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Picnics, participation and power: linking community building to social change

2010; Routledge; Volume: 41; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/15575330903548760

1944-7485

Joyce Mandell,

Community and Sustainable Development

Abstract The main emphasis of the network centric community organizing model is to create social bonds within the neighborhood and to make bridges to connections outside of the neighborhood. The development of this model was strongly influenced by the works of Robert Putnam (Citation2001) who called for an increase of social capital as an antidote for civic disengagement. Critics of the community building approach deny the link between social capital and social change. The case study of the community development corporation, Lawrence Community Works, demonstrates a model for creating social change and neighborhood empowerment based on a community building approach to community organizing. In this mode, social capital hits lead to relationships of place, identity with place and place ownership. Combined with leadership empowerment education and public action opportunities, the "picnics" approach to community organizing results in an increase in civic participation and civic power for local residents. Keywords: civic powercommunity buildingcommunity development corporationcommunity organizingsocial capital Notes 1. LCW staff use the term social capital "hit" to describe the direct benefit of bringing people together or the direct impact of social capital. 2. LCW has developed a slide presentation to detail LCW's network organizing approach to community.