Introduction
Community development can be a complex issue, and understanding the needs and the difficulties of different communities is fundamental to community success. There are many different schools of thought, and each suggests something different: some suggest that gentrification is the answer for difficult neighborhoods, while others suggest that social programs can bring about the appropriate change. However, what many different thinkers agree is that the children are the foundational basis for changing a community as a whole; there is potential in the children of a community, regardless of how difficult or poor the conditions are (Foster-Fishman et al., 2001).
Building sustainable change is something that can be done internally and externally within a community, but internal change can be particularly important and long-lasting. Long-lasting change is instrumental in the struggle to build a stronger community as a whole; regenerating a neighborhood cannot be done without the support system in place that will ensure and support long-lasting changes (Banks & Shenton, 2001; McGinty, 2002; Simpson, Wood & Daws, 2003).
Another interesting feature of the research is that there is a suggestion that there should be an avoidance of making any particular community into a project for those outside the community. Internal support should be fostered and built, but many communities—particularly communities in need—have strong identities (Banks & Shenton, 2001; McGinty, 2002; Simpson, Wood & Daws, 2003). These identities are often tied to their community pride as a whole. Developing capacity in low-income or underserved regions, then, becomes more difficult when these regions perceive assistance as being unnecessary, unwanted, or potentially even downright condescending (Banks & Shenton, 2001; McGinty, 2002; Simpson, Wood & Daws, 2003).
General Reflections on Placement: The Mornelle Court Residents Action Coalition
The organization began in 2008 after a series of gunshots and murders happened in the neighbourhood (Mornelle Can, 2013). They connect with the Mornelle Court neighbourhood by offering the awarded Safety Walk Program by the Mayor’s Community Awards. This program provides support to parents within the community by safely escorting the children and keeps them away from negative influence. It also encourages the families to walk freely in the community after all these incidents that had happened. They have also partnered with the Crisis Response Team of the City of Toronto to educate teenagers the preventions of negative impacts before and after school by offering activities such as trainings, meetings, and information fairs (Mornelle Can, 2013).
The Mornelle Court Residents Action Coalition is devoted to improve the health, well-being and safety of the neighbourhood, aiming to create a peaceful community for both young and old residents to live in (Mornelle Can, 2013). They are offering two programs, which is the Walk to School Program and the All Stars Homework Program, and Angela, chairperson of the Mornelle Court Residents Action Coalition, supervises both programs. During the placement, only the All Stars Homework program was experienced; during this program, the author of this work was able to volunteer twice a week to help the students from Military Trail Public school. Twice a week, the program was held to assist these children with their schoolwork. On Tuesdays, the Homework Program is held at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Center, which allows students to learn through exercising (i.e. playing basketball and rope skipping); on Wednesdays, the Homework Program is held at a building where The Mornelle Court Residents Action Coalition is located, and it is a place that is perfect for the students to work on their schoolwork.
Interestingly, the program is not limited only to homework time. The homework time is also combined with a play time; during this time, students are able to get out of the classroom and experience other things, including outside play. Play time is considered part of the learning experience for the students and the volunteers; the volunteer is quickly able to understand how difficult it would be to be an elementary school teacher. During the course of the experience, there were variations on the number of volunteers who were present. Clearly, children behave better when there are more adults and they can receive more one-on-one attention; however, the behavior of children towards individuals who were not strangers was also significant.
As for the neighborhood itself, there were interesting features that were observed during the community project. As the Homework Program on every Wednesday is held at a building at Mornelle Court, I started to learn about the community more deeply from my own observation, as well as from Angela’s explanation of the community. The neighborhood is very small, and it seems like almost everyone who lives there knows each other. Most children go to the same school—the Military Trail Public School. The neighborhood seems to be fine and relatively safe during the daytime; however, it might become a bit dangerous in nighttime, as I have witnessed a man who acted strange wandering around on the road. It is a good thing that The Mornelle Court Residents Action Coalition offers a Safety Walk Program—a program which provides support to working parents within the community. This program, the partner program to the one discussed in this document, helps escort children to a safe place and keeps them from any outside, negative influences.
Community Capacity Building: An Overview
Capacity building policies vary based on location and the need of the community. Communities that are the most in need often do not necessarily have the facilities or the infrastructure to appropriately respond to their community needs; as such, governments on the local or national level must be able to intervene and assist these communities in their capacity-building attempts (Seyfang & Smith, 2002; Banks & Shenton, 2001; McGinty, 2002; Simpson, Wood & Daws, 2003). Every community has different needs, and it is the role of the governing body to determine what the specific needs of the community are and how they might best be served. For small communities, funding is often the biggest problem for forward advancement. When communities do not have the funds or the infrastructure to appropriately build new capacity, they will continue to experience significant problems with development (Mowbray, 2005; Craig, 2007). Because this program was focused on a relatively small community, community capacity building has been investigated on a small scale; however, all the issues addressed here (and more) are often addressed by capacity building organizations on a national, international, and even global scale (Banks & Shenton, 2001; Mowbray, 2005; Craig, 2007; Simpson, Wood & Daws, 2003).
Public Health
Public health has become a significant problem in recent years, particularly in the poorest places in Canada and the United States (McGinty, 2002; Simpson, Wood & Daws, 2003). The poorest communities have been hit distinctly harder by the obesity epidemic than other communities in North America; obesity is often coupled with problems with mobility, diabetes, an increased likelihood of cancer, and increased mortality (Simpson, Wood & Daws, 2003). There are other public health concerns as well, of course—ensuring that children and vulnerable adults are cared for and are getting the appropriate medical care and vaccines is another significant community-building problem for those in public health administration. The community centered approach suggests that individuals should be approached as individuals rather than as a case number—the suggestion is, of course, that people respond much better to suggestions and to assistance when they are being treated like human beings. Again, the theme for community capacity building seems to be a focus on the individual rather than on the numbers (Simpson, Wood & Daws, 2003; Banks & Shenton, 2001; McGinty, 2002).
Children and Wellness
Many problems that are associated with long-term health can be offset by creating good health habits in children at a young age. In many at-risk communities, there are no adults present to teach children the appropriate nutrition or the appropriate way to exercise; this then becomes a community building pursuit, as children who are experiencing the negative effects of living in an impoverished area become clear. In addition, policies should be enacted to assist children who are struggling in the classroom; children who are young and struggling in the classroom can become quite disillusioned with school quite quickly. As a result, programs that keep children on track—like the ones discussed in this particular paper—are very important. These programs provide children with alternative forms of support which is also very important for long-term student success (Banks & Shenton, 2001; McGinty, 2002; Simpson, Wood & Daws, 2003; Mowbray, 2005).
The Mornelle Court Residents Action Coalition: Analysis
The Mornelle Court Residents Action Coalition is devoted to improve the health, well-being and safety of the neighborhood, aiming to create a peaceful community for both young and old residents to live in (Mornelle Can, 2013). They are offering two programs, which is the Walk to School Program and the All Stars Homework Program, both of which are strong community outreach programs that were experienced during this project. It would be silly to assume that a single individual would make a significant difference when he or she participates in a community program; however, there was a significant difference that was made in the lives of some of the children who were participating in the program. Craig (2007) writes that building cross-generational bonds is one of the ways that a struggling neighborhood or community can begin to regain its footing.
Indeed, after some time in the program, it was observed that the children who had previously been shy or reserved were now more willing to ask the volunteers for help and to engage with the volunteers on a larger level. Although these relationships are personal, many researchers have suggested that personal relationships can be bonds upon which entire communities can be built—these were very significant bonds, and had the volunteers continued to work with the same children over time, the bonds might have even gotten stronger (Banks & Shenton, 2001; McGinty, 2002; Simpson, Wood & Daws, 2003). Although a single volunteer might think nothing of their time, their time might also change the life of a young person who is participating in one of these programs. It does not guarantee success for all children, but it does indeed make success much more likely for many children in difficult situations (Banks & Shenton, 2001; McGinty, 2002; Simpson, Wood & Daws, 2003; Mowbray, 2005).
Although the duration of stay in this particular program was not long enough to call the program as a whole a success or a failure, there are certainly positives to engaging with children in this way. All the children in the program were reticent at first, but there were many who showed a very marked improvement by the end of the program; there were some students who seemed to really engage with their peers and the staff in a completely different way by the end of the program. In many ways, this can be seen as a program that will build community capacity significantly for the future.
Building Strong Communities
Small communities do not necessarily have all the resources that they might desire in a perfect world. Indeed, small communities often struggle for funds, particularly when these communities are underserved, poor, or impoverished. Poor and underserved neighborhoods actually have significantly less power than many others when voter participation and economic power are considered. Many people in these communities do not necessarily have the opportunity for advancement, and the community will often have trouble with gangs and drugs, which put children directly at risk (Mowbray, 2005; Craig, 2007). Community capacity building gives the community leaders the flexibility to change their current situation; it also gives leaders the opportunity to invest in things that will make the community inherently better.
When these changes are implemented, people will generally be happier; they will feel safer and they will feel that their children’s future is much more secure. Each of these factors is a significant boon for a struggling individual, particularly a struggling parent (Mowbray, 2005; Craig, 2007). Volunteers are often used in these communities to try to make things better; volunteers can do things like help children with homework and act as crossing guards. They can also do other jobs like man voting or polling stations. Skilled professionals can engage in programs that support apprenticeships, internships, and so on (Mowbray, 2005; McGinty, 2002; Simpson, Wood & Daws, 2003 Craig, 2007). One thing that became clear during this project was that anyone can make a difference in a struggling neighborhood if they try to make time.
Discussion and Conclusions
When community building is approached by many individuals trying to make a difference in the world, the communities that are addressed are sometimes seen as problems that the individual or group has to solve. The people in these communities are seen as problems rather than individual people; the solutions, then, can sometimes lack individuality and nuance. Capacity development is a way of mitigating culture and community in an attempt to understand how obstacles are keeping people and communities from reaching their true potential. Not all communities have the resources to help themselves; when communities do not have these resources, it is important for outside individuals to step in and create community resources.
References
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Chaskin, R. J. (Ed.). (2001). Building community capacity. Transaction Publishers.
Craig, G. (2007). Community capacity-building: Something old, something new?. Critical Social Policy, 27(3), 335-359.
Foster-Fishman, P. G., Berkowitz, S. L., Lounsbury, D. W., Jacobson, S., & Allen, N. A. (2001). Building collaborative capacity in community coalitions: A review and integrative framework. American journal of community psychology, 29(2), 241-261.
McGinty, S. (2002). Community Capacity Building.
Mornelle Can. (2013). What is Mornelle Can [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://mornellecan.tumblr.com/FAQ
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Seyfang, G., & Smith, K. (2002). The time of our lives: Using time banking for neighbourhood renewal and community capacity building.
Simpson, L., Wood, L., & Daws, L. (2003). Community capacity building: Starting with people not projects. Community Development Journal, 38(4), 277-286.
