two community and service hmw

Mini-Lecture for week 5

Course Outline--Week 5

BECOMING AN EFFECTIVE AND CARING VOLUNTEER--Continued from week 4

Mini-Lecture: Welcome to Week 5.

It is useful to use a social systems framework for understanding our community. When we do this we view a community as a social system composed of a number of subsystems (for example, neighborhoods or businesses or agencies existing in the same physical space and that are all linked together by some common goals). We can also look at a community as a subsystem of the state in which it is located. In addition, human beings are individual (not social) systems in their own right, but are also subsystems of their communities. We know from our experience that a community can further the growth and development of an individual or family, or it can limit or even destroy that subsystem’s progress. Consequently, it is important to understand that our community has had a rather profound effect on our personal development. So this week we also look at what influences have shaped our lives and helped us develop into the person we are today. A reflective look at ourselves is an assignment of significant importance.

It is understandable that people want to change some things about or in their community and can be referred to as "change agents". That term is a little impersonal for me. It's a pretty stiff and stoic term for what we may feel strongly on an emotional level. I want something more warm and fuzzy—like “the make a difference” person so I would like to "change" the term to "make a difference person".

In reality our volunteer work is an attempt to change something. Either making someone's life, or some piece of their life, or the life experience in our community better--to MAKE A DIFFERENCE. So volunteers (and others) become change agents. We may also endeavor to change entire community views on a particular topic or concern or we may want to change a condition or situation that exists in our community. So we begin the process. In some situations we can do it by direct contact--person to person. In some other situations (like broad community change) we have to have helpers and so we form coalitions with others who wish to see the same changes occur so that we can impact conditions that require multi-level or higher level change.

As “make a difference persons” we continually shift back and forth between attention to individuals, subsystems, and to the larger system (community or state, etc) of which they are a part. This ability to look at multi-levels sequentially and/or simultaneously is a hallmark of community change efforts. This becomes a pretty sophisticated process but one that we should not back away from because we may not know what to do right now to change things. We learn as we move forward and that is a very satisfying experience. Broad based community change takes a lot of effort and many people to eventually join in the movement. Often it moves slowly and sometimes almost seems to falter and fail. We must not lose hope when this happens. Most often, as Margaret Mead stated, it takes a small group of dedicated individuals who do not give up on their dream.

Please keep the idea of MAKING A DIFFERENCE in mind. Isn't that what most of us want to contribute--to make a difference in some way for some person, group of people, etc? I hope you never lose track of this. So we continue the focus on community and the effects of committed people who want to make a difference. In addition, the activities of this, and next week, include activities and assignments that help us focus on our own skills and approach to volunteering. While many of you have already begun your volunteer work, there is much to be learned from looking closely at ourselves and asking what characteristics, attitudes, and skills make our helping efforts most effective.

Now a brief look at the “Change Agent” idea. The make a difference person (change agent) is the person who undertakes to change the situation (for example, Trevor, in Pay it Forward). The approach also includes a category called the "client system" (such as an individual, family, group, organization, or community subsystem experiencing a problem) which becomes the focus of attention of the "make a difference person". Another entity in the approach is the "target system" this is the system we seek to change, the target of our intervention. Often the "client system" becomes the "target system". The action system includes all those who assist in bringing about change. This system is comprised of all those we solicit to help or those who volunteer to help us in our efforts.

So in the Pay it Forward assignment you are asked to work with this idea. Identifying the helping process in terms of systems interacting with systems is a helpful way to keep our helping efforts organized and describes the process so we--and others--can understand it easier.

The 5 concepts of the Course Perspective are really important as we look at our volunteer work and relate it to the community as a whole.. Hopefully all of us will begin to see the real existence and application of those concepts in producing stronger, more productive, and happier people, families, and communities. If we can see how important it is to have these concepts as operating principles in families and communities then we must think of ways that we can help others recognize their value and put them into the activities of their daily lives as well.

While we may recognize the significant value of these concepts operating in our world, we have, for the most part been raised to be independent, self sufficient and to manage our own lives "without" much help from others. There is nothing at all wrong with this approach. In fact, it is an essential factor in fostering true interdependence. Unless we have strong people we cannot activate the concept of interdependence effectively.

As an example, consider a marriage relationship or other intimate relationship where people become interrelated, interconnected and interdependent and implement reciprocity and transactions. If one of both of the partners is strongly dependent how strong will the marriage be? Dependency relies on others to take care of us and replace what is missing or not yet developed in our own personalities. If we are mostly dependent on others how and what can we contribute to the strength of the marriage or relationship? Consequently, the strongest marriages are those where both partners are strongly independent and capable of conducting life on their own. They come together intentionally to form a family. They "choose" to share life with someone else. They "choose" to be vulnerable and open and let another into their most private selves and the 5 concepts become part of their lives together. Does this mean there are not problems dealing with such independent personalities--no, however, the strength that the two bring to the relationship is the stuff that strong families need to build and grow and flourish.

Consider the alternative. Two very dependent people find commonality in their dependency and are attracted to one another because they "have so much in common" ie., their ineffective dependency on each other. They see each other as understanding, caring, sensitive to each other's needs, however, they are so dependent upon the other that they have little strength to build upon. Neither can meet the needs of the other and neither is able to begin to meet their own needs. What is present is the mutual dependency which is weak and demanding and places high expectations on the other. They "lean" heavily on each other and eventually the relationship collapses. The moral of this story is simple. Be grateful for being raised to be independent and strong. You can then begin to learn how to become truly effective interdependently. Mutual interdependence does not--never has--meant total mutual dependency. Mutual interdependence is simply is a fact of life for everyone. It comes from a strength perspective and not a position of weakness. So much for that as a rationale for really "seeing" the 5 concepts and how they might operate to guide our thinking.

So, as you read and write this week's assignments please let me challenge you to reflect honestly and as completely as you can on what qualities an effective volunteer should possess, how to keep the course perspective in mind, and defining yourself to the degree that you can as a "make a difference person".

Activities will follow next week to help you to focus more on some of these. You may notice that there is not a set of readings this week. That is not an oversight. Readings will become fewer (but not disappear) over the remaining weeks of our time together and our focus will shift intentionally to the organization and process of looking at our volunteer activities and to begin the construction of the integrative paper and web site. So best wishes. Thanks

FAQs:

Volunteer Service Plan (when you start your volunteer work)

Weekly Activity Report (to report your volunteer hours at the end of the semester)

Important on-going tasks to keep in mind:

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Your volunteer activity

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Your Integrative Paper topic