Why Communities Matter

Imagine being an unemployed single parent raising children in a community where there is nightly gunfire and frequent murders.  Imagine stepping over mounds of trash as you walk past the drug dealers to pick up your children from the bus.  Imagine being new in this neighborhood where people stay to themselves and avoid eye contact.  Imagine if the only time you leave your home is to go to the corner store where the main products are beer, cigarettes and junk food and you end up buying junk food all the time because you can’t afford a bus ticket to get to the grocery store three miles away.  Imagine that the community center was closed down, the playground unfit for small children and that there were no community activities other than an annual block party that often ends in confrontation among residents. Who would you trust, how comfortable would you be leaving your children with a sitter so you could work?  How would this kind of environment impact your individual capacity for success and that of your children?

Now imagine a group came into the neighborhood and got the community center reopened.  Imagine what would happen if they started bringing concerned neighbors together and empowering those neighbors to address the issues that the residents cared about.  Imagine those neighbors starting a family support team to provide peer support and encouragement to parents just like you.  Imagine this team of parents praying for each other, watching out for each other’s children, giving each other rides to the grocery store and creating a place in that community center where you and your children felt safe, cared for and valued.

Imagine what would happen if the school board tried to write your neighborhood out of the new school and this group of concerned parents found out.  Imagine this group fighting and winning the battle and all the kids in the neighborhood for generations having the advantage of a better school.  Imagine this group partnering to get new playground equipment, a computer lab and a mobile food pantry.  Imagine the parents in the neighborhood coming together to start a youth sports program and a group of neighbors who like to cook starting monthly community meals to help neighbors get to know one another. Imagine the seniors getting together for outings and fellowship.

I don’t have to imagine, I had the privilege of watching all this happen in Hillside Court over the past four years.  The changes in this community happened slowly and were driven almost entirely by the neighbors themselves, but none of it would have happened if Embrace Richmond had not listened to the neighbors and gathered them together so that they could strengthen their relationships with one another.  Healthy neighborhoods are made up of people who care for each other and work for the greater good of the community.

How do you measure whether a community is stronger?  I was immersed in the work in Hillside for years.  I was there when the man was gunned down in the streets right before our team gathering and I was there on MLK Day when there was a shootout right after we prayed for peace to rain down.  I know violence is down and that there is a sense of security that was not present four years ago.  Is this reduction in crime due to an increased awareness by the neighbors; or is it due to increased police presence; or perhaps it is simply a natural cycle that will soon spike again.  Measuring the long-term impact of community building efforts are very difficult.

Societal systems are complex and are often influenced by a multitude of factors.  So, as much as I would like to measure our four year investment in the Hillside community, I am not sure how other than to paint you the picture of what it was like before we got there and what it is like now.  I can introduce you to dozens of people whose lives have been enriched because they now have each other.  I can give you details on the number of individuals impacted by the seven different initiatives that are supported by more than 40 caring residents. They provide services to more than 500 individuals per year and I know all the residents of this community, which has over 600 children, have been impacted in some way.

However, all these facts do not come close to capturing the essence of how the spirit of this community has changed.  People went from being isolated and focusing on their individual needs to being connected and working toward the common good, often making tremendous personal sacrifices.    It is the spirit of the community that has changed and I am not sure how to measure that.  Today there is a spirit of hope, optimism and faith that was not there four years ago.

Communities First Association developed a list of measurable markers that I have found helpful for measuring when a community is being transformed:

A community is being transformed when

A community unites around a shared vision

Neighbors use their gifts to help the neighborhood

Leadership emerges in the community from the community

Residents assume ownership for the on-going work of community transformation

There is a growing sense of pride and community connectedness

There is less dependence on outside organizations and resources

Residents experience a sense of peace and joy (Shalom)

I once heard a pastor ask, “What would this neighborhood look like if God’s Kingdom were to come here in this place as it is in heaven?”  For me, transformation should lead to evidence of God’s Kingdom breaking through on earth.  I have seen and experienced an in-breaking of the spirit in our community development efforts through the years and I personally believe that it is only this divinely sent spirit that can transform individuals, communities and our world.  How can we ever capture that in a matrix of success?  I choose to simply stand in awe of it all achnoledging that it is not the work of humans alone.  We are simply participants in a divine mystery. (Wendy McCaig)