Livable Future Project

Creating Community Connections

Examples of Community that support Community Gathering Concepts

A Community Building Workbook ” 2005 ABCD Institute
Hidden Treasures:
Building Community Connections
by Engaging the Gifts of *
A Community Building Workbook From
The Asset Based Community Development Institute
*People on welfare
*People with disabilities
*People with mental illness
*Older adults
*Young people
A Community Building Workbook ” 2005 ABCD Institute
Hidden Treasures:
Building Community Connections by
Engaging the Gifts of *
* People on welfare
* People with disabilities
* People with mental illness
* Older adults
* Young people
A Community Building Workbook
from the
Asset Based Community Development Institute
School of Education and Social Policy
Northwestern University
2120 S. Campus Drive, Evanston, IL 60208-4100
John P. Kretzmann and John L. McKnight, Co-Directors
Written by:
Susan A. Rans
Mike Green, Research Associate
Primary funding support from the
J.M. Kaplan Fund and the Self Family Foundation
A Community Building Workbook ” 2005 ABCD Institute
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Taking this journey was one of the most powerful experiences
of my life and I’d like to thank my traveling companions and
those we met along the way: Sarah Dobrowolski, for being
such a great sounding board; Mike Green, for all of his wisdom
and experience, and his belief in the gift of connecting; all of
the amazing Connectors who gave their time, shared their
communities and told their stories to us—I hope I’ve done them
justice.
And, as always, thanks to John McKnight and Jody Kretzmann
for providing the roadmap.
SAR
A Community Building Workbook ” 2005 ABCD Institute 1
Introduction: Connecting Everybody
“Our purpose is not to help people. Our purpose is to build a different
kind of neighborhood for us all.”
It almost doesn’t matter who said this; it could have been said by any
of the organizations whose stories are collected here. In fact, a
version of it was said by almost everyone who was interviewed. At
core, a deeply connected community--a community in which every
member is valued and challenged to contribute--is a strong and
healthy community.
But a collection of powerful forces stand in the way of connected
community. Many members of any community are moved to its edges
by a series of disconnecting labels—too old, too young, too poor,
mentally or physically disabled, mentally ill. Not only do these labels
serve to separate those labeled from the center of community life, but
systems of service professing to “help” tend instead to further isolate
them.
The Walls
The process of marginalization begins early, often with a diagnosis that
carries a label. Once a person is labeled autistic, or bipolar, or “atrisk”,
they are surrounded with professional services to help, protect,
or fix them. Although well-meaning, these services and the
professionals who provide them build walls that disconnect the labeled
people from community life. Sometimes, those walls are
physical—group homes and halfway houses. In other cases, the walls
are walls of perception, but no less real—police targeting young
people, poor people shunned by wealthier neighbors. Still other walls
are walls of mobility—lack of transportation for seniors or people with
disabilities that keep them from participating in community life.
When people are kept behind the walls of service, perception or
mobility, they become invisible to their neighbors. They become
strangers in the midst of community. Too often, people of good will
find themselves at a loss when they think about these strangers. Too
often, the service providers in a community strengthen the walls and
raise barriers to participation for those they purport to serve. Too
often, lack of knowledge on the part of well-intentioned neighbors
leads to further isolation for those outside the center of community.
A Community Building Workbook ” 2005 ABCD Institute 2
Keeping ‘labeled people’ behind walls of service, perception or mobility
never allows them to contribute to community, to bring the gifts they
have into the center of community life. And community suffers as a
result. So, the challenge to those who care about community is to find
ways to reconnect the disconnected. As the opening quote makes
clear, this undertaking is not about “helping” the disconnected.
Instead, it is about building strong communities that draw from the
gifts and talents of every member.
Why Build Community?
Much has been made of the threats to community life in today’s busy,
impersonal world. We have been warned about the increasing
isolation, disconnection and passivity of civic life. We have also been
bombarded with images and stereotypes of failed communities,
impoverished places, dangerous places, places without hope. If these
two jeremiads are combined, it would seem the future looks awfully
bleak for our communities.
But the overwhelming evidence of the stories collected here and of the
hundreds of other community efforts we have encountered since 1993
is that strong communities exist everywhere. They come in all shapes
and sizes, all economic levels, urban and rural—but they share in
common one important understanding: they are possessed of many
assets, which, once mobilized and connected, can make great
contributions.
Asset-based community development begins with the assumption
that successful community building involves rediscovering and
mobilizing resources already present in any community:
o The skills and resources of its individuals,
o The power of voluntary associations, achieved through
building relationships
o The assets present in the array of local institutions, the
physical infrastructure of the community and the local
economy.
Another way of saying this is: successful community development is
asset-based, internally-focused, and relationship-driven. Although
some resources from outside the community are often needed, the key
to lasting solutions comes from within. The gifts and skills of residents
and the assets of the physical community are always the starting
place. No plan, solution or organization from outside the community
A Community Building Workbook ” 2005 ABCD Institute 3
can duplicate what is already there. Over time, some simple but
powerful tools have been developed to aid this rediscovery and
mobilization, tools that have emerged from practical experience.
All communities are first composed of individuals, each of which has
gifts she or he brings to the group. The best and most creative
communities are aware of these gifts and provide opportunities for
them to be given. But simply discovering and inventorying individual
gifts is not enough. Asset-based community development is about
finding ways in which to create connections between gifted individuals.
Making these connections, building relationships, is the heart and soul
of community building and the subject of this book.
Individuals who share common interests and goals form associations.
Garden clubs, fraternal organizations, bowling leagues, book clubs,
church groups: each brings individuals into association. Connecting
individuals who have formerly been isolated to others who share their
interests through community associations is the way to build longlasting,
multi-faceted relationships where none previously existed.
Many of the communities described in this book have undertaken
projects to make these connections.
All communities, no matter how poor, have within them a series of
institutions that can support the gifted individuals and powerful
associations found there. Asset-based community development
involves local institutions in the process of community-building. Parks,
schools, libraries, churches, businesses—all have a role to play. They
can be involved with the local community as property owners,
gathering centers, economic entities and incubators for community
leadership.
Other assets include the physical environment of a community, its
greenspaces, transportation centers and gathering places. And the
local economy is an asset to be harnessed to build wealth and
distribute benefits. Taken together, all of the assets listed provide
strong bedrock upon which any community can build.
So, quite simply, finding and connecting existing assets is the most
important work a community can do. And the more assets that are
connected and mobilized, the stronger a community becomes. No one
can be left out of the process if it is to succeed. Everyone and
everything must be included.
A Community Building Workbook ” 2005 ABCD Institute 4
Reconnecting
If you believe, as we do, that connecting and mobilizing existing assets
is essential for building strong communities, and if there are labeled
people in your community that are isolated by the walls built by those
labels, what needs to happen?
Those who are marginalized need to be reconnected. Sounds
simple, but of course it is not.
The stories collected in this book are stories of successful
reconnections of a variety of labeled people undertaken in a variety of
communities by a variety of different organizations and agencies. But
we think they share three very important things in common.
o First, they all center on identifying the gifts and dreams
of each individual isolated person. They do not center on
the person’s needs. Following from this, there are no
cookie-cutter approaches in any of these stories. Each
person is seen as unique and gifted.
o Second, all of these stories show the importance what we
call “citizen space”. Citizen space is the home of
connections and associations. It is where neighbors
interact and cooperate. Agencies and governments can
and do initiate connection efforts, but the connections
always exist in citizen space.
o Connectors are key to this process.
Connectors Connect
What makes someone a Connector? The first—and most
obvious--criterion is that Connectors know lots of people.
They are the kinds of people who know everyone. All of
us know someone like this. But I don’t think that we spend
a lot of time thinking about the importance of these kinds
of people. I’m not sure that most of us really believe that
the kind of person who knows everyone really knows
everyone. But they do.
--Malcolm Gladwell, The Tipping Point: How Little Things
Can Make A Big Difference
A Community Building Workbook ” 2005 ABCD Institute 5
All of us do know someone like this. And most of us don’t often think
about their importance. But to build a strong community by
connecting everybody, the Connector becomes a central figure. In
each of the stories collected here, a Connector or Connectors are
showcased. We have come to believe that the project of reconnecting
community needs Connectors as a kind of job description: ‘Wanted for
project to create a strong community—someone who knows everybody
and is willing and able to make connections between people who might
otherwise remain isolated from each other. Job requires an open
mind, a big heart and a great delight in seeing people connect. Large
Rolodex or PDA list a necessity.’
Unfortunately, that job category really doesn’t exist. It would be hard
to get a grant to hire a Connector. As we did the interviews for this
book, the people we interviewed were often surprised and overjoyed to
discover other people existed that made connections like they did.
Maybe, if this book reaches one of Malcolm Gladwell’s tipping points,
there will one day be a big Connectors Conference. And the
Connectors from communities all over the world could meet each other
and share stories. But until that day, we hope to outline a few talents
and activities for successful Connectors here, as well a post a few
warnings from experienced Connectors about what could cause
connections to fail.
Participation
So, what follows is a group of participation stories—stories that contain
important lessons. They tell of communities that have found powerful
ways to include the individual gifts of members who have been labeled
and isolated. They tell of communities that have inventoried their
associations and found ways in which formerly isolated people can
participate in them. They tell of people labeled old, poor, mentally ill,
disabled, young thugs who have become connected citizens. And
finally they tell of those extraordinary people who know
everyone—Connectors.
A Community Building Workbook ” 2005 ABCD Institute 6
How to Read this Book
Seven short Stories follow. Each story highlights some of the
questions asked, methods used and results attained by the community
connection effort and Connectors profiled there. In addition, almost
every story concerns making connections with a different labeled
group. None of these stories should be seen as pointing to a “one-sizefits-
all” method for others to follow.
Instead, the stories should be read as sources of insight and challenge,
as examples of the ways in which connection can be made and
maintained. They highlight the particular challenges encountered and
try to provide suggestions, but they show that each connection is as
unique as the gifted people that make them.
The Stories section is followed by a section called The Most
Important Stuff, which makes some general conclusions that can be
drawn from the highly unique stories. By highlighting the connections
between the stories and by lifting up the work of Connectors, this
section hopes to present a framework for the reader to use when
considering a community connection effort.
At the end of the book, the reader will find an assortment of tools
used by the organizations in the stories. These tools include
philosophical reflections, survey instruments, mission statements,
capacity inventories and group process tools. This mixture of material
is meant to reflect the incredible variety of ways in which Connectors
can and do approach the work of community building.
Finally, the book ends with an extensive Resource section. Names,
addresses, phone numbers, websites as well as books and articles are
included. All of the included storytellers are listed, as well as groups
and organizations that can be contacted for further information.
Sharing stories and information can build bridges between connecting
groups and Connectors. It is hoped that this book will provide
inspirations and practical information for those interested in connecting
everybody.
A Community Building Workbook ” 2005 ABCD Institute 7
Beyond Welfare
Ames, Iowa
Money, Friends and Meaning
A Community Building Workbook ” 2005 ABCD Institute 8
Beyond Welfare
Ames, Iowa
Money, Friends and Meaning
Story County, Iowa has a population of just over 74,000, with the
majority of those folks living in Ames, the county seat and home of
Iowa State University. Less than 2% of those residents are people of
color. There are 8,336 households in the county with incomes under
$25,000. Nothing about those statistics stands out at first glance;
Central Iowa is a mostly white place, and rural poverty is often hidden
behind that homogeneity. But Story County is also home to a
gathering of citizens who call themselves Beyond Welfare, an
organization that brings down the walls between the hidden poor and
the rest of the community.
Beyond Welfare states its goal simply: eliminate poverty in Story
County by 2020. Ambitious? Maybe. But the manner in which
Beyond Welfare is moving toward that goal makes its attainment seem
possible. To eliminate poverty, Beyond Welfare is reweaving
community; promoting a connected life filled with enough money,
friends and meaning for all.
The Beyond Welfare folks call that their mantra—“we all need money,
friends, and meaning”. But the inclusive implication of that mantra is
startling. Poverty of life and experience can beset those who have
enough money, but little meaning and few friends. So, there is
something for everyone in the community built by Beyond Welfare.
“Everything We Do Is Intentional”
The founders of Beyond Welfare (BW) have thought long and hard
about everything they do. There is a language and process that
determines all of their actions. For example, the service-based
language of “client” and “provider” has been replaced by the much
more inclusive language of “participant” and “ally”. Becoming part of
Beyond Welfare requires the same process for everyone, regardless of
role or income.
The BW folks are careful never to stray too far from the citizencentered
heart of the endeavor. The very small BW staff is committed
to
A Community Building Workbook ” 2005 ABCD Institute 9
“…community engagement to build the capacity of ordinary
unpaid community members to be involved in making Story
County a safer, friendlier, and more supportive community for all
its members. By engaging “consumers” and the community at
large in this way, we strive to build a countywide community
where all of us have enough money, healthy relationships, and a
sense of purpose and meaning.
At the same time we are facilitating relationships that assist and
support individual families, we are building a constituency of
caring for the concerns of families at risk due to poverty and the
harms associated with insufficient income, a constituency for
changing attitudes, human service practice, and policies.” (What
Beyond Welfare Does, Lois Smidt and Scott Miller)
BW is also governed by a local community-lead Board of Directors,
constituted by at least 51% members who have been or are currently
marginalized by poverty.
Based in Experience
In many ways, Beyond Welfare is the creation of the personal
experience of Lois Smidt, BW co-founder, connector and guiding light.
Having spent several years on welfare in the 90’s, Lois is keenly aware
of the struggles and pitfalls of trying to raise a family in poverty.
Isolation, suppressed anger, stereotypes—all seem to get in the way of
even the most determined attempt to overcome them. “Although I
certainly had many supportive relationships in my life by this time, as
well as community involvement and support, I was still bombarded
with patterns of worthlessness and helplessness that were reinforced
by reliance on public assistance and the attitudes projected by human
service providers and the general public,” she says.
Two experiences while on welfare profoundly affected her ability to
leave it: one, with a Family Development Specialist from Mid-Iowa
Community Action (MICA) and the other as a member of an artist’s
collective of women.
The attitude of MICA and its workers was one of respect and one that
stressed Lois’ strengths. No experience she previously had with the
service industry came close to providing this. In addition, Cindy, the
specialist, provided unwavering respect and support to Lois and her
family. “It was the knowledge that there was another human being,
particularly one who worked for an agency funded by government,
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who was deeply interested in my development and held forth her belief
in my capacity most profoundly. This provided for me feelings of
worth, value, safety, and competence that had yet to be paralleled,”
says Lois.
Similarly, when she attended a workshop for No Limits for Women in
the Arts, Lois found a creative and supportive environment that
crossed race and class lines. She soon began a local support group for
women artists as a part of No Limits. “I built relationships with women
across class and race lines that fundamentally contradicted the
feelings of worthlessness, helplessness, and discouragement that are
reinforced by living on welfare,” she says. “I was supported and
propelled into leadership. This required that I give up internalized
patterns of insignificance that fuel social stereotypes about welfare
moms. For two years I met with women twice a month to ask each
other questions such as – ‘What is your biggest vision for your art and
your life? What is your next step? What is in your way? What
support do you need to make sure you don’t stop?’ These questions
were asked in the context of intentional listening and unconditional
belief in our intelligence to figure things out.” (This experience is
echoed today in the BW practice of imagining “dream paths”, in
which participants articulate their dreams and the group brainstorms
and supports a path to their realization.)
These two ideas—that relationships are essential and that respectful
supportive connections can cross barriers and build
leadership—became cornerstones of Lois’ work and that of BW. She
later encountered the concepts of Co-Counseling, or Re-Evaluation
Counseling (RC), that provided her with tools and exercises that
support her vision. The tools and principles of co-counseling aim to
break down the barriers caused by race and class by engaging in the
tough work of one-to-one listening and support.
The Train and the Brakes
Scott Miller came to MICA by a circuitous route. His privileged
background had done little to prepare him for a bout of depression in
his first year of college, and that experience led him to think about the
relationship between mental health and connected life. He was drawn
to community organizing, and found he had a special skill at initiating
projects and finding creative ways to fund them.
MICA’s Family Development concept, a program that went into homes
with families, and assisted them to write action contracts to get out of
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poverty, was radical for the social service world; Scott came to work
there because of it. This was how he met Lois, who had gone to work
at MICA as a Family Development Specialist with the hope of
extending the same strength-based support she had received. They
saw gifts in each other that would support their dreams.
Scott saw that the welfare world was changing, and he felt a new
approach was needed. “TANF was coming down the pike—this was
1996. So we said why don’t we try something that builds relationships
to try to eliminate poverty?” says Scott. And ultimately, Beyond
Welfare was born.
“Scott and I laugh about that. Our relationship, too, is grounded in
reciprocity. Scott is a great visionary and initiator. I am very
interested in processes that support and sustain relationships over
time. We say he’s the train and I’m the brakes,” says Lois.
Relationships, Reciprocity and Leadership Development
In brief, here’s how Beyond Welfare works. To become a participant,
the head(s) of household is interviewed. This process welcomes
participants into community, assists them in identifying their strengths
as well as challenges, and introduces them to the values of
relationship, reciprocity and leadership development that infuse
everything that BW does.
Allies are also recruited, trained and supported for intentional
friendships with BW participants that are based on common interests.
The safety and stability, self-sufficiency, and well-being of the BW
participant family remain at the center of these relationships. BW
assists families that are particularly isolated in enlisting a Circle of
Support, a group of 3-4 volunteers that meets monthly to understand
and support the goals of the family.
On Thursday nights, BW hosts the Community Leadership Team,
with a community meal followed by a meeting that focuses alternately
on interdependent self-sufficiency and advocacy issues. On
Thursdays, participants, family partners and allies all work together to
support individual members’ goals as well as group advocacy efforts.
The value of the Thursday night meeting cannot be overstated; the
coming-together of the entire community to share a meal and the joys
and pains of the week has a ceremonial, if not liturgical feel to it. It is
here that the tools adapted from Re-Evaluation Co-Counseling are
used regularly.
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“Everything we do is intentional,” says Lois. “It all serves to build
reciprocal, supportive relationships.”
Removing Obstacles
BW also understands that families in poverty have obstacles that range
from employment difficulties to transportation. “There are real
barriers that have to be removed for people in poverty to succeed;
having a car is huge, for example,” says Lois. BW provides programs
to address these specific issues, but all of them have reciprocal
relationships at their core.
o BW works with individual families on GED, job readiness,
placement, and retention, as well as with employers to help pave
the way for hiring of participants. BW also maintains a computer
lab, in partnership with local faith organizations, for development
of computer skills. This lab is entirely staffed by volunteers,
community members at large as well as BW participants.
o Wheels to Work, a car donation program, engages the broader
community in a concrete, meaningful way (they can donate their
cars), as well as meeting a concrete need identified by
participant families. Cars are provided to participants who agree
to reciprocate by volunteering in other community endeavors.
o BW staff also trains Family Partners in budgeting, finance and
EITC to support their participant families in maximizing their
opportunities and potential.
Allies
As BW developed, it attracted a core group of people for whom the
idea of building relationships to eliminate poverty made sense. One of
them, Terry Pickett, speaks eloquently about his role as a Family
Partner. “I now lead a much richer social life. I have a more
interesting and challenging social group and I am engaged in my
community in much richer ways than the average middle class white
male.”
Terry, once a communications professor at ISU, is now a business
consultant. About three years ago he made a commitment to semiretire
in order to spend about half of his time “in the community”. “I
wanted to do the work, not be a facilitator, which is what I do for a
living. I wanted to give back to those who were on the margins.” He
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has been deeply involved in BW for three years, including as a
member of its board.
Terry has written a piece for BW called “The Evolution of Helping”, in
which he tries to unpack what it is he can bring. “I won’t deny my
competency—I do know things that they would benefit from knowing:
how to do long-range planning, how to arrange my finances.” But it is
about the relationship, according to Terry. And not just for the
participant. “I have needs I am bringing to the relationship, too. Not
around money, but around friendship. On a personal level, the
relationships I have in this community (as opposed to my
neighborhood, where everyone is like me) are much more vulnerable
which makes them much more relaxing. I don’t have to be competent
at everything. And that’s affected my other relationships as well.”
*
Steve Ainger is the current board chair, and the BW researcher. As a
Political Scientist at ISU, he has the tools to produce data about BW
that is necessary for foundations and other outside agencies.
Personally, Steve says, “These are all my friends now. I could move,
take another job, but how could I take Beyond Welfare with me?” He
says that lots of theoretical literature talks about transformative,
reciprocal relationship building as essential to community, but “Beyond
Welfare walks the talk.”
*
As Pastor of Collegiate Presbyterian Church, Vicky Curtiss serves as
host to the Thursday night BW gatherings. She describes her calling
to social justice as beginning in her rural childhood, and carrying into
her church during the sixties when she was in high school. When she
grew up and discovered that not all churches had stressed the same
kind of commitment to justice, she set out to try to change that.
That effort led to frustration, mostly, until she began to work with BW
“because they deal with the whole person and they focus on the
importance of relationships.” She stressed the importance of the
system approach to poverty: “It’s not just about money; it
understands the importance of support.”
She is an ally on a Circle of Support Partner to an undocumented
Guatemalan woman who has “all the issues around being
undocumented in this climate”. She admires her participant’s
resourcefulness even while she gets frustrated with recurring
problems. “I like BW because we are in it for the long haul. I like
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being around people who think they can eliminate poverty. And the
great thing is that whatever skill is brought forward, there’s always
someone who needs it—participants or partners. We all gain from
each other’s knowledge. I really like the reciprocity.”
Participants
Liz is a single mom with a teenage son. She lives on the outskirts of
Ames with her mother who has Alzheimer’s and requires constant
care. Liz cares for her mom even though she has little money,
because she is a Korean adoptee, and she credits her mom with
sacrificing for her and saving her life. To pay for the care and
medication needed by her mom, Liz works two restaurant jobs, often
double shifts. “Some months the cost of her care is more than I
make; some months we do OK,” she says. “But I’d never make it if it
weren’t for the car.”
Liz has a 1992 Nissan Sentra hatchback wagon, big enough to fold her
mom’s wheelchair into. The car was donated to her through BW’s
“Wheels to Work” program. “Without a car I had to take her on the
bus to adult day care, then take the bus back to my job. That took
two hours.” Wheels to Work cars are not free; participants have to
pay for insurance and upkeep, and they have to agree not to let
anyone else borrow the car until they have had it for two years. They
also have to reciprocate, a key element in BW’s philosophy. “I only
pay $5 a month for the car, but I sign a paper saying I’ll contribute so
many hours in return.” So Liz volunteers at a church child care center,
tending to kids while their moms learn English. “ I love kids,” she says.
“I look forward to that time so much.” The moms are Korean,
Chinese, Latino and Turkish. “Because I’m Korean, it’s easy for them
to trust me.”
Liz provides support to many in return for the support she is given.
She finds time to take two neighbors without cars to the store to shop
for groceries. “We fill up the back of that car with food. I think they
picked that car just for me, so I could fit all that stuff in.”
Transportation is important to folks. Liz thinks. “I do know people
without a home, but cars are a biggie. I know a mom who pulled her
kids out of Head Start—she couldn’t keep spending two hours a day on
the bus, getting up at 5 AM to get the right bus, just to get her kids to
school.”
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Liz’s Circle of Support assists her with her many responsibilities. One
member helps with her financial planning, helping her keep a budget
and make out her checks for her bills every month. “She tells me not
to give my money away—I’m always giving it away to friends and
family who need it. She also keeps me from the pay loan store in the
bad months.”
“My mom’s medication costs $600 a month, so most of what I make
goes to care for her. Some people ask me, ‘Don’t you get depressed?
Don’t you get down?’ But I don’t. I just keep going. My faith helps
me, and my Circle of Support is there.”
*
A Thursday Night Meeting
Preceding the actual meeting is a communal supper. Prepared and
served by BW participants and allies, the meal serves as a kind of
ritual that calls the community together. Of course, it is very hard to
tell who’s who and that’s the point. Lots of little kids are carefully
watched by a bunch of teens; greetings and hugs all around; that
church-basement-fellowship feeling abounds. Everyone greeted Lois
upon entry—there was a sense that the proceedings could now begin.
Upstairs, the meeting took place in a large room, with chairs in a
circle. Probably 30 or so folks participated, the kids stayed in another
room with folks to care for them and keep an eye on them. Having
time away from the kids was clearly relaxing for their parents, and
that made the meeting a comfortable space.
Lois opened the meeting, reminding everyone of the rules of the
meeting: confidentiality, safe space, support, listening. Then the room
was circled twice: once for celebrations and once for concerns.
Listening to the positives and the troubles made it a bit clearer who
was who in the room, but by that time it really didn’t make a
difference. And the powerful honesty displayed by all who spoke was
striking. Little victories brought genuine joy, and thorny problems or
worries were discussed, with volunteered assistance often being the
result.
As part of the meeting, everyone did a ‘listening pair’, a period of
focused, non-judgmental listening between two people. (See Tools
section for more on Listening Pairs.) Then, information was
exchanged in a bulletin board format and the meeting ended with
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Appreciations, a time when each person was asked to appreciate the
person next to them.
Lois made it clear that some form of all of these things happen at each
meeting. The ritualized nature of the whole thing is meant to be safe
and comforting, so that trust can increase and become the norm.
Thursday nights are central for most people, like a weekly gathering of
friends that provides support, relief and safety.
*
Noumoua
During the meeting, one person was articulate and passionate, and
seemed extremely connected to the entire BW vision. Her name was
Noumoua. She is Hmong, but her name is French. “It means ‘No
More’; I was the last of nine children.” She is 21, and she has been
involved with BW for two years. She came to Ames from California
originally to help a friend living with mental illness. She soon found
herself with a small child and no resources. “No one ever prepares for
poverty,” she says. “No one ever thinks they could be homeless one
day.” She saw a pamphlet for BW at a laundromat; she was skeptical.
“It said they help with job counseling and emotional support and
finances and that you could get a car, and I thought ‘It’s a cult’.” But,
it was a cult with a car program, so she took her doubts and went to a
meeting. And everything about Beyond Welfare made sense to her.
“It’s the support you get, the friends you make, being intentional
about it. We’ve carved this place in our lives on Thursday nights for
BW. The first night when I heard the rules, I thought ‘this just makes
sense’.”
So she got a Circle of Support and got a car and decided it might not
be a cult. “At my first session with my Circle of Support, I was
shocked. No one had ever asked me ‘what are your dreams?’ And at
the time, my dream was to pay my bills, keep gas in my car, keep my
daughter, find a job. I didn’t even realize I had stopped dreaming.”
She had never finished high school in California; she was two classes
shy. Within one month, she received her high school diploma. That
was March of 2002. Today, she is a full-time student, working on a
degree in technical writing and communications. She plans on
graduate school, “possibly law school if I want to really get suicidal.”
A Community Building Workbook ” 2005 ABCD Institute 17
“I feel like it wasn’t an accident that I am here, and I want to spread
the message of BW everywhere, to the world. I want to take it to a
Third World country, to take my gifts to Asia where my roots are. I
feel like I am here for a reason.”
“I’m a pretty big advocate,” she adds.
“You know, somebody’s story needs to be told. I wasn’t really keen on
being a poster child for poverty, but it just worked out that way. I just
happen to have a gift for public speaking, for expressing a story.”
She sees it as a commitment to her daughter, a daughter she almost
gave up for adoption. “Now, I’m doing this for her. To make this a
better place for her.” She credits her Circle of Support with helping her
leave the mentality of poverty. And she describes the circle as “a big
bulls-eye with you in the middle”, constantly changing roles but always
there. “Just like life.” It was making a connection with people, as she
never had a nuclear family’s support, and “it was having safe people to
come around my daughter.”
Noumoua is fiercely protective of her daughter, having felt what lack of
protection can be like. “It’s important to me. She doesn’t have to be
the adult in this relationship.” Lois and Matt, another BW ally, are her
daughter’s godparents. “Single parents don’t have the luxury of not
planning in case something goes wrong. I know she will be brought up
well if something happens.”
“But that is what Beyond Welfare has done for me, helped me be
someone who has plans for her life, for her daughter, for school. It
isn’t perfect; sometimes we have to call each other out when stuff is
going on. But I am comfortable with that; I am comfortable with
expressing my feelings now.”
Her daughter came into the room, and they embraced and laughed.
Noumoua is a young woman who found her voice, her support, and a
meaning for her life. Money, friends and meaning.
*
A Community Building Workbook ” 2005 ABCD Institute 18
‘The Three Things’: Beyond Welfare
Gifts and Dreams: Supporting and articulating the
dreams of every participant is at the heart of Beyond
Welfare’s practice. Beyond Welfare is very specific,
almost liturgical, about this. Using dream paths, the
Thursday meetings, Circles of Support, Family
partners, listening pairs—all keep the focus on
individual capacities and dreams.
Citizens Space: Beyond Welfare is, at its core, citizencentered.
It is very careful to maintain this
commitment in all things. The “boundary” between
citizens’ space and social service is fiercely guarded.
Connectors: Lois Smidt, although a peerless
connector, has created an environment in which
everyone connects and in which connections are the
currency of building strong communities.
A Community Building Workbook ” 2005 ABCD Institute 19
o Everything done by Beyond Welfare is an intentional
discipline; complete involvement is a serious commitment.
Also, membership in Beyond Welfare is explicit; there is a sense
of belonging to something. The payoff is tremendous
transformation for all.
o Beyond Welfare comfortably and self-consciously uses and
improvises from other programs and practices, especially
co-counseling, but also 12-step programs.
o BW takes marginalization seriously—Lois, a former welfare
recipient, and Scott, someone who had experienced depression,
used these experiences as a touchstone in every part of Beyond
Welfare.
o Beyond Welfare is very specific about its goal (ending
poverty) and its objectives (money, friends, and meaning).
o All of this specificity makes the Beyond Welfare program
transportable to other communities and teachable.
An important footnote: Interest in Beyond Welfare has brought about
the institution of a Beyond Welfare Training component, and that
component is being led by Lois Smidt. She is traveling to other states
now, and is in less day-to-day contact. Lois is no longer the
Connector—she creates the context for connecting, as the organizer
and teacher, but the work of connecting is shared by other Beyond
Welfare members.
In addition, Beyond Welfare is expanding to Des Moines, a much larger
community than Ames and the state capitol. Significant funding
support and institutional buy-in from the Des Moines school system
has encouraged this expansion. Scott Miller is excited about the
possible opportunities involved in this new project, but knows they will
be challenged by it.
Additional Lessons Learned from Beyond Welfare:
A Community Building Workbook ” 2005 ABCD Institute 20
Dudley Street
Neighborhood Association
Boston, MA
A Story within a Story
A Community Building Workbook ” 2005 ABCD Institute 21
Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative (DSNI)
Boston, MA
A Story Within A Story
One of the most inspiring and well-documented stories of
neighborhood empowerment is that of the Dudley Street Neighborhood
Initiative. Not only can you find the DSNI story well-told in a book
(Streets of Hope: The Fall and Rise of an Urban Neighborhood by Peter
Medoff and Holly Sklar (South End Press, 1994)), but an awardwinning
video, “Holding Ground” is also available. Anyone who has
seen this video is familiar with the individuals who have played a
significant role in the rebuilding of the Dudley community over the last
twenty years. And the struggles and successes of DSNI have not only
provided a framework for other communities around the world, but
they have given rise to a whole new category of funding—the
“comprehensive community initiative”.
The DSNI story will not be retold here; the sources cited above have
done an excellent job already. But throughout the DSNI story, one
theme ran in the background: that of the conscious and on-going
effort to include young people at all levels of participation in the
‘rebirth of Dudley Street’. Because connecting young people is
sometimes overlooked or considered too difficult an undertaking for
neighborhood groups, it is important to revisit that aspect of the DSNI
story.
Youth and Stereotypes
We too seldom regard young people as gifted members of community.
We use platitudes describing them as “leaders of tomorrow”, but forget
to consider them “contributors of today”. Left unchecked, the
marginalizing of youth reaches its logical conclusion with many young
people entering the juvenile justice system.
This trend is intensified in low-income communities of color. The
automatic assumption of the media is that all young men of color are
gangbangers, that all young girls of color are soon to be welfare
moms, and that they are both dangerous by definition. These images
of youth can also affect their closest neighbors. Coupled with the
sometimes mysterious nature of all teenagers, these stereotypes can
cause well-intentioned neighborhood groups to ‘target the problems’ of
young people instead of inviting them into the center of community.
A Community Building Workbook ” 2005 ABCD Institute 22
In this way, youth are “labeled people” just as surely as a person with
disabilities or those living with mental illness.
Youth Organizing
That being said, some neighborhood organizations across the country
have become involved in an effort to organize youth. Many have hired
youth organizers, to work with young people to identify their own
action agendas. Others have started youth advisory boards. In a few
places, youth have come together to start organizations of their own.
Youth organizing does encounter challenges that differ from those of
other organizing campaigns. The membership and leadership of youth
organizations change rapidly. The endless meetings and slow basebuilding
work required of organizers can be hard on young attention
spans. Funding is hard to come by.
But the benefits are many, both for neighborhoods and for
organizations. Young people bring new energy and creativity to the
search for solutions to problems. They can hold particular
institutions—the juvenile justice system, schools and child welfare
agencies come to mind—accountable to the constituency those
institutions are designed to serve. And youth organizing builds
democratic, civic participation. Communities benefit as new leaders
emerge.
DSNI has been part of this larger movement for its twenty years. And
during that time, something inevitable has happened: young people
have grown up.
“Half My Life”
In the video “Holding Ground”, there is a scene in which the first
young people’s group introduces itself to the Board of Directors of
DSNI. A young man identifies himself: “My name is Jason Webb, and I
am 14 years old. I have been involved in DSNI for half my life.”
Everyone laughs at this moment, both on screen and off. But for
Jason Webb, being involved in his community since he can remember
has had a profound affect on his life. He grew up always wanting to
become a DSNI organizer. By the time he was 14, he’d already been
given an award by his neighbors for Community Service. DSNI helped
him go to college.
A Community Building Workbook ” 2005 ABCD Institute 23
Similarly, the Barros family plays a central role in the DSNI story.
From the first marches to close the illegal dumping stations that were
poisoning the community, to the election of 17 year-old John Barros as
the first young person on the DSNI Board in 1991, the family is deeply
involved in the community. The last we know of John Barros in both
versions of the story is that he is accepted to and leaves to attend
Dartmouth College.
Young men from the streets of Roxbury don’t have stories like Jason’s
and John’s, or so we are led to believe. But today, John Barros is the
Executive Director of the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative and
Jason Webb is the Community Development Organizer.
“Are Young People Involved?”
Recent conversations with John Barros and Ros Everdell, longtime
DSNI organizer, filled in the details of twenty years. Although no one
model of youth involvement has dominated in DSNI, valuing youth
involvement has always been central to every activity. “That’s one of
the ways we evaluate effectiveness of anything we do,” says Ros.
“Are young people involved? If they aren’t, then there is something
wrong.”
As young people have changed over the years, so have the ways in
which they are connected to DSNI. Some times the DSNI youth have
wanted a peer group within the larger organization, one that conceives
of its own actions and agendas and carries them out. Other times,
young people have been integrated into all of the activities of DSNI,
taking leadership roles in the various committees and working groups.
According to John, there is no one way, or best way, to involve youth:
“We don’t include youth; we include all. This is the core of what we do,
not just a program.” Every DSNI activity or group values highly youth
engagement. It is in the water.
Similarly, there was never a conscious ‘program’ to include young
people. DSNI, as an organization, is very mindful of the ‘clash of two
models’ about youth development--services to clients vs. organizing
community members. The earliest youth-oriented activity of DSNI
brought young people right into the community planning process. The
Young Architects and Planners activity recounted in Streets of Hope
provided local young people with a chance to design their own
community center, with the help of some local architects. As Ros said
then, “The young people in the neighborhood are really the ones who
are going to live this revitalization much more than the adults who are
A Community Building Workbook ” 2005 ABCD Institute 24
currently planning it….From one generation to another you have a
sense that ‘This is my community, I can make a difference and we
have power.’” (Streets of Hope, pg. 221)
Today, a DSNI goal is to create ‘successors’ who will lead the
organization and the community. “Young people grow older,” Ros
Everdell said, “So youth development is always ‘a pipeline of activists’,
young people connecting to other young people.” DSNI has established
some programs to create and maintain this pipeline. Every summer
there is a youth leadership camp; college graduates are mentors to
high school students who want to go to college; recent college grads
from the neighborhood are linked to high school kids from the
neighborhood to guide them towards college.
In addition, DSNI has been thinking recently about how to work with
kids who are not identified by the system as being in crisis. “We want
to connect to less visible kids who are in danger of drifting out of
community life,” says Ros.
Everybody’s Job
It is the job of all DSNI organizers, staff and members to be concerned
with youth participation. “Every issue is an opportunity to involve
young people,” says Ros. So, there are no youth organizers at DSNI.
In a sense every organizer is a youth organizer, as one test for any
issue campaign is youth involvement.
Many DSNI members say that having youth organizers only working
with youth can narrow the opportunity for relationships with youth and
makes youth involvement unnatural. There are natural times for youth
programs--like college mentoring or summer leadership or summer
jobs. But at these times, adults and youth work together in a way
appropriate to address the issue.
In a very organic yet self-conscious way, DSNI has continually brought
young people into the center of the project of rebuilding and claiming
their neighborhood over the course of twenty years. And, also in an
organic way, those young people have grown into adults. These new
adults are also committed to their neighborhood and to bringing young
people into the center of its life.
A Community Building Workbook ” 2005 ABCD Institute 25
‘The Three Things’: DSNI
Gifts and Dreams: DSNI focuses on the dreams of Dudley
Street residents and the gifts they can bring to community
building in every aspect of its work. No action on an immediate
issue takes place without launching a ‘visioning’ session, asking
participants what they see in five or ten years now that the
particular issue has been won. The focus on youth connected to
everything is an extension of this commitment.
Citizens (Residents) Space: Again, control of planning and
community building by citizens is at the heart of everything
DSNI does. A place, a space, for residents to dream, plan,
organize and make decisions together.
Connectors: Moving back and forth between youth organizing
and intergenerational organizing has served DSNI and the
Dudley Street community well. Including young people is not a
programmatic effort so much as a reality realized everyday.
DSNI sees the connection of young people as an aspect of doing
what it takes to build a strong community.
A Community Building Workbook ” 2005 ABCD Institute 26
o Young people need to be included in community planning
efforts at every level. It will become their community.
o The key to engaging young people is talking and listening.
o Relationships are best built when the scale of the group or
projects are doable (small); larger projects can become too
focused on results rather than “a pipeline for participation”.
o Peer-to-peer groups are sometimes useful for young people.
But they should not be the only way youth are involved in
neighborhood efforts. Youth benefit from developing their own
opportunities and voices but they need to be integrated in the
broader neighborhood effort.
o There needs to be structured youth leadership. For example,
DSNI added youth seats on the Board of Directors and lowered
the voting age to 15.
o Youth participation cannot grow unless the neighborhood effort
is rooted in the empowerment of all residents.
o Opening the door to youth and creating an atmosphere of
respect, safety and caring will bring in youth.
o Youth should be the ones to mobilize and speak on their own
behalf with the support of caring and committed adults.
o Youth development and community building are not quick fixes
but an ongoing process that spans the generations.
Additional Lessons Learned from DSNI
A Community Building Workbook ” 2005 ABCD Institute 27
Project Friendship
Prince George, BC
Bridging the Gap
A Community Building Workbook ” 2005 ABCD Institute 28
Project Friendship
Prince George, BC
Bridging the Gap
In the city of Prince George, British Columbia, a visitor will quickly
notice something quite unusual. No matter where one goes—to a
restaurant, to church, into local schools—people with disabilities are
involved there. They are members of local clubs and organizations;
they sing in church choirs; they are part of the local arts scene. That
this experience is so striking says a great deal about the ways in which
people with disabilities are kept out of sight in most communities.
They live behind walls of service, in institutions and group homes. In
Prince George, those walls seem to have disappeared.
Prince George did not become this inclusive by accident—inclusiveness
is the result of over a decade of intentional connections undertaken by
a group of citizens known as Project Friendship and their remarkable
connector, Sandra Nahornoff.
Some History
Project Friendship emerged from a project undertaken by AiMHi, the
Prince George Association for People with Mental Handicaps in 1987.
Using the work done by John McKnight, and with his assistance, AiMHi
set out to try to establish a community building effort. A group of
citizens was established, led by a local television personality, Bob
Harkins. That group committed itself to “breaking down walls of
isolation around people with mental handicaps” by connecting them to
existing community associations. Within a year of its inception, the
group had made the acquaintance of five people with disabilities
referred by AiMHi. They used their own community connections to
introduce those five people to others who shared their interests.
Sandra Nahornoff was hired to coordinate the efforts of the yetunnamed
citizens committee in 1989; Bob Harkins was doing a
wonderful job bringing prominent citizens into the effort, but he
needed support with the details of the connections and with the next
phase of the work. The first thing Sandra did was establish the Project
Friendship Society as a non-profit society, and established the loose
committee as a Board of Directors. Funding could then flow to the
project directly.
A Community Building Workbook ” 2005 ABCD Institute 29
In 1990, John McKnight visited Prince George to work with Sandra.
“John said that Project Friendship was meant to bridge the gap
between people behind walls of service and the community,” she says.
“So I knew I had to stir the pot in the community to bridge the gap.”
A Strong Community
The Project Friendship Society encourages the citizens of Prince
George “to open their hearts and find ways to welcome isolated people
with special needs into the community through local interest groups
and associations.” It works to establish community connections for
labeled people, connections based on their abilities, not their
disabilities. These connections provide opportunities for true
friendships to develop, and Project Friendship seeks to nurture these
relationships for the benefit of the community.
“We are committed to building a stronger, more diverse community, a
community that extends hospitality and welcomes the contribution of
everyone,” says Sandra. “A strong community is where everyone
contributes: young, old, disabled or otherwise. Participation creates a
happier, healthier, more productive community.”
Usually, a person is referred to Project Friendship by a social service
agency or provider. That person may reside with his or her family, or
may be a resident of a group home. Either way, Sandra visits with the
person and the folks who know that person well to discuss his or her
interests and dreams. Everyone brainstorms about possible
connections—perhaps to people who love to fish, or sing; or to a
business that sells flowers, or fixes appliances; or to fans of the local
hockey team.
That information is then used to find a community connection for the
person referred. Two resources are used to provide possible
connections. One is the Project Friendship Board of Directors, a group
of connected citizens, people who “know everybody and everything
happening in Prince George.” The importance of that group can’t be
overestimated. They provide a “network”, not unlike those used by
professional groups or college alumni to assist in job searches. They
bridge gaps for isolated neighbors instead.
The second resource is a truly impressive outgrowth of ten years of
work.
A Community Building Workbook ” 2005 ABCD Institute 30
The Prince George Connector
When Sandra began, she and the Board brainstormed a list of about
300 clubs and associations in Prince George. But she knew that was
just scratching the surface, so over time and with the help of others
she gathered the names, locations and contact information for over
1000 local groups, gatherings of citizens brought together by common
interest. Aware that this trove of information shouldn’t be kept inhouse,
Sandra and Project friendship began to publish the list in 1995.
Today, the Prince George Connector is over 200 pages long, filled with
listings of groups, descriptions of their activities and meeting times. It
also contains stories of successful community connections for people
with disabilities, photos and essays. Over 300 copies at $15 each are
sold every year at locations throughout Prince George. All the
information contained in the Connector is also available on-line at
projectfriendship.com.
It took awhile to figure out how to use the inventory. “To this day, I’m
not sure I use it to the fullest, but the gears have shifted,” says
Sandra. By the second year, when Sandra and her assistant updated
the first edition, she was able to use the act of gathering the
information to approach local clubs about connecting with someone.
“We talk with them about making their meetings accessible to people
with disabilities as well.” The inventory has become the tool for
engaging the community, so much so that one assistant Sandra hired
to help her ran into an interesting problem. “She never got the book
done—she spent all her time talking to clubs about how they should
welcome people with disabilities. But that is what the inventory is
about.”
Stories of Connection
Once a connection is proposed, Project Friendship staff contact the
individual or group and try to establish who that group’s “connector”
might be. “In each group there is usually at least one person who
welcomes and orientates new members, so we contact them and let
them know we are aware of a person who shares similar interests,”
says Sandra. “Once a connector is found, a meeting is set up and we
ask for their help in planning the connection.”
The most critical part of the planning is often transportation, a lesson
learned quickly in any connection work. A person can’t participate if
A Community Building Workbook ” 2005 ABCD Institute 31
they can’t be present. Pick-ups and drop-offs are arranged, and are
sometimes hard to guarantee.
Once a connection is in place, Project Friendship tries to nurture the
connection, checking in regularly at first to see how things are going
and to see if the connection needs any further support. Once it is
going well, Sandra and her staff host semi-annual “socials” and keep
an informal contact going, but the group carries on as always, with a
new member.
Stories abound, what follows are two written by Sandra.
Mary
“Connections vary the same as people and their interests vary. One of
our first connections was for Mary. She was a champion hugger; you
could run into Mary anywhere and she would give you a great big
smile and squeeze you with the warmest of hugs. It didn’t matter how
frustrated you were with life, or what kind of a day you were having,
all would be forgotten with a smile and a hug from Mary.
Mary was intellectually disabled—she couldn’t cross the street on her
own, speak more than a few words, nor could she live independently.
When her parents died, she was placed in a group home where three
fellows had been placed following institutional release. Due to their
extreme behaviors, Mary would be kept in her room unless a caregiver
was there with her.
Mary was originally connected with Art Knapp Flowerland, as she loved
flowers. The Van Hage brothers, friends of Bob Harkins, welcomed
Mary who would visit and help clean the flowers on Thursdays. She
would return home with [me] as she could not go back to her own
home until 3 PM when enough staff was on to provide for her. I
became familiar with Mary’s gifts and abilities. She loved to share
food, and was great help preparing lunch. She was always the first to
initiate the clean up, and she expected everyone to help. Mary loved
to visit with [my] daughter Morgan. We found that Mary was creative
and loved to color.
Mary was connected at the daycare at the local college. There are not
too many children between the ages of three and five who don’t need
constant hugs, and we had a champion hugger. The staff appreciated
Mary because she was great at helping prepare and clean up lunch.
The children loved Mary because it’s a very special adult who will take
A Community Building Workbook ” 2005 ABCD Institute 32
time to color and play with them. Her visits to the daycare went from
a couple of hours a week to everyday.
Mary passed away in 1993. Nearly two hundred people attended her
funeral. They came to celebrate Mary’s life and share stories about
how Mary, who had been born mentally handicapped, non-verbal, and
dependent on others, had touched so may lives.
If Mary had been removed from community and closeted away to keep
her safe, she would never have been able to give our community her
gift of happiness, one that she gave so freely. Giving her the
opportunity to contribute her abilities truly touched the People of
Prince George and helped to make our community stronger.”
Tom
“When Tom moved to Prince George to be closer to services, the
family he lived with abused him. As a result, services virtually
institutionalized him with 24 hour care and protection. He became
isolated and lonely, and was finally referred to Project Friendship.
Tom has Down’s syndrome, he speaks very little, and can’t go out
without support. We found out that Tom enjoyed attending church
when he first moved to Prince George. Lance Morgan, the vice
president of Project friendship and pastor of First Baptist Church
agreed to connect Tom with his ministry. Lance introduced Tom to a
young couple, who agreed to take him to Sunday services. Tom loved
going.
Unfortunately, Tom’s caregivers, who worked Sundays, told the couple
they weren’t needed and that Tom would go to their church with them.
This didn’t last, as staff turnover is high. The caregivers moved on,
and Tom became isolated again. So, with a little persuasion, we
arranged to have Tom dropped off at First Baptist Church on his own,
and picked up following the service.
This started some thirteen years ago. From the first day, people
recognized Tom as a friend of Lance’s and the young couple, and they
welcomed him. Tom started volunteering at the church as a greeter
on Sundays, and over the years he volunteered more. He folds
bulletins on Fridays, which he occasionally hands out on Sundays, and
he cleans the sanctuary on Mondays. Tom has developed many
friends at the church, and he is no longer lonely or isolated. He is now
safe in the community; the members of his church are his greatest
A Community Building Workbook ” 2005 ABCD Institute 33
protection from being abused or institutionalized. Tom is a valued
member of our community.”
Possible Pitfalls
Since Project Friendship has been operating for thirteen years, and has
over 100 current connections like those describe above that it has
maintained, it has learned a thing or two about what works. Sandra
outlined a few mistakes Project Friendship has made, and some
problems it has yet to resolve.
The Walls of Service
Dealing with the service providers has always been a delicate
operation. Sandra talked about how Project Friendship evolved, how
“we made it up as we went along.” She described the unique nature
of meeting with staff at group homes. “Sometimes these folks are the
only ones who know them. So I sit there and one will say ‘Oh, he
loves hockey.’ And the other will say ‘No, he hates hockey, I took him
to a hockey game once.’ I sit there and I smile because I know what's
happening. The one who took him to the hockey game and he loved it
also loved hockey.”
“I try to create a team. After all, they referred this person. They have
to be part of the work we do.” She complained that Canadian Mental
Health is notorious for making a referral, then closing the file. She
told the story of Ilse, who was suicidal. When Sandra went to CMH,
they said they no longer had any responsibility for her. “I said ‘Oh yes
you do. We’re not qualified to deal with someone who is
suicidal—that’s why she ended with you in the first place.’ We stayed
with her day and night. Lois, my assistant, did suicide watch, brought
her home. That first year was tough, but she is fine now. She’s at the
library, reading to kids, all sorts of things. But CMH just made a
referral and that was it.”
She also stated that Project Friendship was not interested in “citizen
advocacy”; bringing the community to the group home. With the
exception of transportation arrangements—club members would pick
people up at the group home—Project Friendship is always about
“coming out from behind the walls of service”. “Our focus is never on
what is wrong with the person,” she says. “If [the community
members] walk right into the place and see all these people with
disabilities, they will never focus on Jim, John, whatever… who he is
inside or what he can contribute.”
A Community Building Workbook ” 2005 ABCD Institute 34
Funding
Project Friendship is funded by gaming revenue in Prince George.
Under Canadian Law, bingo licenses are granted to NFP’s for
fundraising. AiMHi contributed its bingo money to start-up Project
Friendship. But, explained Sandra, because of a bureaucratic divide
between people born with disabilities and people who acquire them
through injury, she could only use AiMHi money for connecting people
born with disabilities. Once Project Friendship incorporated as a
registered charity and got its own Board, it also got its own bingo
license.
“We were no longer under the wing of AiMHi, but it also meant we had
to do our own administration. So it got harder, but we were freer to
do whatever we felt that was needed. Soon the word got out, and
people came to us from all over the community. We could help
anybody and everybody.”
Mentally ill, intellectually disabled, physically disabled, “dually
diagnosed” people---these are the major categories that Project
Friendship connections fall into. “We have only rejected one person in
twelve years.” And even if a person doesn’t fall into these categories,
perhaps an elderly person whose partner had died, Sandra always
takes time to talk to them. “Maybe I go over the Prince George
Connector with them, try to get to see the opportunities there are to
connect with the community.”
But the pitfall of this freedom is the trapdoor of fundraising. Bingo
can’t fund it all, and recently the regulations were changed, requiring
gaming funds to be matched. “When that happened,” she says, “We
almost lost our whole focus as an organization.”
“We made some mistakes. We tried to keep [the number of service
providers on the Board] to only one liaison from AiMHi. But when Bob
Harkin passed away, the executive director of AiMHi joined. Now there
were two. And they brought a friend, who worked with ADHD children,
and whose focus was to fix people. Now there were three, and they
began to take over. We were losing our community members too.
Suddenly they are half the table. Then, the funding crisis came.”
The service providers saw the solution as becoming a service agency,
qualifying Project Friendship for other federal funds. This caused the
Board Chair to resign. Sandra began to think about quitting. But the
focus of the new board was on fixing Project Friendship, not on raising
A Community Building Workbook ” 2005 ABCD Institute 35
money. The Gaming Board gave them a Sept. 2003 deadline to find
other funds. Tellingly but miraculously, they all quit. And the
community came back, circled Project Friendship and rescued the
work.
“But we learned that our funding has to come from the community and
it has to be generic and it can’t have strings attached. Otherwise, you
are forced to label people.”
Segregation
Another pitfall is “volunteer hours” as a funding category. Project
Friendship could get more money if it counted hours of volunteers.
But calling connected friends ‘volunteers’ is another category that
undermines connection to community. “Mary from the Doll Club did
not ‘volunteer’ to spend time with Lorena. They shared their love of
dolls. There is a big difference.”
Volunteering does happen at Project Friendship in some instances,
however. “Jimmy loved to sing, and he sang beautifully. But no choir
in Prince George would take him because he is autistic. They said he
couldn’t read music and had no choir experience.” So, she got a
musician to volunteer her services, and she got a church to volunteer
its space. “And we put an ad in the paper and started our own choir.
It’s a mixed choir, but there are a lot of people with disabilities in it.”
A similar situation emerged with local artists. Sandra, and
accomplished artist, is president of the local artists’ co-op, and she had
to struggle with her colleagues to convince them to hold art classes for
folks who loved art. “AiMHi had sent a whole slew of folks to the
gallery before, and it was a disaster,” she said. “I said ‘No. This is
different. These will be people who love art. They will come with a
portfolio. They won’t just be sent on a field trip.’” Finally, the art
classes began. But, they are segregated.
“There is not enough space for a mixed group. But it has been an
incredible group. These people are now known as artists in the
community, not as people with disabilities. It worked in a round about
weird way, because people don’t see them in a segregated
group—they see their art.”
They also formed a theater group for the same reason. But Sandra
was quick to point out the community relationship in these projects:
“Now understand: the choir is part of the First Baptist Church, the art
A Community Building Workbook ” 2005 ABCD Institute 36
class is within the Artists Co-op and the theater group is part of the
Serious Moonlight Productions Theater company, a professional theater
in town. They are their own group within them—they are called the No
Name Brand Theater Company, but they are members of Serious
Moonlight.”
All of the ‘professionals’ in these arrangements are counted as
volunteer hours, which count as a match in the gaming funds.
Failed Connections?
But what if things don’t work? Sandra talked about the socials, held
twice a year. She uses those as informal ways to check up. “If things
are going well, there’s no reason for me to visit. If I did, like if I
visited Tom at the church, it would feel too much like a service agency,
like I was checking up. But the social gives us a chance to find out
without checking up.” Invitations are sent and follow-up calls are
made; often, all the information needed is revealed in that process.
If it isn’t working, she can try another connection. She can try to help
figure out a strategy. But she cautions “All of these things are
living—that’s how I describe them. They are living connections and
like all living things, they change.”
Often, the service mentality regarding connection is overly protective.
They do security checks, police checks. They gather data before they
will make a connection or allow one to be made. Sandra noted that
they had had one situation that involved sexual abuse, but it was a
situation in which a security check would have never found it. She
added that the biggest safeguard against this reoccurring is connecting
with associations, not individuals, whenever possible. “There is safety
in numbers in a group, and even more, you find your own friends
within any group.”
On the other side, there has only been one situation where the person
connected was too scary or violent to be connected. And that was the
fault of the institution he was in, which wanted him connected before
he was really ready. Sandra realized through this experience that she
needed to be more assertive in the interview process. “Just because
the CMH has in a person’s service plan that they are to be referred to
Project Friendship doesn’t mean that they should be and I need to be
very specific about that.”
A Community Building Workbook ” 2005 ABCD Institute 37
Language
Sandra tells a story about her own struggle with language. “When I
first came into this, I knew nothing. I’d never met anyone with a
disability. When John talked about ‘labeled people’, I didn’t know what
he meant. And the service providers—they told me Mary had
‘inappropriate behaviors’. What is that? Turns out they meant that
she was 38 years old and carried around a coloring book. To an artist,
that’s not inappropriate! It was so weird for me to hear these
languages.”
“Least offensive for me is ‘people with special needs’ because for me,
we all have special needs,” she says. “But, when I meet people to talk
about someone, I say ‘I know a person who shares your interest.’
Shared interest is a way to bridge the gap. ‘Creating opportunities for
friendship to develop’ is the Mission Statement of Project Friendship.”
She then told the story of Philip. He was amazingly talented with
electronics. She had asked him what his dream was and he said he
wanted to go to electronics school. When she asked why he hadn’t
gone, he answered ‘I’m retarded’. “Here was a man who could take
scraps from his father’s repair shop and make new alarm clocks or
whatever out of them. He could go to electronics school.”
So she went to the college electronics department; she knew the
department chair. She told him she had a very talented friend who
always wanted to go to electronics school. The professor said to bring
him by.
When they walked in, the professor took one look and said, “You want
the room next door.” The job-training center was next door. “I said,
‘No, this is the man I told you about who is so talented with
electronics.’ He looked at Philip and said ‘Oh.’” So, he had the lab set
up with devices for his students, and he took Philip around the room,
asking him to identify things. No matter what it was, Philip could not
only identify it, but say what it was used for, and if it was the most
current design.
They gave Philip his own workstation, and he got to sit in on all the
classes and help students who needed help. “But he never would’ve
been allowed to show what he knew if anyone had said, ‘Of course,
he’s retarded.’”
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“I will tell people that they are ‘awesome’ at this or that. I use
supportive language. I can help them get over little hurdles—they may
be in a wheelchair and I need to say that to make sure it is accessible.
And that may be a problem. But we can overcome it. But we can
never overcome it if we can’t get in the door. And you’ll never get in
the door if you say ‘I know a person, of course he’s schizophrenic, but
you should meet him.’”
The Future
Project Friendship is hoping to start an education program that would
develop a curriculum that can be used in 5th grade classes “that would
involve children playing games and doing things to discover gifts,” say
Sandra. “So, we can start the concept of community building in
school; that you have a gift that you must contribute when you grow
up.”
There would also be a high school component that would use the
requirement for ‘community volunteering’ as a connecting strategy.
“Instead of having high school kids ‘spending time with disabled
people’, I’ll bring them on, but they have to connect a disabled person
to the community,” she says. “They’d have to find out their interests,
talk to people, and make a connection. So, when they leave, the
person is connected and the connection goes on.”
Sandra laments that she is doing more fundraising and proposal
writing and less connecting, and she worries about keeping up the
pace at which she is working. But her Board is now taking some of
this workload off of Sandra.
“But we all understand that this is all about connections. Without
connections we don’t need funding.”
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‘The Three Things’: Project Friendship
Gifts and Dreams: Listening closely to isolated people and
those who know them well is how the folks of Project
Friendship begin the process of community connection.
Sandra was very clear to distinguish this process from a
“field trip” type of approach to people with disabilities.
Citizens Space: A special citizen effort is necessary to open
community life to isolated people. A core group of
connected citizens, like those of Project Friendship, reach out
and open the doors to community, guiding the labeled
people to places where they can contribute their gifts.
Connectors: Everyone in Project Friendship is involved in
connecting. The traditional board/staff distinctions don’t
serve them very well. The members of the board are on the
board because they are well-connected citizens; Sandra
Nahornoff and her staff do the legwork for each connection,
but work in constant relationship to the board. In addition,
the friends, family and caregivers of the labeled person are
also active in the connection.
A Community Building Workbook ” 2005 ABCD Institute 40
o Connections should be made to groups, not to individuals.
No one can mandate a friendship, but most people can find a
friend within a group. The person becomes part of the rich web
of associational life. In addition, the group absorbs the
connection—the formerly isolated person becomes a member,
not a good deed. Finally, there is safety and permanence in
numbers. Members come and go, but groups carry on. It is best
that only one special needs person be connected with a group.
Otherwise they become known as the disability group instead of
Tom or Mary.
o Collecting information about local associations serves
several purposes. Initially, the listing serves as a touchstone
for possible connections. But the Prince George Connector is
much more than that to the city of Prince George. It is matter of
civic pride—the Connector is the result of community
participation. It is also a public relations tool and a source of
funding for Project Friendship.
o Preserving the boundary between human services and
community connections is essential. When this boundary
blurred during a funding crisis, Project Friendship almost folded.
o Language is important. Project Friendship is “a group of
citizens personally involved in building a stronger community”
(Ibid.). Special care must be taken to avoid the language of the
human service system for the distinction to be clear.
o Categorical funding undermines citizen-centered
initiatives. Such funding reintroduces labels and limits. Also,
matching grants often lead to labeling involved citizens as
“volunteers”.
o Chasing funding is a landmine. Connectors should be
connecting, not chasing their salaries. Although this issue faces
many non-profit organizations, it is especially difficult for a
citizen-centered initiative like Project Friendship.
Additional Lessons Learned from Project Friendship
A Community Building Workbook ” 2005 ABCD Institute 41
Logan Square
Neighborhood Association
(LSNA)
Chicago, IL
A Large Heart
A Community Building Workbook ” 2005 ABCD Institute 42
Rosita De La Rosa
Logan Square Neighborhood Association
“A Large Heart”
One of the earliest connection projects was the Community Building
Project of the Logan Square Neighborhood Association. For a period
of time in the 90’s, LSNA, a multi-issue community organization in
Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood, worked to bring the “strangers”
in Logan Square into community life. The strangers they referred to
were living in the group homes for those labeled developmentally
disabled.
LSNA, a powerful community organization dedicated to confronting
those in power, mobilizing citizens to action and winning victories, is
extremely skilled in the techniques of community organizing. But, the
work of community building also required an inclination to include
everyone and a broad knowledge of the community, along with a
sincere joy in being with people.
Often, organizing and community building are not mentioned in the
same sentence (or the same room). But at base, the tools of
community organizing are connecting tools: one-on-one conversations,
relationships built over time, building strength through numbers. So
there is an affinity between the organizer and the connector as
described in the Introduction.
The LSNA Community Building work required such an
organizer/connector with deep roots in the neighborhood. So, LSNA
hired a local resident that fit the description, Rosita De La Rosa.
The results of the Community Building Project have been recounted in
many ABCD publications, and the lessons learned there are at the core
of ABCD work. Over time, funding for the Project disappeared, and
LSNA went on to other community issues and undertakings. But
Rosita De La Rosa has remained on the staff there. She now organizes
Logan Square seniors, and also is the LSNA liaison to community arts
initiatives and local artists.
What makes a connector and how does connecting become part of
everyday work and interaction? There is no better person to help
answer these questions, so we asked Rosita to talk about what she is
A Community Building Workbook ” 2005 ABCD Institute 43
doing now and how she sees it being related to her connecting work
and her identity as a connector.
Connecting
Rosita says she is always connecting, “Very intentionally, without
anybody ever knowing about it. Especially where there are kids who
have to do community service for school, or people who live alone and
have trouble in the heat or the cold—I’m always asking them to look
out for each other without them really knowing it.”
She says she has always looked for ways to develop relationships. “I
used to spend time out in front of my house cleaning up, and people
would see me and come out and clean up too. And we’d start a
conversation. Or, when my daughter was a baby, I’d take her with
me, and everyone would be drawn to her, and I’d start finding out
about them. You do whatever it takes to build a relationship with
everybody you meet, because it is so important. That person may
have a story to share, a history to share, some experience to share, or
resources. I can’t help it, I think about it all the time. My brain works
this way.”
“I have relationships galore,” she goes on. “I have friends,
acquaintances, neighbors, co-workers, family members—they are all in
different categories but I utilize them in everything I do. And I try to
be honest with them, I don’t take advantage. I keep them in mind
and share anything I can with them.”
Because LSNA is a multi-issue organization, Rosita is always trying to
find a person’s interest and connect it to the work of LSNA. “I do my
one-on-one, and I try to find out what is their passion, and I try to
connect them to the group of neighbors who share that passion.”
Rosita stressed the idea that the basic organizing tool of the one-onone
is also a critical component of connecting. She gets people to
open up by opening up herself, by asking about their concerns, and by
praising their gifts. In the outline of a one-on-one, Saul Alinsky
advocated doing much the same.
She says that connecting is more in-depth, however, “because of the
personal aspect.” It requires a deep knowledge of interests and skills,
where organizing is to create a group that will then together decide on
how to act. “Connecting also requires thinking about an introduction,
how you would interest one person in another. You have to think
A Community Building Workbook ” 2005 ABCD Institute 44
about that too.” She then went into a long story about getting a call
from a tribune reporter looking to interview a Latina senior, who had
to be over ninety, for an article about each decade of age. Rosita had
to interview the reporter, Lisa, to discover something about her that
she could use to get Antonia, and a 90 year-old senior she knew, to
want to consent to an interview. Next, she had to talk to Antonia
three times, plant the idea, follow-up, deal with her fears of being in
the paper. Then she had to make the introduction. The article came
out wonderfully, but “it was a lot of work for me!”
That’s the difference between connecting and organizing, for Rosita.
“They are very different to me. Connecting is a personal relationship.”
Rosita is never far from her Franklin Covey organizer. She had two
sections for contacts, and then she had several additional pages she
had made and copied that had all the pastors in Logan Square, all the
soccer league presidents, all the LSNA Board members etc. “My
daughter laughs. She says I would die without this. I don’t know
what I’d do if I lost it. I carry it with me everywhere.”
When asked ‘what makes a good connector’, Rosita didn’t hesitate.
“Heart,” she said. “It has to be someone with a large heart that
genuinely cares about making a better world.”
She talked about being motivated by her child to make a better
neighborhood. She talked about making friends, using her friends to
help in this work, being very intentional and being resourceful, but the
most important component, she stressed, is the “large heart”.
Expanding the Connections
Rosita has been informally keeping the kind of association lists that
were part of the Community Building project. “We are kind of a
community 411; people call us all the time and ask for phone
numbers. Those phone calls are always referred to me.” Recently,
because of a comprehensive community initiative funded by
LISC/Chicago and the MacArthur Foundation, there is a pool of money
available for new LSNA projects. “I want to put out a new directory,
one that includes everything that is now in two big boxes on the floor
behind my desk. I’m gathering new information now, and I hope to
include a section on Logan Square businesses.”
Long-time Logan Square businesses are struggling now that the
community has become surrounded by ‘big box’ districts. “Our local
A Community Building Workbook ” 2005 ABCD Institute 45
True Value has been in one family for three generations, and now they
are being threatened by two Home Depots and a new Menards. I
created a bilingual flyer, inviting all neighbors of Logan Square &
Avondale area to visit our neighborhood True Value Hardware Store.
They were contributing American Flags on the 4th of July,” she relates.
“The flags were donated, and had the name of the store on them.
People had to come in to get them, so it really helped get people into
the store. One of the best sights I saw was on the morning of the 4th
of July, to see whole blocks with these flags. They were all along the
parkway. That’s the kind of opportunity I want our businesses to
have.”
Similar situations face local drug stores and tire shops, according to
Rosita. “Logan Square used to have 10 tire stores, now there are only
two. If you got a flat in Logan Square, where would you go to get it
fixed?” So, Rosita hopes to use the new directory to connect her new
constituents—Logan Square elderly—with local merchants.
‘Suicide Corner’
The other side of the arrival of the “big box” stores is increased danger
for shoppers without cars, like elderly folks. The big box areas in
Logan Square are not at all pedestrian-friendly. “I made a map and
took it to six senior’s buildings to ask them to show me where they are
afraid to cross the street,” she says. “Some of these corners are three
streets and the lights are so short and people run them all the time.
There is one six-way corner that seniors call ‘suicide corner’ because
you take your life in your hands trying to cross.”
Bringing people back to the local businesses would not only help the
local economy, it will increase the amount of neighborhood foot traffic.
LSNA is organizing with Logan Square Walks to create a pedestrianfriendly
community, and Rosita has been active in this effort with other
concerned residents. “We actually took walks in small groups and
made notes of all the problems for walkers. As a neighbor and an
activist, I notice things all the time that make it hard for my seniors to
get around. With this project, we can start to change those things.”
She spent seven months lobbying the Post Office to get a mailbox
moved closer to a senior housing complex, so the residents wouldn’t
have to cross the street just to mail things. “This is important to my
seniors. They want to be able to move around in the community.”
Rosita is building a coalition of seniors, moms (“with kids in strollers”),
people with disabilities, and bikers (“they are really active in our
A Community Building Workbook ” 2005 ABCD Institute 46
community”) to make Logan Square walkable. She’s proud of this as
the kind of work she is currently doing.
Block Clubs
Rosita is also building a network of block clubs in Logan Square.
“Many of our seniors live in senior housing. And they feel so isolated.”
Rosita works with the building managers and social service
coordinators in these complexes to get involved in the community
through LSNA as well as getting the rest of the community familiar
with their senior neighbors. “It started small, with a clean-up
campaign, but now people are coming back and getting to know
neighbors on both sides.”
There are five block clubs and one garden club that she works with to
connect seniors and their neighbors. She is promoting garage sales as
an intergenerational project. “Everybody likes to buy and sell junk.”
But the sales have a hidden motive. “They help us identify drug
houses. Most drug sales go on in the alley, so a garage sale keeps
them away. The garage sales are an organizing tool as well as an
activity for meeting neighbors.”
Block club activities have been positives on many levels. “Lots of
seniors don’t come to block club meetings, but at these activities,
where there is always food, we get to hear concerns and find out what
is happening. There are so many positives.”
Seniors’ Issues
As revealed in one-on-ones, many of the issues of importance to
Logan Square seniors are surprising. “We talk about breast cancer.
We talk about sex. We talk about prostitution, drug use—among
seniors. It isn’t just grandma and grandpa in their garden.” Rosita
has networks among the managers and agencies that run the senior
buildings, as well as with the police, and she uses them discretely, but
in the interest of “my seniors”. These kinds of discussions don’t take
place unless great trust is built, and Rosita has built that kind of trust.
Our seniors need information to understand and accept using Direct
Deposit for their Social Security checks. “So many of them kept
money in their mattress because they are afraid to use checks—now
the government requires them to use Direct Deposit because it is
safer. Many of my seniors can’t write the words ‘two hundred dollars’,
or they don’t know where to put decimal points.” So, she took training
A Community Building Workbook ” 2005 ABCD Institute 47
from the SSA to learn how to teach seniors to use Direct Deposit. And
she worked with the banks in the community to connect them to their
new senior customers. “Now, 80% of my seniors are using it.”
Rosita is predisposed to connect seniors to others in the community.
“Some of them suffer from depression. They have no family, or their
family has left them, or they live far away. Holidays are hard. So,
some of them look to me as their daughter,” she says. “But I try to
make sure they are connected not just to me but to the organization.
In the event that something happened to me, they would not fall back
into isolation. I try to connect them to break their isolation.”
Transportation is a significant problem for breaking this isolation, and
Rosita tries to get around this problem by driving herself or getting
others to volunteer to drive. “But seniors are used to getting a ride,
and some won’t come out unless they have a ride. So, they’ll just stay
alone.” LSNA tries to subsidize transportation, but Logan Square is
large and some locations are out of the way.
Intergenerational Projects with Redmoon Theater
Rosita is most excited about the intergenerational work she is doing.
Redmoon Theater, one of Chicago’s most innovative arts groups, is
located in Logan Square. Long known for its community-based work,
Redmoon is collaborating with LSNA to do intergenerational theater
production. Rosita, as liaison to local artists for LSNA, is coordinating
the group of seniors and youth that are scripting and performing the
Redmoon Winter Pageant.
The senior/youth collaboration actually began as part of a famous
Halloween parade and production done every year by Redmoon
Theater. Together, the seniors and youth made altars for those who
had passed in the last year. “Sometimes it was family members,
sometimes it was a singer or other famous person. Together, they
gathered objects that spoke to their grief and made these shrines.
And the young people and the old people explained their grief to each
other. It was so important. There were tears, reflection, meditation,
and storytelling.”
The Winter Pageant will have a cowboy theme: “We are all going to be
named Pete. I am Smiley Pete…” They are performing their selfproduced
musical comedy using found objects and silhouettes.
A Community Building Workbook ” 2005 ABCD Institute 48
We asked Rosita to tell us a few stories from her senior and
intergenerational work, and she was happy to oblige.
Stories: Pauline Del Santos
Rosita met Pauline at a Young Old Timers Senior group at a local
church. At the meeting she asked if anyone was interested in doing
any Intergenerational activities with youth. Pauline called her a few
days later and said she’d love to work with youth. They met a few
days later, and Pauline’s gift was immediately apparent “Pauline had
sewing machines and all these fabrics around her house. I told her I’d
try to set up something having to do with her gift, which was sewing.”
Not much later, Rosita found a little money from the Red Cross, and
set up a sewing group with Pauline and four teenage girls. They ended
up doing a quilt together for the Red Cross, as part of “The Aids
Memorial Quilt”. The quilt would be a memorial for Red Cross
volunteers who had died from AIDS, and Pauline helped them make
the quilt after school while she taught them to sew.
“In 1996 the quilt was displayed at the Red Cross headquarters and
traveled to the National Mall in Washington, D.C.”said Rosita showing
a picture of the quilt. “This relationship just took off. I got it started,
and I took these pictures, but they made it all work. They sometimes
would get together for lunch to talk—the girls lived nearby.”
This got Pauline involved further in LSNA, and she became a leader on
tax issues for homeowners in Logan Square. She became a fundraiser
for the ad book with Rosita. “She was a great leader. She passed
away three years ago. I used to call her Mom, I took it personally.”
Esther and Itzel
Rosita showed another picture of a very formal lady and a teenage girl
decked out like Britney Spears. “Esther was the mother of one of our
Board members who came from Ecuador to live here for a year. Her
daughter wanted her to do something so she didn’t sit at home, so she
called me up and asked me to get her involved with the Redmoon
project.”
Family members and Rosita picked up Esther and brought her home to
make it possible for her to get there. Although she went back to
Ecuador after a year, she was an immediate favorite “because she
hugged everyone and blessed them, sometimes twice a meeting”
A Community Building Workbook ” 2005 ABCD Institute 49
Esther was the oldest senior in the Redmoon group. She also was the
only one who could get along with Itzel, “the most energetic and active
girl in the group from the local middle school.” Esther would tell her to
be quiet when she was loud; she would hug her and tell her she had to
listen if she wanted to become an actress.
“They bonded. I don’t know what it was. They talked and respected
each other. Itzel was from a pretty tough area and didn’t have much
respect for adults. But she loved Itzel.”
The photograph is completely self-explanatory—the affection between
the 86 year-old and the raucous 13 year old is obvious. “I had to
make copies of this for everybody,” she says.
Harriet
Harriet is an elderly Polish lady who lives near Rosita. This was a hard
connection for Rosita because of the proximity. Harriet is a bit of a
recluse, won’t let anyone in her house. A neighbor reported her to the
Department of Human Services, and they came out to determine her
competence.
Rosita got some of her contacts who worked for the Chicago Streets
and Sanitation Department to come and help her close up rat holes in
Harriet’s yard. “She would never survive if she left her house.” So,
slowly, Rosita lured Harriet out of her isolation and got her involved in
several senior groups. She has begun to interact and has revealed her
funny side in her role in the Redmoon Theater’s production.
“She is so grateful and so happy now,” says Rosita. “I tell this story
because we need to be aware that there are people living on this kind
of edge, maybe even your own neighbors. Now she has friends and is
not isolated now.”
Anna
Anna had never been involved in the community, but she did want to
work on art projects, so she joined the Redmoon Theater’s project.
She had lost her husband five years before, and was still grieving.
“She was very artistic. She loved to make things. And so she made
an altar for her husband. And she talked with the group about her
grief.”
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“Some of the kids didn’t know about grief; they didn’t know about how
it felt to have an empty space in her bed,” Rosita said. “They
comforted her and learned about sharing.”
Anna has been with the Redmoon Theater’s group for four years now.
She has a core group of young friends, and she has a memorial to her
husband that her young friends helped her make. All of the little altars
have been made a permanent part of the theater; they are hanging
from the high ceiling, as stars. “Anna doesn’t know this, that the
altars will be part of the Pageant. She will be surprised.”
Difficulties
Rosita talked about the difficulties she encounters in her work. One, of
course, is funding. Since most funding is categorical, LSNA has some
money for what she does and other parts of it have to come out of
their general funds. “So I am always looking for funding
sources—especially for the arts stuff.” And Rosita feels pressured to
justify all her activities, when some of them are not related to the
categories. “I don’t want to let go of what’s important to my seniors.”
Categorical funding brought a sad end to the Community Building
project, she said. “How do you tell these people who are your friends?
Now ‘we can’t pick you up anymore because we don’t have funding
anymore’? It was so sad for some of them.” She pointed out that as
time has passed, most of the residents of the group home have left for
some reason—moved away, changed homes or passed away.” Of the
original eight, I’m down to two. But the ones that are still there, I still
see. They say ‘when are you going to come back and be our friend
again?’ I feel like a phony.”
But she points out that she is doing almost the same thing with
seniors. “I get them out of their house, out of their routine and take
them out into their community. They meet each other and talk about
their issues and maybe they join a club. Like with the Redmoon
project, there is a sign in sheet every week. I put it in a database and
made it big so they can read it. Then I asked them if it was OK to
share their numbers, in case of emergency. Now, they call each other
and there’s real friendship going on.”
A Community Building Workbook ” 2005 ABCD Institute 51
Photo Board
Rosita has a three-panel display of photos she had taken of the last six
months of her work that she shares at meetings and at the LSNA
Annual Congress. Each photo tells a story of her work. These
included:
Youth and seniors making panels for the AIDS quilt;
People waiting in line in the rain and snow to get on a waiting list
for open apartments in a local subsidized building;
Seniors upset and disappointed at the rapid transit station about
the loss of the mini-bus that used to come to their buildings to
sell them discounted bus and train passes;
Seniors protesting in front of the Logan Square Post Office, due
to the poor service and misdelivered Social Security checks;
Seniors at a Logan Square health fair;
A breast Cancer awareness seminar for seniors,
and more. Rosita has a real collection of stories, and a very large
heart.
*
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‘The Three Things’: LSNA and Rosita De La Rosa
Gifts and Dreams: Just as Rosita describes herself as “always
connecting”, she is also constantly tuned-in to the gifts and
dreams of her neighbors. As an organizer, she finds places for
those gifts to be given for the benefit of her community and
her organization.
Citizens Space: LSNA is deeply committed to the model of a
multi-issue citizens’ organization, a model that places
neighbors at the heart of everything they do. All of Rosita’s
work is part of that framework.
Connector: Rosita’s story is a ‘connector’s biography’.
Anyone wishing to understand what makes a good
community connector should just spend some time with
Rosita.
A Community Building Workbook ” 2005 ABCD Institute 53
o Connectors are well connected. Rosita is a person who
naturally gravitates to people, has strong roots in her
community, and uses her connections to make more
connections. These are unique gifts, and essential to making
successful connections.
o Connecting and organizing go hand in hand. Good
connectors are also organizers; building relationships is at the
heart of both activities.
o Neighborhood organizations benefit from having a connector
on staff. Although it is not her job description, Rosita De La
Rosa brings her connecting skill to all the work she does.
Because of this, turn out for meetings increased; new potential
Board Members were found; LSNA reached new constituencies
that are not typically present, like elders, businesses and artists.
o Following from that, there is an advantage to having a locally
rooted connector. No time is needed for that person to ‘get to
know’ the community.
o Connecting takes time. Building relationships and the trust
that goes along with them often doesn’t show benefits right
away. Rosita’s stories all reflect the benefits to community that
can accrue if patience is part of the equation.
o Categorical and temporal funding is a barrier to
connecting. Logan Square Neighborhood Association is a multiissue
community organization. Most of its funding is programrelated
and time-limited; connecting is not a program and it
takes time. Rosita De La Rosa is connecting seniors, youth,
neighbors and artists because LSNA’s funding imposes those
limits. Imagine if she were connecting everybody.
Additional Lessons Learned from Logan Square
Neighborhood Association and Rosita De La Rosa
A Community Building Workbook ” 2005 ABCD Institute 54
Capital Heights
Presbyterian Church
Denver, CO
Companioning
A Community Building Workbook ” 2005 ABCD Institute 55
Capitol Heights Presbyterian Church
Denver, CO
‘Companioning’
Capitol Hill is a community located just southeast of downtown
Denver, in the area surrounding the state capitol. The church is
located in that community and has a congregation of less than 200;
Rev. Mark Meeks is the pastor there.
The community is also home to a large medical complex providing
both inpatient and outpatient services to the entire city. Some parts
of the community have a large number of inexpensive apartments and
SRO’s; others, like that around the church, are gentrifying. The
combination of services and housing make Capitol Hill an attractive
community for folks living with mental illnesses and the agencies that
serve them; it also makes Capitol Hill an attractive community for gays
and lesbians, and other residents who wish to live in a progressive
community. In the center of this mix is the church, and its mission
has grown organically from its surroundings.
The church never self-consciously decided to dedicate itself to
providing a safe place for people living with mental illness; it seemed
that as the safety was perceived, more folks admitted their struggles
to their fellow congregates. Support was extended, the reputation of
the church spread, the liturgical practices opened to admit this
discussion and support, and the congregation continued.
Rev. Mark Meeks is certainly at the center of this congregational
experience. He has a personal family experience with mental illness;
he had also been involved in developing a community residential
center for those living with mental illness before he came to Capitol
Heights. But it is his commitment and spiritual leadership that is
praised by members of the congregation as the glue that holds them
together.
A Fact of Our Experience
“Our experience in church life is that the stigma that attaches to
mental illness gets integrated,” says Mark Meeks. “Someone takes
how they are perceived externally, which reinforces all the negativity
they are already experiencing, and it not only isolates them from their
community but also from their sense of God. It all coalesces to be a
very condemning psychic and spiritual experience.”
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So how did the church come to be so involved with trying to remove
this stigma? Mark Meeks calls it “a fact of our experience”. Many
members’ lives have been touched by mental illness, but he feels that
is not unique. “It may be because we are small, and we share our
experiences. But I think any community that took the time to explore
that experience would find a similar degree of occurrence, because it is
so much a part of American life.”
One member of the congregation lost two siblings to suicide; another
elder of the congregation had lived with her mother who was severely
mentally ill. “Mental illness runs in families, as you know, so if one
generation had experienced it, you aren’t surprised to find it in the
next.”
“I can’t identify a cause and effect for our involvement. It is just a
part of our experience.” He mentioned the larger community as a
home for many folks living with mental illness. The hospitals also have
staff that deals regularly with mental illness, and some are church
members. The local chapter of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill
(NAMI) is located in the church buildings at Capitol Heights
Presbyterian Church. “It’s just there in our lives and the challenge for
us has been to own it.”
Part of that ownership is to bridge the gap between professional
services and community life. The church provides the psychiatrist who
spends his days in the struggle for mental illness a chance to share his
experiences from his heart with the community. The person who is
living with mental illness shares the church experience with the
psychiatrist, and they meet on that level. “It’s our commitment that
none of this experience is devalued; that’s the beauty of church,” says
Pastor Meeks.
One of the ways that gets put into practice is the church uses its
Sunday mornings “11 AM Dialogue at Church” as a time for
conversations with or presentations by, individual members. One time
it might be someone living with schizophrenia, or it might be the
psychiatrist talking about new scientific discoveries. “We learn from
each other and share our life experiences in that way. We are all the
same. It seems that is one of the ways to remove the stigma. That
person is talking to their friends and their friends are listening to their
friend.”
“We’re not always impressive, we are not always wise, but we share
our lives,” says Meeks. Not all churches see church as a place to share
A Community Building Workbook ” 2005 ABCD Institute 57
their passions in this way, he adds. “One of the realities of life is that
strength and weakness can be hard to differentiate.”
There is also a time in the Sunday service for sharing cares and
concerns, something instituted before Pastor Meeks took over. That
time has become a time for members to share their struggles, to talk
about their hospitalization or difficulties with balancing medication.
Sometimes these testimonies take up a significant amount of time.
But they are not problem-solving sessions. “We are open to the
mystery of experience, and we share with each other in prayer.”
Creating a Culture of Understanding
Over time, the church has joined with other local churches to affirm a
concern for people living with mental illness, and this ministerial
alliance has worked with other community associations and agencies
toward that goal. One of these associations is a unique organization of
people living with mental illness called CHARG Resource Center.
CHARG is run by the folks it serves, connecting those people to
community and health resources. The CHARG structure consists of two
boards, one made up of consumers of mental health services and one
of community people who support the program. The churches
support CHARG, and church members are on its board.
Another kind of outreach done by the church is a long-standing
Saturday lunch for members and neighbors, which has been a
opportunity to reach out to community members living with mental
illness who aren’t church members. The word about this event gets out
through CHARG. It is small, 10 or 12 people, “and over time, we have
built relationships with these people,” says Pastor Meeks. They might
not be in our church on Sunday, but they are in our church on
Saturday. Some folks with mental illnesses have a hard time in
church, but the meal gives us a different way to enjoy relationships
with each other.”
He goes on to explain the bedrock of these activities: “We are all the
while seeking to create a "culture" of understanding, respect, patience,
and encouragement. Mental illness bears profound social impact,
taking a large toll on everyone close to the illness. So we seek to
counter that with a social experience that limits the toll and
participates in aspects of healing, or, at least, patient endurance. This
"culture" is fostered by all the things we do. This culture seeks to
sustain the possibility of more intimate relations, one on one, or couple
by couple, where folks find understanding, listening, compassion, and
A Community Building Workbook ” 2005 ABCD Institute 58
sometimes wisdom for healing. This sort of support is experienced not
only by the mentally ill themselves, but also by family members who
have suffered from the illness of their loved ones.”
“We will have a NAMI Sunday, to receive a message of concern and
challenge from them in worship, then dialogue afterwards about
opportunities. We have occasion from time to time to support or
celebrate the work of other similar entities, like the CHARG Resource
Center and to honor the work done in such programs by our own
membership, whose experience of mental illness is becoming a source
of empowerment for making things better. These connections both
raise our awareness as well as strengthen our commitments and
congregational life.”
“With all these practices, members of our community who have not
directly experienced mental illness now know those who have. They
find it common to visit with them, hear of their experiences, and relate
as friends who can accept them in their struggle while striving to be
helpful. That is an ongoing learning that requires a committed
openness which is not defeated by the effects of the illness which are
persistent and sometimes cause discouraging setbacks. For us a
priority to all this is taking the vantage point of friendship to be
engaged as opposed to looking for protection in our fears and isolation
from the dread details of struggle.”
The Value of Being Small
The church congregation has stabilized and grown slightly over the
years, due to the stabilization of the local housing stock. Potential new
members are always welcome, though it does not take long for them
to come to understand that this church experience might be a bit
different. “We are small. You walk in, you are exposed.” Some
visitors come once. Others stay, and become involved. “Those who
stay have a heart for what they see,” says Mark Meeks. He admits
this church might not be for everybody. “We really believe in the value
of being small…in a bunch of small churches.”
Some associated with Capitol Heights Presbyterian Church talk of
association with the church as being one that demonstrates the power
of real relationships. Not only for those living with mental illness, but
for anyone who is open to the experience of church being a place
where authentic, open relationships are at the center. A conversation
with several members illustrates the importance of this truth.
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In and Out of the Boat
A conversation over a big pot-luck dinner brought forth many stories
and personal experiences. Early on, someone compared living with
mental illness to being in a boat: although you try to stay in, you
sometimes fall out. If you do fall, you need to be helped back into the
boat, and that’s what the church does for everyone concerned.
Lillian: “I think that’s a very apt way of putting it, and I also think that
sometimes, you get thrown out of the boat.” She went on to tell her
personal story of getting suspended from school for attempting suicide
(thrown out of the boat) or being rejected by members of her family
who told her to try exorcism (falling out of the boat). She contrasted
those experiences to be accompanied by Minnie and another church
member and her pastor/father when she was first hospitalized for
treatment. “These experiences were qualitatively different for me.”
Mary: “In 1985, my first job as an attorney was very stressful. I felt
myself getting depressed; it terrified me. I asked my boss if I could
take some time off, and he said fine. “I’ll allow you to jump out of the
boat!” She went on to recount how she struggled with medicines, and
really wasn’t sure what she should do. “But through that whole time,
people in this church were caring for me. Innumerable life preservers
were thrown out to me. I remember people taking me to plays,
holding my hand, taking me for walks. Minnie, Mark…everyone.
Twenty-five people probably, during that three month time. And I
slowly came out of it. It was nothing short of miraculous.”
Minnie: “These experiences of ‘companioning’ create bonds that are
so deep and so rich and so strong. They transcend the usual
relationships.”
David: “Mary and Mark came to visit me about five times during my
last psychiatric crisis.”
Sue: “I’ve been coming now about 20 years. When I got diagnosed
schizophrenic, I didn’t know what it meant. I was hearing voices,
people telling me things to do that had me running around in circles.”
She went on to tell a compelling story of trying to find out what was
happening to her, why she heard voices. A doctor told her to commit
herself, so she did. They medicated her, then wouldn’t release her.
The voices got worse. She was so scared she figured if she didn’t
move they’d go away. So they diagnosed her as catatonic, and gave
her more medication. And on, and on. She was only 23. “I’ve found a
A Community Building Workbook ” 2005 ABCD Institute 60
home here, it’s like a family. I got a lot to be grateful for;
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.”
Minnie: “This place is the center of my relationships, though my
relationships are not limited to here. It is because of the strength of
the relationships we have, and that strength carries outside of
ourselves into our community. We have joined with other churches
through the Capital Hill Alliance. It moves out from here.”
She went on. “The faith element is important. I have a tragic sense of
life. Hope isn’t an innate characteristic of mine. So, faith as we live it
in community with spiritual leadership eventually taught me what I call
radical hope. Without that, I’m not sure how I could live. And it
needs to be nurtured all the time and lived all the time.”
Sue: “Minnie was my companion when I was going through a tough
time. When I moved into my own apartment, I wasn’t sure about it. I
started to think there were people in there with me. I asked Minnie to
visit me every day—I didn’t want to go back to the hospital.”
Minnie: “She was so intent. ‘I do not want to be hospitalized. I want
to live this without going back to the hospital.’ I decided to try to live
through this with her. We lived through that; perhaps it wasn’t wise,
but at the same time, she was so passionate desiring it. Since that
time, I have worked as a psychiatric nurse and acquired more
knowledge. But that experience was unimaginable and not always
easy. But we lived through it. I came closer to understanding what
Sue was experiencing than I could have in any other way.”
Martha: “Minnie is the most caring person in the whole community.”
To this they all begin to agree and tell Minnie stories. Finally, I asked
her why she does it. She turned her head sharply, and stared at me in
an almost frightening way. Tears came to her eyes and she said.
“Because my mother was mentally ill, and she never had any help of
any kind. It is an extraordinary privilege to be more present to that.”
Sue: “I’ve never met any finer group of people than the ones in the
church and sitting at this table.”
Mark Meeks summed it up: “In these relationships, there is no
program. You can only be. You get taken to a place that you don’t
know, and you’re not sure how to get out, but you know you have
someone with you and together you’ll figure it out.”
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“The people at the table are willing to share their experiences, and
that is a beautiful thing. One of the aspects of the gift of
accompaniment is to diminish shame and to bring light to the
darkness. It isn’t easy to share these stories, but they have told us.
They have empowered us to know what works about accompaniment,
and how we can better accompany them.”
Martha: “The majority of people in our church community are willing to
listen, to help yes, but mostly to listen and make it clear that we care.”
Martha then went on to describe how people find the church and if
they can identify with what is happening, “it doesn’t take long”. They
became a part of things right away. Minnie told the story of Martha’s
relatively recent arrival (1994) and how she plunged in and “gave her
gifts immediately and became leaven.” Then Martha, Minnie and NAMI
talked at length about the church and its unique nature of welcoming
people where they are.
They all credit Mark with being a true spiritual leader. “A man of
compassion and peace who attempts to apply the gospel to this world,
says David. “He never discourages us,” says Minnie, “Yet he manages
to put us in front of what we need to look at.”
“The simple willingness to be open to setbacks and not defeated by
them emerges from our sharing for prayer and support which
acknowledges the ups and downs of it all,” says Pastor Meeks. That is
critical, because the illness will recur often, in acute forms, so
community life must not be organized for victory alone.
Compassionate engagement must take many forms and be open to
many aspects of human struggle.”
*
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‘The Three Things’: Capitol Heights
Gifts and Dreams: Building relationships that endure
and encourage is critical to members of Capitol Heights.
After all, the setbacks experienced by those living with
mental illness are difficult at times. “That is an ongoing
learning that requires a committed openness which is
not defeated by the effects of the illness which are
persistent and sometimes cause discouraging setbacks,”
says Pastor Meeks. “That is critical, because the illness
will recur often, in acute forms, so community life must
not be organized for victory alone.” His description of
these relationships seen from “the vantage point of
friendship to be engaged” expresses this commitment
beautifully.
Citizens Space: The commitment and the vantage point
of friendship together to create a culture of
understanding, as described by Pastor Meeks. It
permeates all the relationships and experiences of those
involved, and it benefits all.
Connectors: For all of its organic nature, Capitol Heights
has several organized structures that keep the
community connected: the forums for teaching/learning
from personal experience; the celebrations and concerns
segment of the liturgy, and the Saturday meal.
A Community Building Workbook ” 2005 ABCD Institute 63
o The experience of the church is influenced by its location. The
community formed in a particular place, in this case Capitol Hill,
determines where, how and with whom connection takes place.
This community pointed the church to a constituency of isolated
people.
o Cooperation with and celebration of other organizations
amplifies the creation of this culture of understanding mentioned
above. Having the Colorado office of the National Alliance for
the Mentally Ill office upstairs in the church building provides
resources and opportunities, as does the CHARG Resource
Center and the work done in it by the church’s own membership,
“whose experience of mental illness is becoming a source of
empowerment for making things better.”
o Being small is important to Capitol Heights. Although the
congregation has been recognized by the Presbyterian Church
for its commitment and has won awards from the National
Association for the Mentally Ill (NAMI), Pastor Meeks has no
inclination to create a ‘program’ out of his ministry.
o Finally, it cannot be overstated that this is a deeply spiritual
journey for Pastor Meeks and all involved. “The simple
willingness to be open to setbacks and not defeated by them”,
“support which acknowledges the ups and downs of it all”—these
are spiritual gifts brought about by grace and prayer in the
congregational life of Capitol Heights Presbyterian Church.
Additional Lessons Learned from Capitol Heights
Presbyterian Church
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Metropolitan Family
Services
Blue Island, IL
Successful Aging in Caring Communities
(SACC)
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Successful Aging in Caring Communities (SACC)
Blue Island, IL
Blue Island is an aging, inner-ring suburb directly south of Chicago’s
Beverly neighborhood. Once working-class and exclusively white, the
community is now an almost even mix of white, Latino and African
American households, with Latinos holding a slight edge. Most seniors
are retired industrial workers and their spouses, living on pensions.
Most own their homes. Recent census data showed that the
community was losing its senior population, dropping from 22% to
12% from 1990 to 2000.
Given these realities, how could Blue Island become a place that both
included and celebrated its seniors, and how could seniors living in
Blue Island find activities and opportunities to contribute? These are
the questions that led to the project that became SACC, which started
in 2000.
Institutional Support
Licensed Clinical Social Worker Dee Spiech had long been working with
older adults, and the idea of recognizing seniors as community assets
appealed to her. The concept of ‘aging-in-place’ was gaining
popularity in health care and service-provision circles, but just staying
home wasn’t the answer, according to Dee. So, she and Jane Pirsig, a
former Supervisor and Mentor, designed the project that became SACC
under the auspices of Metropolitan Family Services Southwest Cook,
one of the seven sites of Metropolitan Family Services, the Chicago
area’s largest and oldest social service agency.
Dee’s intake data showed a high level of depression in south suburban
seniors, something she found distressing but not surprising. “Many of
these people have lost their spouse, their children have left the
community, they live on fixed incomes in the homes they own, and
those homes constitute most of their net worth,” she says. “They can
feel lonely and isolated.”
Dee was supported by Metro to try a different approach to that of
service provision in Blue Island, where Metropolitan Family Services
has a satellite office. With funding from the Retirement Research
Foundation, Dee undertook a three-year experiment in re-connecting
seniors to the life of Blue Island.
A Community Building Workbook ” 2005 ABCD Institute 66
Building Relationships
Instead of designing a program and bringing it to the community, Dee
Spiech spent the first ten 10 months getting input from community
seniors while promoting the concept of a senior-friendly community
among institutional, political and business leaders. She had many
one-on-one meetings with community members. She built
relationships with community leaders, longtime residents, local school
principals, and business owners. “They had to know and trust me
first,” she says. “I didn’t want to come off as an outsider who had the
answers.” As support grew, she enlisted an advisory group of Blue
Island seniors to help her design ways to create a senior-friendly town.
Dee then conducted a survey of seniors, to gauge their interest in
becoming involved in their community, especially as volunteers. Over
51% of respondents to the survey said they would volunteer in the
community if asked. Based on her conversations and connections,
Dee and her team consisting of Metro staff, community partners, and
senior adults devised three intergenerational, reciprocal connections
between seniors and youth:
o History from the Hill, a video oral history project with the
broadcasting class at Eisenhower High School,
o Reading Buddies, a tutoring/reading program with third grade
students at two elementary schools,
o Learn to Connect, a computer technology class for seniors taught
by middle school students.
In addition, surveys of 335 Blue Island businesses were conducted
with the assistance of the Blue Island Chamber of Commerce. The
attempt to create “senior-friendly businesses” led to a series of
activities and programs to reconnect the seniors to the local economy.
History from the Hill
Eisenhower High School is a large, regional public school in Blue
Island. The majority of its students are Latino, although the white and
African American populations are not much smaller. Planning
meetings held at the school between seniors and students led to the
creation of the video project, which got its name form the fact that
Blue Island is called “the Hill” by residents.
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Students in the 8th period Broadcasting class were offered the
opportunity to participate in this video history project; six of them
agreed to interview local seniors on camera over the course of a school
year. A three-day training was conducted by Dee, the community
development assistant and a VISTA member, teaching the young
people interview skills and introducing them to the lives of seniors.
During the training, some of the seniors came and sat in, talking to the
students about their lives.
All interviews were preceded by off-camera discussions with seniors in
their homes, they were then semi-scripted and recorded in the school’s
broadcasting studio. The final, edited results are shown on the Blue
Island community cable TV channel, which is watched by a large
number of people in the town.
Thirty seniors have been interviewed by the six students, individually
and in groups. The completed videos are a testimony to the power of
oral history as an intergenerational teaching tool. There are stories of
World War II, stories of the first black families in Blue Island, stories of
Latino history in the steel mills of Southeast Chicago. Although Latino
stories were harder to collect, one of the interviews was done entirely
in Spanish.
“Just Like Teenagers!”
Luis, one of the student videographers, did that interview. Luis, a high
school senior, is energetic and engaging, with spiked hair and a great
Hawaiian shirt. In another context, seniors might have found him
threatening, and at first, he said, he was hesitant to be involved. But
he signed up the second year and has done seven interviews, including
a group interview at a local retirement home. “Everybody knew each
other there, and they were telling tales on each other and all talking at
the same time,” he marveled. “I was amazed by them—they were
acting like teenagers!”
Spending time with seniors has caused Luis to think about his own
history in Blue Island and note changes in the community since he has
lived there. “I found myself saying things like ‘I remember when that
used to be a car repair store” and then thinking “I sound just like the
seniors.’” He also found himself to be fascinated by the stories he
heard, and discovered he wanted to go back and listen to the stories of
his family elders again. “I never listened to them before, really.”
A Community Building Workbook ” 2005 ABCD Institute 68
“I’ve got a lot more respect for seniors now, and a lot more
knowledge,” Luis says. “I’ve learned more in the past year than I
have in my entire life. The history that senior citizens tell you is not
something that you find in textbooks, and they also tell you how they
felt about it at the time. And now I see them all the time and they are
happy to see me too.”
The History from the Hill video project has been included in the
permanent curriculum for the broadcasting class of Eisenhower High
School, so interviews and interactions between seniors and teens will
continue.
Reading Buddies
Lincoln Elementary School serves 600 children, K-3, in Blue Island.
75% of Lincoln’s students are at poverty level or below, and most are
Latino. For many, English is not the language spoken at home, and
reading is a difficult subject.
Ron Young, Tom Madrigal and Lorraine Ferenczy are Blue Island
seniors who have volunteered to help Lincoln students with their
reading one-on-one. Each is assigned one student for the entire year,
and they are that student’s Reading Buddy, a name given to the
program by the seniors. They tutor the child in reading, as well as
encouraging the child to write about what they have read.
Reading Buddies, the second intergenerational project of SACC, serves
Lincoln and another school, connecting seniors to young children. At
Lincoln, twelve third graders have Reading Buddies, and seven seniors
are tutors there. The children are referred to the program by their
teachers.
“This is a win-win program,” says Lorraine. “Things have changed
since I raised my kids. Parents work now, and kids can’t get the same
special attention they did when mom stayed home. So this gets them
help with reading and it gets us out of our houses.” Lorraine has a
granddaughter in third grade in Georgia, so when she saw the ad in
the Blue Island paper seeking reading buddies, she thought this would
be a perfect opportunity to share in her granddaughter’s education.
She asked for a little girl to tutor.
“My generation was raised to work in the mills,” says Ron. “Children
today need more education to adapt to the economy. But the schools
haven’t changed with the times or they can’t afford it. This is one way
A Community Building Workbook ” 2005 ABCD Institute 69
to help the kids get what they need.” Ron described his experience in
the industrial economy. He was retired early against his will as his
printing job automated, and he found himself becoming listless and
depressed. “Tutoring kids gives me a sense of purpose and meaning
in my life that staves off depression. They saved me from having to
go on medication for depression, honestly.”
The Reading Buddies meet monthly to discuss their strategies and
methods to get the kids to read and write. They share stories about
the children they work with. Dee Spiech sets up speakers for them if
they request it, but the group has also become an important social
engagement for its members. “I learn from the people who have done
this longer than I have,” says Ron. Currently, reading sessions take
place during school time, but an after-school or library program would
be even better, he says. “Then we don’t take them out of school,
away from their education.”
Tom, a graduate of Lincoln School himself, said, “I got involved
because I was a failure here, and I didn’t want to see anyone else fail.
That’s what causes dropouts. I know what it feels like.” He came from
a poor family and didn’t fit in school. But he was a great basketball
player and began to coach when he was in seventh grade. He has
been coaching at Lincoln, since 1938. He’s been a Cub Scout leader;
he taught guitar. “I just love to teach. I’m not a professor, but what I
know, I’ll teach you.” Tom was recruited to be a Reading Buddy at
Grandparent’s Day, a school celebration of family elders supported by
Metropolitan Family Services and coordinated by Spiech.
Debbie Lymon, the school reading specialist, says the program could
be expanded if more Reading Buddies could be found. “The teachers
tell me they see real progress in the children,” says Debbie. Debbie
says the program works because of the mentoring aspect. “The kids
feel ‘I have someone special, someone who is there just for me’. They
don’t feel labeled; they feel they have a new friend.”
“I tell my friends about it, my friends in other towns near here. And
they say they wish there was something like this where they live,”
says Lorraine.
A Trip to ‘The Hill’
Donald Peloquin has been Mayor of Blue Island for 20 years. He was
born and raised there, and has a sense of ‘Blue Islanders’ as those
who like the ‘small town’ feeling, while being 20 minutes from
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downtown Chicago. He ran through a quick history of the
town—settled by successive waves of ethnic Europeans, each to work
in some version of the industrial economy; joined by African Americans
who ‘moved up’ from nearby Robbins, the early terminus of the train
north from Mississippi; recent Latino residents expanding from the mill
town of South Chicago. He spoke of industry leaving, and the need to
find new ways to sell Blue Island as a desirable community. For him,
the SACC projects lend themselves to making Blue Island feel like
home for all.
He envisions a new senior housing community adjacent to the train
station and steps from downtown. In that community, there would be
adult and child day care for families who work in Chicago and take the
train. Activities involving young and old folks would be scheduled
there all day, intergenerational opportunities like History from the Hill
or Reading Buddies. The kind of interaction these programs represent
“screams community”, according to Mayor Peloquin. “Who wouldn’t
want to settle in a town that values everyone?”
“Seniors remember the neighborhood”, he says. “They know it was
better to know your neighbors and sit on your porch. Today they call
that neo-classical community. Well, here it never got ‘neo’—we’ve
always been classical. If we support these assets for strong
community, people will be attracted here to live.”
The city is planning to assimilate the SACC programs at the end of the
grant period. “We’ll just take the SACC Advisory Board and develop a
Commission on Aging,” says City Clerk Pam Frasor, a member of that
Board. “It will become the first Blue Island Commission on Aging. It
is a great Board, filled with energy and ideas of how we can be a
senior-friendly community.” On February 10th, 2004, the Blue Island
Commission on Aging was approved by City Council.
Senior-Friendly Economy
In another office in City Hall, Eda Schrimple directs the Blue Island
Chamber of Commerce. An organization of 350 member businesses,
the Chamber faces the same pressure any Main Street faces in towns
across America. Local businesses struggle for customers with regional
malls and big boxes, and they are always looking for ways to attract
new customers.
On the other hand, local seniors have needs they say aren’t met by
many businesses. From accessibility to understanding service, to the
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ever-popular senior discount—there are many ways to make a
business “senior friendly”. In cooperation with the Chamber, SACC
undertook a survey of local businesses and offered help in making
them more attractive to seniors. After a period of time, 37 businesses
in town were certified Senior Friendly and joined together to offer a
discount on Wednesdays for seniors carrying a Senior Discount Card
issued by the Chamber.
For the kick-off of the program, the Chamber solicited donations in
order to provide free trolley service from store to store, and food and
entertainment was provided for seniors who came. Over 100 seniors
of all ethnic and racial groups came to that event, and it has been
repeated each year. “We should probably do it more often,” says Eda.
“The free trolley day really helps.”
The Chamber hopes to find the funds to continue the program and
institute a “senior friendly business council” among its members.
There are currently 37 businesses, but they’d like to expand it to 50,
focusing on retail and service businesses.
Sustainable and Locally-Owned
The Blue Island SACC project was funded by the Retirement Research
Foundation; its 3-year allocation of $240,000 ended on December 31st,
2003. The City of Blue Island, its new Commission on Aging and the
other SACC stakeholders are working to continue Reading Buddies and
the other SACC initiatives. Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Family
Services South Chicago Center is now working to proliferate the
lessons learned in Blue Island, to help generate and support a caring
and inclusive community for seniors in Southeast Chicago. According
to Dee Spiech, for initiatives like SACC to survive and thrive in any
neighborhood, they need to be locally owned.
For Ron, the kids, Luis, Mayor Peloquin and Dee Spiech, the Blue
Island SACC project was a win-win experience.
*
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‘The Three Things’: SACC
Gifts and Dreams: At every point in the development of the
project, the focus was on the valuable contributions of seniors
to all segments of community. Seniors were never seen as in
need of service. They were valued as living examples of the
community’s history, great teachers, and economic
contributors to Blue Island’s future.
Citizens Space: Although she represented a social service
agency, much of Dee’s work was akin to that of a community
organizer. She sought out indigenous leadership, built
relationships, and transferred power to citizen initiatives.
Connector: It took Dee Spiech ten months to build strong
enough relationships in Blue Island to get the elders and
leaders of the community on board with SACC. This enabled
“inside-out” community ownership of the project to emerge;
rather than creating an “outside-in” service initiative. Also,
connecting was Dee’s full-time job, not service provision.
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o The vision of one person, in this case Dee Spiech, can be
enough to move a large agency like MFS. As an employee of a
service agency, she understood the boundary between services
and citizen initiatives, and she worked carefully to make SACC a
benefit for MFS while protecting its citizen space.
o Dee Spiech was given the time and freedom to explore
community connection by MFS. She used the name of the
agency to gain credibility with local leaders, but she was not
restricted in her activities by agency requirements. When an
agency acts more like a community organization, it can succeed.
o Forming the SACC advisory board gave seniors the strongest
voice in the project and created a structure that could
transfer from MFS to the local government.
o Creating a constituency that initiated activities also made the
project sustainable when many other projects don’t outlive
their funding. It also avoided the pitfall of creating another
service.
Additional Lessons Learned from SACC in Blue Island
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Involving All Neighbors
Seattle, Washington
A Natural Vehicle for Connections
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Involving All Neighbors (IAN)
Seattle, Washington
Neighborhood activists often complain about government
bureaucracies; city agencies are often seen as “getting in the way” of
community building. Like many other service providers, city agencies
are often filled with committed people that find themselves hampered
by regulations, restrictions and political realities. Combining forces for
the betterment of neighborhoods is usually only a noble goal, not a
daily reality for neighborhood activists and government.
But in the City of Seattle, something very different is happening.
There, the Department of Neighborhoods has not only become an
effective partner to over 300 neighborhood organizations, but it has
provided institutional and economic support for a unique network of
connecting activities.
The Department of Neighborhood’s mission is “to encourage all Seattle
citizens to become active in the life of their neighborhood”. If
everyone is involved, neighborhoods are stronger. But involving
everyone is often a challenge when it comes to persons with
developmental disabilities. So, in partnership with the Washington
State Division of Developmental Disabilities, the Department of
Neighborhoods began a program called Involving All Neighbors (IAN).
From the beginning in 1995, IAN did things differently. They brought
together everyone who might benefit: persons with developmental
disabilities, their families, neighborhood activists and service
providers. These folks formed the Action in Community Team (ACT)
not only to provide advice but to take action in their neighborhoods.
Often, advisory committees come up with great ideas, but
implementation never follows. ACT was called upon to energize the
business of Involving All Neighbors.
What they did and what they learned from what they did are amazing
stories. But before they are told, it’s important to consider how a city
bureaucracy became a crucial support for this community activity.
“A Natural Vehicle”
Carolyn Carlson works for the Department of Neighborhoods and has
been the organizer for IAN from its inception. She sees a logical
connection between the city department and a community connection
effort. “This is the first time that a program to build neighborhood
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inclusions for persons with disabilities has been housed outside the
disability system,” she writes. “More importantly, IAN is strategically
placed within an agency that has a mission to build community. And it
makes perfect sense to build from a base that is already supposed to
be fostering inclusive neighborhoods. It holds government responsible
to its stated purposes.”
The Department of Neighborhoods operates 13 Neighborhood Service
Centers it refers to as “little City Halls”. These centers provide support
for neighborhood groups and connect people to city and neighborhood
resources. The Department also provides Neighborhood Matching
Funds for neighborhood-initiated projects, in which neighbors can
count their volunteer efforts as in-kind contributions for the funds.
Over 250 projects are undertaken yearly through this program. And
the Department provides access to all of its other resources—planning
resources, community garden programs and other neighborhood
activities.
This rich array of opportunities provides IAN with “a natural vehicle,”
says Carolyn Carlson. “IAN can capitalize on the work already being
done and the relationships already established by the Department.”
But the essential underlying principle is that building more inclusive
neighborhoods is good for everyone who lives there. “We wanted to
show that when neighbors become more neighborly with
everyone—with or without disabilities—the natural ties created can
genuinely eliminate isolation. We believe that a neighborhood that
nurtures and supports everyone is simply a better place to live.”
Community Connectors
From the beginning, IAN was clear that successful community building
was dependent on the work of “community connectors”. “Some
people are natural community connectors. They are the people who
look after their neighborhoods, know the people around them, and
don’t mind asking other people to help out. They make things
happen,” writes Carlson. IAN set out to find and support community
connectors, to involve them in the effort to bring their neighbors with
developmental disabilities into the middle of community life.
The Action in Community Team is comprised of some community
connectors, both professional and volunteer. (Neighborhood
organizers are a good example of professional community connectors.)
Although connecting skills are learned as a person becomes involved
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and builds relationships, IAN believes an effective community
connector has a certain set of skills:
o Strongly believes that every person belongs and has
contributions to make and gifts to give to the community;
o Works to build community in his or her life;
o Is always on the lookout for what’s happening in the
neighborhood and knows its places, events, groups and people;
o Looks for opportunities for people to connect with others and
contribute their skills;
o Enjoys meeting people and bringing together people with
common interests;
o Gets involved and asks others to get involved;
o Enjoys challenges and doesn’t give up;
o Stays flexible, adjusts expectations, and knows that things take
time;
o Focuses on one person at a time and considers how that
person’s interests and skills can be assets for the community;
o Finds ways for others in the community to sustain new
connections;
o Finds ways to take care of and renew him- or herself;
o Believes that anything is possible.
(From Involving All Neighbors: Building Inclusive Communities in
Seattle, by Carolyn Carlson. Published by the City of Seattle
Department of Neighborhoods.)
In the end, Carolyn Carlson believes that “building relationships is
what it’s all about. The networking, the one-on-one
relationships—that’s what builds inclusive neighborhoods for
everybody.”
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Using the ‘natural vehicle’ of the Department of Neighborhoods and
the collected wisdom and experience of the ACT, IAN nurtured and
recorded the work of dozens of successful community connectors as
they brought previously isolated neighbors into the heart of
community life.
Strong Stories
Carolyn Carlson has spent almost ten years ‘connecting the
connectors’. A champion connector herself, she says it is the
individual stories that keep her going. “There is always some
frustration in the process, some groups who don’t or won’t get it, some
times when even the best intentions fail. But you have to keep the
perspective of the individual stories and their strength. That’s where
my ability to renew myself comes from. Like the story of Joe and
Lupita.”
Joe, a working journalist, and Lupita, an artist who has Down
syndrome and finds writing difficult, met through a neighborhood
organization called Fremont Time. Fremont Time is a serviceexchange
system that included persons with developmental disabilities
from its inception with the help of IAN. Lupita had much to say, and
really desired to tell her personal story and get her message to people
about the strengths of her friends with disabilities, “so they can see us
do our thing in action.” Joe helped her get her thoughts onto paper,
and the result is a series of notebooks called My Journal, that has been
growing for over nine years.
At first, this relationship was nurtured by Fremont Time, which
provided Joe with time-bank credits for the time he spent writing with
Lupita. (These credits could later be exchanged with another neighbor
for window washing, or maintenance services.) But over the years the
connection deepened. “Her resilience, flexibility, the scope of her
focus; all these things about Lupita amaze me,” he says. Contrasted
to the celebrities he interviews in his job, Lupita is “an extrovert!”
In return, Lupita thinks that in a perfect neighborhood, Joe would write
all the books. “It has to be a place where Joe would be around
everyone,” she says.
Carolyn Carlson recently visited with Joe and Lupita, who proudly
announced that it was their 340th writing session. “That relationship
no longer depends on Fremont Time. It is still going on. A story like
that is where I get my energy to keep going on, because I know this
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work builds positive relationships and thus makes better
neighborhoods.”
Carolyn Carlson knows IAN has made a real change in Seattle. “I was
at a meeting of District Councils, and they were talking about reaching
out to diverse people in our neighborhoods. They were talking about
building relationships,” she says. “Right now, there are a lot of people
in Seattle focused on this.”
Strategies
One of the most important insights gained by the work of IAN is that
people need “structures for participation”. It is fine to talk about the
benefits of building communities that draw upon everyone’s gifts, or
how necessary it is to focus on individuals, but most people need a
way—a set of tools, or an activity—to make these ideas a reality.
So IAN has developed a curriculum and undertaken a series of
workshops called “Get Involved in Your Neighborhood”. These
workshops are for anyone who sees the value of community building
but isn’t sure how to get started. “The workshops seek to encourage
people to take a step, get involved, go into action,” says Carolyn
Carlson. They explore interests, provide resources and give tips for
participants and then do something of interest in their neighborhood.
“We built many of these tools with persons with developmental
disabilities in mind, because they tend to be more isolated and
neighborhood groups are less aware of how to include them. But
building neighborhood inclusion is for everybody; neighborhood people
understand that. The tools that bring in persons with developmental
disabilities will be that much better for bringing in everybody—young
people, old people, recent immigrants—everybody.”
Another ‘structure for participation’ is an innovative small fund
program called “Small Sparks”. A smaller, user-friendly version of the
Neighborhood Matching Funds awards, Small Sparks are meant to
stimulate creative neighborhood projects or events which include
people who might not otherwise be included by underwriting the
nominal costs of these projects. These awards average about $250,
and are used for everything from arts events to community picnics and
pet parades—any activity that can serve as a community-building
vehicle. Gardening and planting projects are popular, as everyone
comes together to create or enhance a common space.
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IAN also sponsors “neighborhood coaches” to assist in the connecting
aspects of these activities. Folks don’t need much money to
accomplish great things if everybody is involved. DON (Department of
Neighborhoods) provides money and support; the community does the
work. “Small Sparks was designed to be as un-bureaucratic as
possible, so anyone could complete the one page application and go
through the process. We learned that we’d miss some really great
opportunities if we didn’t make the process very simple. And the
program is wildly successful because of that.”
Start Anywhere
IAN discovered there is no one way to begin to build community.
Some of their stories start with just one person; others start with a
neighborhood organization. Some are initiated by a neighborhood
leader. Others coalesce around an existing or new neighborhood
project. The focus can be broad, taking in all aspects of a
neighborhood, or it can be narrow, one block or one garden.
IAN has provided useful ideas for each kind of starting point, and
knows there are many ways that are still to be tried. But the core
principle never wavers: Says Carolyn Carlson: “This is about
participation.”
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‘The Three Things’: IAN Seattle
Gifts and Dreams: IAN began with a commitment to the gifts
and dreams of people with developmental disabilities, often
most isolated in community. Connecting the most isolated
people provided a toolkit that works for connecting everyone.
Citizens Space: Government can be an effective stimulant for
community connection if it understands that its role is to
support community initiatives. The Department of
Neighborhoods and IAN provide training, small grants,
locations for meetings, and connections to the resources of the
city. But the neighborhood and its associations are the
originators and activists for community building. The
boundary is very clear.
Connectors: IAN has thought very purposefully about
connectors and connections, as demonstrated by their list of
qualities of connectors (reprinted in the Tools section of this
book.)
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o All communities have connectors; finding and supporting
them is a sure way to enhance community.
o Yet, there is no one ‘best practice’ when it comes to
community connections. Flexibility and creativity are important
tools.
o People need ‘structures for participation’ in order to build
community. Practical tools and specific supports are better than
nice ideas. One leader said, “We do tree planting, not inclusion!”
Additional Lessons Learned from Involving All
Neighbors
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The Most Important Stuff
In the Introduction and throughout the stories, we have stressed three
common lessons. Let’s examine them in depth, because these lessons
are the most important stuff.
1. Connections should center on gifts.
Each person finds her or his place in community life through
contribution. The framework for community building firmly rests on the
identification and mobilization of people’s gifts. A community that is
growing strong does not waste people--everyone is needed; every one
has something to contribute.
Every person has gifts, talents, interests to contribute. So a first step
towards community contribution is to listen for and identify gifts a
person has that she wants to offer or dreams she wants to realize. All
of the preceding stories had some mechanism or special time that
allowed isolated people to talk about their gifts and dreams while
others listened and gave support.
Gifts and dreams are best fulfilled in places where they make sense.
You would sing in the choir but not in the library. A person needs to
participate in places where it makes sense to contribute. Out of this
participation and contribution come new relationships and
opportunities that lead to friends, meaning, and resources.
A person must be able to be present in community life to participate.
A lack of accessibility or a lack of available transportation can make it
impossible for a person to be a contributor to community life.
The key to moving from the edge to the center is to discover an
opportunity where an isolated person can be a contributor. Three
questions lead you to the “right place”.
o What are the gifts and dreams?
o Where are places for participation where these gifts and dreams
make sense?
o What people and resources are needed to make this connection
of the person to the right place?
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2. Connectors understand the nature of “citizen space”.
The bridge to community is built of relationships. The every day life of
citizens in communities is where the relationships exist that can build
this bridge for isolated people. Services from helping agencies cannot
build this bridge. “People not programs” do this work.
Always connect an isolated person to “citizen space” that is rich in
relationships with opportunities for contribution; associations,
congregations, local small business, some government and non-profit
agencies all can offer opportunities for relationships. The challenge is
getting an isolated person (who is often a human service client)
outside of the world of clients and services.
The process of relationship building can be made most effective by
following a few simple rules:
o The less the person is identified as a client with a service agency
the more likely that the person will be recognized as a person
with gifts to offer rather than a needy person.
o People are best connected on the basis of mutuality rather than
on the basis of neediness. I should join the choir because I love
singing not because I am lonely. Going to an event like a movie
or simply being present at the swimming pool will not lead you
into relationships and towards community. Working at the movie
theatre or being on the swimming team will build relationships.
The person must be an active contributor in order to build
relationships.
o A person will likely participate and contribute best where he or
she joins the purpose of the group out of shared interest.
o Connections to groups offer more possibilities than connections
to individuals. Associations, congregations, and local businesses
all offer a connection to a group of people where friendships,
opportunities and possibilities can arise.
The key is to find a place for participation outside services where an
isolated person can be present, participate, and contribute on the basis
of shared interest. All of the preceding stories showed groups going to
great lengths to keep community connections in citizen space.
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Another characteristic of citizen space is that it is rather small and
always local. By that we don’t mean that there isn’t much citizen
space, but that each particular group is not so large that it blurs the
importance of real relationships. “Dare to Think Small!” is a good
slogan for this concept. Thinking small enough to keep relationships
at the center of the enterprise, or local enough to make it possible for
mobility—this thinking is key to creating or locating the space for
community connections.
It is like fishing: where you fish has everything to do with whether you
catch a fish. If your goal is to help a person enter into community, the
right place to be is where local people in small groups are actively
doing things together.
3. Connectors should be valued.
A connector is a special kind of community leader who opens doors for
other people. A connector is a person who is trusted, is influential, and
has a wide circle of relationships. A connector believes that all people
have gifts to offer. A connector believes her or his community is a
good place where residents truly care about each other. A connector is
always developing other people’s opportunities to contribute,
connecting people to new possibilities.
Building connections successfully is about connectors using their
relationships effectively much more than it is about ideas, concepts, or
methods. A connector can lead a person to the right group and open
the door. Another connector within the group can pave the way for a
person’s participation to be successful. Groups of connected people
who are willing to use their relationships for the purposes of building
community are very valuable people in any community’s life.
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Connecting as a Job Description
In many cases, a citizen-led connection initiative raises money and
hires one of its own to serve as a kind of administrator. After all, a
project focused on individual gifts and dreams takes time and effort,
and can become overwhelming for volunteers alone. What follows is a
kind of job description for this paid connector.
o Recruit other connectors and enroll connection places.
o Carefully listen for gifts and dreams of people to be connected.
o Support connections, which may involve visiting connection
places, talking with the person connected about how things are
going, helping solve problems that arise, or developing needed
resources for the connected person like child care or
transportation.
o Handle administrative tasks, engage in fundraising and train
other participating citizens.
o Be constantly involved in building relationships for the
betterment of the community.
This work requires a seasoned experienced person. It is not the work
for a person right out of school, new to the community, or new to
community building work.
Also, connectors are rarely successful when their job is half time
services and half time community connection. These are two different
worlds. The connector needs to be separate from service delivery
systems.
Mobilize
Whether connectors are citizen leaders acting as a group of volunteers,
or persons paid to support such a group effort, they hold one common
goal. Like all community organizers, connectors are working to
mobilize others. Every community is an invisible landscape of
motivation to act. What do people care about enough to act on? What
dreams, goals, concerns, or desires to contribute will lead a person or
group to connect with others?
Connectors seek to weave together all the different motivations to act
in the community into a common interest. Join us. We need you. The
language in every community is unique about how to describe this
process of organizing care and motivation to act. Communities might
say they are making connections to get stronger, to develop
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friendship, to extend hospitality and welcome, or to create more
participation among citizens.
Community connection is a natural activity but it will not happen
naturally today—without some help. Connectors are the key to
successfully building community.
*
If those three lessons are the Most Important Stuff, then the following
sections might be called Things That Can Get in the Way of the Most
Important Stuff. That makes them pretty important stuff, too.
Rules for Institutions
An agency can invest in both services and community connection, but
there must be a clear boundary between these activities. “Services to
clients with needs” and “connection of contributing citizens” are very
different ways of working. It is very difficult to mix the two efforts
without undermining the connection work.
In our stories, Logan Square Neighborhood Association, Dudley Street
Neighborhood Initiative, Capitol Hill Presbyterian Church and Project
Friendship all were citizen-led connection efforts. They asked
assistance from service agencies to make the connections successful,
or maybe service agencies played a part in their founding. But they
remained rooted in citizen space.
Two of our stories were of citizen initiatives that were spun off from
large social service agencies. Beyond Welfare had its roots in MICA,
and SACC was fostered by Metropolitan Family Services. But both
became independent of the agencies that once supported them.
Involving All Neighbors is firmly placed within the Seattle Department
of Neighborhoods, but IAN is very clear that its role is to support
neighborhood connecting initiatives with staff and money, not to
initiate them.
The best way for agencies and foundations to be helpful is to ask.
Connectors will know what can be helpful and what will not be helpful.
But here are a few hints:
?¿ It is generally not helpful to bring “experts” to advise the
connection group about how to deal with disabilities and
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symptoms. The more service-provider-to-client ways of thinking
involved, the harder it is to see the gifts and dreams to be
contributed. Protecting the connectors from the influence of
helping systems allows the connection project to remain in
citizen space.
?¿ Community care, local wisdom, and well-connected people will
make connection efforts successful. There are only a few things
needed from friendly institutions to support this natural work of
community. Projects need funding, a staff person, some
resources, and advocacy and support for citizens making their
own decisions and choosing their own action.
Rules for Funding
Connection work takes time to develop upon a foundation of local
relationships. Local people have to decide what will work in their
community. Leadership must come from people trusted by the
community.
Funding this work is often a struggle for foundations and sponsoring
agencies. For connection work to have the time and the decentralized
control that it needs to be effective, funding must be non-categorical
and horizontal. The work does not fit into any programmatic funding
category. A few other cautions about how to invest money for
connection work follow:
?¿ A funding organization should plan on at least three years of
funding being necessary to achieve real results. It takes patient
funding to make connection work effective. This is not a quick
fix.
?¿ A strong local staff person who can support connectors and
make connections is essential. This requires a willingness to find
and support someone who is very capable and mature—not a
bargain to hire for low wages.
?¿ Connectors must find their own way. A sure way to ruin the
project is to define goals for the project before building the core
connector group. The local leaders need to decide their own
name, their own rationale for connection, and their best way to
make connections.
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?¿ Connecting can’t be wholesaled; one “Mary” can never become
“cases”. Every individual connects from the strength of their
own gifts and interests.
?¿ Don’t replicate—proliferate!
These cautions do not mean to imply that the results of connectors’
work cannot be quantified; on the contrary, there are very clear
outcomes that can be easily identified:
o Number of gifts identified
o Number of groups involved in connection
o Number of community connectors engaged
o Number of connections made
Project Friendship, for example, has a detailed database of every
connection made, the group involved and particular person in the
group that welcomed the new member, gifts and dreams of the person
to be connected, etc. Beyond Welfare has done statistical analysis
showing that relationship building works as a path out of poverty.
Funding projects such as these is not a leap of faith; real results can
be shown.
*
Connecting everybody is important stuff. This stuff is offered as a
roadmap, as a route across the bridge into community life.
Connectors are the guides. Traveling this road will result in stronger,
engaged communities where everyone has value and all gifts are
given. What follows in the next two sections are some things to take
on the journey.