Week 5: Assignment 2 - Three Problems That May Occur During Community Organizing!

This blog will focus on three of the thirteen problems that may occur during community organizing. After reviewing the Troubleshooting Guide for Solving Problems from The Community Toolbox (2012),  I decided to focus on:

#13: Not enough money to sustain the program initiative. While there are many ways to obtain money to sustain a program, I chose to elaborate on the grant writing process. Frankly,  grant writing seems a little scary and stressful and makes grad school applications look like a piece of pie if you ask me.  This is especially true knowing that there is so much research that must be done in order to match the organization with the  proper grants.  However, the good thing is there are many resources and support systems available to help grant writers find and write grants.  I also realized that the many steps that are included in the grant writing process, including creating a proper budget, developing a plan for financial sustainability, creating a business plan, bylaws, and so on must be in place before grant writing may begin.

 

#4: There is no clear direction or communication within our group.  Planning ahead and creating a framework for the organization must be established by the founder and/or Board of Directors before proper communication can exist.  The framework gives the members of the organization a focus and program initiative to guide them through their work. It provides goals and clear cut expectations for all involved.  The framework should include the outcome that is desired by the organization and how that outcome will be evaluated.  Furthermore, properly orientating members to the organizations will help alleviate any misunderstandings and provides the opportunity for the new members to ask questions that they may have.  The orientation process  also helps establish relationships within the group, which in itself is a must, to safe-guard proper communication within each group and organization.

#6: There is not enough leadership. Some people have natural leadership abilities and other's may have it, but may need to be shown how to utilize it.  A proficient and progressive leader helps others become leaders themselves.  The Community Toolbox highlights several ways to create leaders and to get more people to volunteer. However, the number one suggestion that I thought was most important is that in order for anyone to become a change agent and create a personal initiative, that person must have passion and desire to become a change agent for the organization's belief system or proper outcome may not be achieved.

 

Work Cited

Community Toolbox (2012). Trouble shooting guide for solving problems. Retrieved

from http://plato.bridgew.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_id=_2_1&url=%2fwebapps%2fblackboard%2fexecute%2flauncher%3ftype%3dCourse%26id%3d_12662_1%26url%3d