Holding Ground and DSNI !

After reading about DSNI and spending time on their website in coordination with watching the Holding Ground video has given me a different look at macro practice. It shows a different perspective of making a difference in a community that seems more close to home and more reachable. It was nice to read and watch information about communities that seem like they could be in my home town or I can relate to. It makes learning about macro work that much more enjoyable.

The video Holding Ground video is a basic overview that's inspiring for the work with communities in need of assistance. The video focuses on a community that was slowly turning into a poor neighborhood. The quality of the community was declining, rather than inclining like most communities that change do. This movie really showed the struggles faced in trying to improve the situation of the community and really portrayed how easy it is with cooperative people to help. The citizens were willing to do anything to improve their living situations and better the sense of community they had. This community had become a dumping ground of trash and false hopes. It really showed how financial, mental and physical supports are needed in order to improve the situation of everyone involved. A large struggle was ensuring to keep the interests of the long term residents, as said in Fraser and Kicks article which surrounds the struggles of rebuilding the community it says, "Another more commonly recognized danger of community building is that it can lead to gentrification and displacement of long-time residents." Which is true and something that became new to me as a macro social worker because you have to make sure all key pieces of a community are in place before rebuilding.

The issue of diversity also comes into play in this video because of the population of Cape Verdean, Spanish and African American community members. They faced the struggle of discrimination and people not wanting to sell houses to them. It is important as macro social workers to embrace the diversity of others. In one article it discusses the boundaries of working with communities and the appropriate ways to deal with them, "on going community-based efforts to develop a coordinated community response system that is responsive to the cultural, linguistic, ethnic, and religious diversity of the community." This shows that the response to community interventions has to relate to the diversity of the community. This is a huge key in my understanding and learning.

When reading about DSNI it was inspiring to see a community project geared towards bettering youth. I love projects like this and being a part of them because it's continuously working towards a goal. The website was very well put together and what I loved most is that it was approachable. It made it seem that anybody could help the community or anybody that needed help could be helped. I feel being approachable is the biggest thing when working with communities. In the Netting chapter in the introduction it talks about communities and how we should talk to the communities and relate to them as social workers we cannot separate ourselves but becoming an equal within the community to help it best.



References

Netting, F. E., Kettner, P. M., McMurtry, S. L., & Thomas, M. L. (n.d.). Social Work Macro Practice (5th ed.).

Fraser, J., & Kick, E. (2005). Understanding Community Building in Urban America. Journal of Poverty, 9(1), 23-44.

Horton, M., & Freire, P. (2003). We Make the Road by Walking (pp. iii-256). Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.