and in the Spahr Center as their primary assets. At the mobile site in San Rafael, the vast majority of the clients grab supplies in bulk, due to the fact that they are aiding groups of people along with themselves, and that displays a true sense of camaraderie among the population members and a reliability in their networks. This population is especially Hard-to-Count, and an effective way that they can be targeted for the Census would be identifying these individuals who bring supplies to many other people and provide them with information and recruit them to be the trusted messengers that spread the importance of the Census to the community members.