Community in Focus
Radical Hope: Creating Community Beyond Capitalism
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Charlotte Kunkel, Scott Hurley
While climate change has centered attention on impending challenges for our planet's future, we focus on consumer capitalist practice as cause of climate catastrophes and its adverse impact on sensitive ecosystems, nonhuman animals, and marginalized human beings. Feminist and Marxist critiques of white supremacy, heteronormativity, essentialism, biologism, and religious dogma are deeply connected to critiques of capitalism. Inequality is inherent to capitalist endeavors, thus we discuss how we might resist the increasing disconnection, alienation, and individualism caused by consumptive capitalist praxis/habitus to create regenerative community—that is adaptive and life-giving. When considering the details of what such communities look like we reach into the imaginary, recognizing that such community is very different from what has heretofore been conceived. While important connections are made with past ways of living that were regenerative (indigenous communities) and turn to exceptional communities in our present (Plum Village) that advocate for non-exploitative and non-oppressive ways for beings to live together (interbeing), nevertheless these fall short. So we imagine what community-sans-capitalism might look like. In so doing, we embrace radical hope; that is, hope that points to a future ideal, goodness, way of living in community, but without concepts/frameworks with which to completely understand it. What strategies can we employ to create community in increasingly disparate (and desperate) lives? How can we establish social systems that posit diversity as necessity for future community and survival? How can we develop healthy communities that are adaptive, encompass the goals of synergy, collaboration, open source dynamic responsive and emergent mutualism?
Social Services Practice Strategies in Emergencies: Building Sustainability through Community-based Resilience Initiatives
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Shamette Hepburn, Mary Goitom
The impact of environmental and health shocks is first felt first by those on the front lines such as social services providers and the vulnerable communities they support. Thus, local disaster risk-reduction strategies are essential for resilience-building in community-based organizations and their local networks. This paper presents findings of a collaborative research study of 20 front-line staff who provide social services at a Toronto-based agency. Utilizing a survey and in-depth interviews, the project explored disaster preparedness and how social service provisions to vulnerable communities are implemented in emergencies. Conceptually, a Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) logic and a resilience lens were utilized to examine the agency’s capacity for developing sustainable partnerships with vulnerable communities, as framed by SDG 11—Sustainable Cities and (Inclusive and Resilient) Communities, and SDG 17—Sustainable Partnerships. Findings point to the need for organizations to utilize multi-hazard approaches and principles that are focused on assembling resources for communities, enhancing practical problem-solving skills, managing stress, and collaborating with communities to build social networks that can be engaged to build resilience locally during and after emergencies. To this end, and from a practice context, the paper advances the utilization of urban community-based resilience initiatives (CRIs), which are an ad hoc, temporary hybrid form of participation focused on service and civic activities and represent the highest level of citizen power. CRIs draw on existing community resources and organic leadership within vulnerable communities to build grassroots governance strategies that can collaboratively identify and attend to the needs of communities in emergencies.
Addressing Challenges of Community Representation to Create Sustainable Community Plans
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Ramona Madhosingh-Hector
In the current global context of sustainability and climate change, local governments and their community partners have a duty to create a culture of equity and inclusion for under-represented residents and support a work culture that promotes responsiveness in these areas. Even more important is the development of community plans that include diverse perspectives to support attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals. Extension faculty undertook training for internal staff using resources from USDN, ICLEI, and USGBC LEED to promote education on resiliency, support baseline data collection activities, and foster a culture shift. Faculty also designed and facilitated community meetings to collect input for the development of sustainability and climate action plans. These community meetings were conducted in-person, and virtually, and complemented by online survey tools. Meetings were offered in Spanish (minority language) at neighborhood centers, and included childcare, food, and bilingual materials. In some instances, a paid community champion helped to recruit Spanish-speaking participants to support a holistic community approach. By using a community-centric approach in plan and strategy development, local governments increase community “buy-in” and experience less financial push-back to support implementation strategies. This deliberate participatory approach attracts diverse sectors of the community, demonstrates a commitment to inclusive community engagement, and informs long-term, equitable, community-oriented solutions. The insights gained from this work will be invaluable in other projects and offers a blueprint for replicating similar projects in other communities.
