CESC

• From a systems perspective, a community is similar to a living creature, comprising different parts that represent specialized functions, activities, or interests, each operating within specific boundaries to meet community needs
• Examples of specialized functions within a community:

  • Schools focus on education
  • Transportation sector focuses on moving people and products
  • Economic entities focus on enterprise and employment
  • Faith organizations focus on the spiritual and physical well-being of people
  • Health care agencies focus on the prevention and treatment of diseases and injuries
• Collaboration is a logical approach to health improvement from a systems perspective
• From a social perspective, a community can be defined by describing the social and political networks that link individuals, community organizations, and leaders
• Understanding social ties among individuals helps identify a community's leadership, understand its behavioral patterns, identify high-risk groups, and strengthen its networks
• Virtual communities are groups with a common interest that interact in an organized fashion on the Internet, using computer-mediated communications like email, instant messaging, e-chat rooms, and social networking sites such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter
• Individuals have their own sense of community membership that may differ from researchers' definitions, and they may belong to multiple communities with changing memberships over time
• William James highlighted the importance of considering two perspectives on identity: the "I," or how a person thinks about themselves, and the "me," or how others see and think about that person
• People should not make assumptions about identity based on appearance, language, or cultural origin, nor should they make assumptions about an individual's perspective based on their identity
• Eligibility criteria for social programs and research projects may not fully reflect participants' actual views of themselves, highlighting the need for practitioners of community engagement to understand how individuals perceive their identity and connections
• Cooperation allows people and groups to work together in achieving a common goal or derive mutual benefits
• Cooperation exists at many levels: between individuals, organizations, states, and countries
• Participants in cooperative relationships share vital resources, knowledge, staff, and personnel to accomplish specific tasks
• An example of cooperation: coordination between a local school and a community soup kitchen to provide basic services to area residents in need
• Cooperative relationships can involve one-time collaborations or recurring meetings and events to allow parties to continue working together
• Community is a group sharing common characteristics or interests, distinct from the larger society within which it exists
• Early Joiners in a community are frontrunners that lay down norms for acceptable behavior and ensure adherence to them
• Information Specialists in a community are members looked to for getting connected to new information
• Conversationalists in a community mainly contribute to discussions initiated by other members
• Persuaders in a community are powerful advocates of the community message and spread the word
• Connectors in a community have a big network of friends and acquaintances they can introduce to the community
• Laggards in a community are the late joiners
• Temporary Members in a community might be there only for the achievement of a specific objective
• Urban communities are cities or big towns with a large, high-density, and heterogeneous population, where space is maximized for public and private infrastructure like houses, businesses, and road networks
• In urban communities, the division of labor is complex, with occupational specialization in industrial, administrative, or professional roles, and a varied class status from very rich to very poor
• Rural communities are territorial enclaves or villages with a small, low-density, and homogeneous population, where open spaces for vegetation and natural environment are abundant
• In rural communities, the division of labor is based on agricultural or aquatic industries, often with a feudal class status characterized by a landlord and tenant relationship
• Suburban communities are residential areas at city outskirts or within commuting distance, with spaces devoted to housing subdivisions, office buildings, and road networks leading to nearby cities
• Rurban communities have both urban and rural characteristics, often seen when people from urban slum communities are relocated to housing settlements on the outskirts of rural areas
• Urban communities have a massive number of people living close together in a small space, with tall buildings like skyscrapers
• In urban communities, common modes of transportation include buses, taxis, or walking
• Rural communities, also known as "the country" or farmland, have fewer people, more open space, and buildings that are more spread out compared to urban areas
• Suburban communities, close to but not in cities, have fewer people than urban areas but more than rural, with houses often in neighborhoods and many yards
• John Donne's quote: "No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main" emphasizes the interconnectedness of individuals within a community
• The lesson acknowledges Community Action Initiatives and the Interrelationship of Self and Community as mutually symbiotic, where one grows with the help of the other
• Community Action includes a broad range of activities, sometimes described as "social action" or "community engagement," involving greater engagement of local citizens in the planning, design, and delivery of local services
• Voluntary advocacies like giving personal time to projects in humanitarian NGOs or religious groups are forms of community involvement motivated by values and ideals of social justice
• Community engagement activities can include volunteering at food banks, homeless shelters, emergency assistance programs, and neighborhood clean-up programs
• The interrelationship between self and community can be seen through the principle of common good, where the needs of the people are met when the community contributes to the common good
• Securing the common good depends on the existence of virtuous citizens, as stated by Niccolo di Bernardo dei Machiavelli