NCJ Number
83296
Date Published
Unknown
Length
0 pages
Annotation
A community anticrime project director lectures on the definition and purposes of community crime prevention organizing, the community organizer's roles and skills, and problems likely to be encountered in the process.
Abstract
Community organizing seeks to combine resources to effect change and to give people the power to effect decisions and to gain control over their own lives. Community organizers have several roles, depending upon the issues involved. They often act as teachers and trainers, resource people, facilitators, catalysts, and advocates. Community organizers must develop community leadership and communicate, listen, and establish establish rapport and trust with community members. Organizers need to understand the group process in order to guide group decisionmaking. Organizers need to help the group set realistic goals, identify tasks and objectives involved in achieving those goals, identify what resources are needed, and set a time frame to accomplish their goals. Finally, the organizer must help the group evaluate results to ascertain if the stated goals were accomplished. Workshop participants agree that the organizer should facilitate the growth of leadership from within the group and not act in a leadership role. The kinds of requests community groups ask of organizers are noted, and the benefits of having a signed contract (or some form of written understanding) of stated goals between the organizer and the community group are delineated. Problems which community organizers should expect to confront are enumerated, with special note given to resident apathy, community hostility, and value conflicts. For further discussion on community organizing, see NCJ 83297.