Photo Essay Global Systems Interconnected Hailey Thomassen Photo

Photo Essay: Global Systems Interconnected Hailey Thomassen Photo by Colin Brooks

LEARNINIG OUTCOME: Summarize the historical roots of community development and organizing, advocacy, and social movements.

Photo by Kate Murphy Helping communities strive toward “social action organizing of the “have-nots”’ (Homan, 2011, p. 4) and seeking out personal strengths of community members to work with their own potential to generate change became the focus of early historical community developers, such as Saul Alinsky. This theme of community members helping to develop their own community lays foundation to the field of human services.

Courtesy of Google Images Our historical community developers chose to act based on the needs of the community at the time, and the issues at stake. Dorothy Day is the epitome of a community developer by the way she advocated for her community members regardless of who they were. Taking on the titles of a saint and a trouble-maker, like many others she chose to use unique and experimental paths of her time. Today, we must carry with us these lessons, our community building and organizing ancestors’ “hard-won wisdom” in order to “give birth to the future” as we Walk Out and Walk On (Wheatley & Frieze, 2012, p. 11). We are seeing more and more variety of human services organization catering to the community need of the time, Wagner (1989) states it is in result of the “changes in style as a result of past social movements” (p. 278).

Courtesy of Google Images In the 20 s and 30 s social workers found themselves facing employment cutbacks and worked alongside clients in order to generate social movements on community issues. Unlike the young social workers of the 60 s who did not experience the depression, who began to put themselves at a higher power level and turning community members into “clients, needy people who are acted upon by wiser outsiders” (Wheatley & Frieze, 2012, p. 84). The focus of the early 1900 s and post 60 s turned to “ incorporate more social-environmental causation and social action” (Wagner, 1989, p. 267) concentrating on those vulnerable populations, and the understanding that we are meant to “live in a delicate world of interdependence” (Wheatley & Frieze, 2012, p. 84).

Photo by Colin Brooks Our historical community organizers and developers acted as advocates for communities at the time. The legendary Studs Terkel told stories from a wide array of community members, thus allowing each voice to be heard. By repeating their stories back to them in his own interpretations, self-reflection and discovery were a part of what he gave back to the community. In being an advocate he offered his loud voice “to our knowledge and values on behalf of and in partnership with those whose voices are not often heard” (Homan, 2011, p. 303). Each unique individual was validated as being an essential building block to make their community one of a kind.

LEARNINIG OUTCOME: Analyze community systems and structures, and design and evaluate processes to initiate and sustain change through specific strategies, tactics, activities and social policy advocacy.

Photo by Colin Brooks Systems come in all shapes and sizes. Putting blame on the system is taking the easy way out. It is critical that we set aside our judgment lenses and strive to understand what is really going on and how we can make the change we want to see, rather than blaming someone else. This is how change becomes possible, analyzing the system through techniques such as participatory action research and actively engaging in those systems where we want to see change. Once we name the problems and “see systems, ” we can change them (Kincaid, 2013).

Courtesy of Google Images After researching systems involved, and naming the problems at stake, community members can come together to re-invent the wheel and build off of each others’ creativity to work toward solutions. This process allows for the strategy of scaling across- fostering networks of relationships that will allow for communities to spread ideas and “solve their own problems in their own particular way” (Wheatley & Frieze, 2012, p. 36). Experimentation in the local context spreads ideas like wildfire “in this networked, interconnected world” (Wheatley & Frieze, 2012, p. 46). Sustainable change can be made by those small changes, which have potential to be magnified and offer “unpredictable consequences” (Homan, 2011, p. 35).

Courtesy of Heidi Thomassen Start anywhere and follow it everywhere: We will not cure major diseases by waking for the cause, but by doing something and spreading awareness alongside many others, we are choosing to act. In an interview with Callenbach, the creator of Ecotopia, he states that “you don’t have to do everything, you just have to do something” (Ecological Options Network, 2008). We all hear the little voices making us double think our ability to act. It is of utter importance to live above these influences; “the decision to act and to succeed is the precondition to accomplishment” (Homan, 2011, p. 380).

Courtesy of Alzheimer's Association, Western & Central Washington State Chapter After analyzing the system and deciding to act, we must continue to work with the community on a variety of different levels, taking into consideration all aspects of the person and community issues. Each person, community, system is interdependent with each other. As we talked about in Homan’s text, system’s theory connects each personal system to countless other systems; it is impossible to isolate our community issues from the impact of each specific element of our system. By considering all elements of the system, it is more likely to sustain our changes, however, we must learn to accept the unpredictable and work with it. As Wheatley & Frieze (2012) say, “life always bursts through the door- why not expect it” (p. 121). We can promote resilience by engaging in the world of change and taking it head on.

LEARNING OUTCOME: Record, assess, and reflect on experiences with community and the influence of human services values, attitudes, and ethics in relationship to community change.

Courtesy of Google Images Preventative focus versus treatment focus in the field of human services influences how system services are offered. We are prone to the desire to help others, and “fix” their problems. Taking these measures creates a victim vs. helper category, not allowing for self-determination and human connection. Focus must be aimed at being transparent and seizing the opportunity for critical conversations and inevitable relationship conflict. Do these people really want to be fixed?

Photo by Kate Murphy Utilizing a shared vision “provides the focus and energy for learning“. By creating a common sense of purpose , people have reason to work together rather than against. Assessing the other side of the community experience, forprofits and corporations thrive off of competition rather than share an overall vision.

Lecture brought us the notion that “selfdetermination stems from the belief that the person/people best suited to solve a problem are those most affected by the problem” (Kincaid, 2009). As a part of the CSHSE standards, client self-determination is held of high value in field, and in order to promote networks of nurturing relationships that promote sharing of resources and common interests, the people themselves must want to be there and be a member of the community system (Homan, 2011, p. 363 -365). Photo by Kate Murphy

Photo by Hailey Thomassen Just as hospice workers, “help the dying focus on the transition ahead, and encourage them to see what their life has taught them—what wisdom and values shine clearly now that the distractions are gone” (p. Wheatley & Frieze, 2012, p. 11) human services influences communities by the way we use a forward moving focus. As stated in standard 19 the belief that “individuals, services systems, and society can change” (CSHSE, National Standards, 2010). It is important to keep our history in mind, and reflect on our mistakes, but most importantly “choose to act” (Wheatley & Frieze, 2012, p. 234).

LEARNINIG OUTCOME: Analyze the systemic issues related to culture, diversity, and social class in the context of community systems.

Photo by Colin Brooks “To name is to make visible” (Wheatley & Frieze, 2012, p. 31). In order to fully appreciate and take issues into consideration, we must acknowledge our own privileges and how they play a role when interacting with others within our system. Last quarter we discussed the topic of rankism, and similar to last quarter avoiding the topic is as good as doing nothing; “if we are silent on the subject of oppression, we become its partner” (Wheatley & Frieze, 2012, p. 31).

Courtesy of Google Images We are all influenced greatly by “socially constructed patterns of beliefs, attitudes, and practices” (Sargent, 2009, p. 165) our entire life. By reflecting on our privileges, we are able to develop appreciation for the various types of diversity and seek out practice of cultural competence. We must be aware of our systems of influence. Our collection of assumptions (Wheatley & Frieze, 2012, p. 230) allows us to make sense of the world, but can also deter us from being able to delve into issues using a global perspective.

Photo by Colin Brooks As human services professionals, we must be aware that it is an issue to come in and try to “fix” an intimate place or situation or another. We are at great risk of falling into the ignorance and blindness of culture, uniqueness, and history, it is important that the community “[discovers] its own path” (Wheatley & Frieze, 2012, p. 93). Similar to Alinsky’s teachings, we can’t fully understand a community system until we are completely enveloped; “engaged in relationships, noticing possibilities” (Wheatley & Frieze, 2012, p. 98).

Courtesy of Google Images As our communities adapt, the physical space adapts with us. What we see “physically around us affects how we interact (or don’t) within our communities” (Kincaid, 2013). Our spaces have been built according to the needs of the time, “uniqueness of place” only knowing and feeling what has happened back then and now by truly living there.

Unrelated Learning From This Quarter Through our studies and text book travels around the world, different cultural values and “translocal learning” bring new insights and views into perspective. Our transactional society is magnified by the experiences and learning that took place while considering a global system perspective.

Time and time again, we read passages about what systems are healthy and which are unhealthy, the examples from this quarter’s reading highlight the outrageously obscured viewpoint of the individualistic United States. Our actions, our constant need to negotiate, even our vocabulary reflects our selfish cultural foundation. Our systems lure us in and enforce the transactional culture. In order to ask someone for a favor the pressure of self-interest and a “what's in it for me? " (Wheatley & Frieze, 2012, p. 154) mentality continuously looms over our course of action. Before beginning this course, I tended to believe that the human services community was fairly safe from these thoughts. But even if the human services profession swings more in the direction of being driven by communal happiness than some other fields, there is still the focus on money and the need to be a constant hero which can be barriers to becoming a purely gifting culture.

Photo by Colin Brooks I will close with goals I have set for myself this next quarter: • Watch out for heroism, as good as it feels to be essential to the organization, it is crucial to seek out maximum capital of communal resources. • Reflect on the ways that negotiation and bribery run our daily lives, and point them out when possible. • Build off of each other in the talents and skills we can offer, and appreciate how it has offered strength to the system as a whole, rather than from a personal level.

References Council for Standards in Human Service Education. (2010). CSHSE, National standards. Retrieved from http: //www. cshse. org/standards. html Ecological Options Network [Eon 3]. (2008, January 18). Ecotopia or bust- Ernest Callenbach [Video file]. Retrieved from http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=pcz. XBYJuab 0 Eichler, M. (2007). Consensus organizing: Building communities of mutual self-interest. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE. Homan, M. S. (2011). Promoting community change: Making it happen in the real world (5 th ed. ). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole. Kincaid, S. O. (2009). Defining human services: A discourse analysis. Human Service Education: A Journal of the National Organization for Human Services, 29 (1), pp. 14 -24. Oshry, B. (2007). Seeing systems: Unlocking the mysteries of organizational life (2 nd Ed. ). San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Sargent, L. T. (2006). Contemporary political ideologies: A comparative analysis (14 th ed. ). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning. Spartacus Educational Publishers Ltd (n. d. ). Studs Terkel. Retrieved from http: //www. spartacus. schoolnet. co. uk/USAterkel. htm The Catholic Worker Movement (n. d. ). Dorothy Day library. Retrieved from http: //www. catholicworker. org/dorothyday/index. cfm Wagner, D. (1989). Radical movements in the social services: A theoretical framework. Social Service Review , 63 (2), pp. 264 -284. Wheatley, M. & Frieze, D. (2011). Walk out walk on: A learning journey into communities daring to live the future now. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler.

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The End… Now, to take ACTION. Photo by Colin Brooks