Community Building

Community building to me must begin with an active community that wants to better the area that they live in. A community can be defines as individuals within the same regional area such as a neighborhood or a sub-division (for those living in the suburbs), sharing a common interest. Communities can also exist among religious groups, and social classes, etc. The goal of community building is improving the area. Reducing crime is an important element many communities strive to achieve. People want others to move into their communities to stimulate that area. Also improving schools or adding schools within a community is an important aspect of community building. The key to community is working with the others that live within that area to improve the basic living needs for that area. Community building requires the ideas and voices of the residents, because they are the ones that know what needs to be addressed with priority and what can wait to be improved. It also requires action, from the residents, without them it won’t get accomplished.

A community building organization that is currently active is Imagine Chicago. Imagine Chicago has been actively working since 1992. “Imagine Chicago helps harness imagination for public good, encouraging and equipping people to become engaged in imagining and creating hopeful futures for their families and communities through both discourse and action.” Imagine Chicago was started by a woman, who previously was a banker at First Chicago, an Episcopal priest in an African American parish, the mother of three young children and active on many civic boards. Like many of Community organizations, they are begun by an ordinary citizen who wants to see change within their residential area. For more information on Imagine Chicago, view their website at http://imaginechicago.org/who.html.