Chapter Twelve: Competing Perspectives - Preparing for the Future
Conclusion"[Trinity Court and Pritchard Park] have had a history of having some success as a community. It's just been a long time. Their biggest need is leadership."
-Service Provider
As mentioned in Chapter Twelve: Competing Perspectives - Preparing for the Future, the needs of Trinity Court and Pritchard Park residents are at times quite different from what service providers interpret them to be. We also know from previous chapters that both Trinity Court and Pritchard Park have strong assets and resources, including the Family Resource Center (FRC), individuals who have taken on leadership roles, the children, and a strong sense of community. These resources are the building blocks for community action. Barriers to action, past examples of community involvement, and the communities' potential for action in the future are evaluated in this chapter.
It is not difficult to identify multiple reasons why Trinity Court and Pritchard Park residents do not become more involved in community action. Perhaps by analyzing some of the barriers which prevent them from becoming involved in community efforts, Trinity Court and Pritchard Park residents will be better able to overcome the obstacles.
Apathy. The reality is that many public housing residents aspire to leave public housing and view their housing assignments as temporary arrangements. Residents in these two communities are particularly eager to leave public housing because Trinity Court and Pritchard Park are considered the two worst housing communities in Chapel Hill. Therefore, some residents simply do not feel much investment in their communities.
Residents have also become accustomed to being told by service providers what they need (Chapter Twelve: Competing Perspectives - Preparing for the Future). Therefore, they have grown to expect that the concerns they identify themselves will be ignored or unheeded by service providers. "It's just gotten to the point where they haven't been involved, [so now] it's hard for them to get involved," a service provider acknowledged. Community members and providers have fallen into a cycle of "top-down" service delivery, where concerns are identified and addressed by individuals who may not be intimately familiar with the felt needs of the community. As one service provider said, "People don't participate anymore because they don't believe that our programs are designed to do what they want done. People are not used to being a part of the decision making process." Additionally, when residents do not attend programs and activities provided by outside agents, they often hurt their chances of receiving services in the future. "If they don't have that number of people, [providers] can't justify coming out anymore," explained a service provider. "So even if there's one person [using the service], it's like it doesn't even make a difference if they don't have those other people come out."
Other Priorities. Most barriers to action are due, in fact, to factors that are more complicated than just apathy. For many residents, their own basic requirements and the basic requirements of their immediate families simply take priority over the needs of their community as a whole. When finding employment or child care are one's top priority, the rewards are often not great enough to encourage residents to become involved as a volunteer to serve the communities. Also, many Trinity Court and Pritchard Park residents are quite young, which can be a strength as well as a weakness to community action. "It's such a young community," a service provider stated. "Sometimes friends and hanging out and other things like that come before their responsibilities." For example, getting a Graduate Equivalency Diploma (GED) "takes time. It takes planning. You have to be dedicated to it, and [some residents] don't have that dedication."
Fear of Consequences. Those residents who do feel a connection to Trinity Court and Pritchard Park, may still be reluctant to take charge in their communities for fear of being labeled a troublemaker by service providers, especially the Housing Department. From providers' perspective, community members who could provide very strong leadership for the entire community have not taken on those responsibilities. Although residents and service providers can name community members who are capable leaders, a provider said, "We don't really have anybody who's willing to take a stand in the community right now." Even when the opportunity for involvement has been made available, no residents from the communities have taken the lead. Other public housing communities establish resident boards, which consist entirely of residents. Trinity Court and Pritchard Park residents have not taken advantage of this opportunity.
Trinity Court and Pritchard Park Division. The division between Trinity Court and Pritchard Park also discourages community action. "You're not going to get a lot of participation out of neither one of these communities," a Pritchard Park resident said, "because of the simple fact [that] we don't want to go down there, they don't want to come up here."
Despite the many barriers to resident involvement, members of the Trinity Court and Pritchard Park communities have joined together and created positive change for their communities in the past. Ms. Pat Davis. Two service providers mentioned Ms. Pat Davis as a resident who impacted Trinity Court very positively during the mid-1990s, when crime and drugs were at their peak. "Pat Davis used to sort of run the [Family Resource Center] down there and was responsible for organizing the community," one of the providers told us. "That time [the residents] were very successful. She had a positive leadership style and was really a part of the community. In those days, [the residents] really did seem to stay together. Even after one particular issue seemed to be resolved, they'd move on." Sadly, Ms. Davis passed away shortly after rising into a leadership position in Trinity Court community.
Parent Support Group. The Parent Support Group, which met on a weekly basis while the FRC was open, has also successfully filled a need felt by community members. The Group, described in detail in Chapter Nine: The Family Resource Center, "has acted as a go-between among the residents," according to one service provider. "There is a core group of people who...spread the word and help to do things in the community," a service provider said. Providers and residents identify the Parent Support Group as a model program. "Hopefully seeing them will bring other people into the FRC and encourage other people to join that group of friends. Maybe they'll build a respect for each other," a service provider said. The same provider said, "The Parent Support Group...is the longest running program since I've been here. I don't know if it's just that the parents are at a different place in their lives or [the Group is] something to look forward to, but it's working. I don't know why it's working, but it's working."
Family Resource Center Board and Volunteer Staff. Community members identify the FRC as a strong asset to Trinity Court and Pritchard Park. In January, the threat of the Center's closure loomed after a shift in staffing. In response, several dedicated residents stepped forward on behalf of both communities and volunteered to staff the FRC in order to keep it open for all residents.
Community Speak Out. Our community diagnosis team facilitated a community forum entitled, "The Trinity Court and Pritchard Park Community Speak Out" on Saturday, March 20, 1999. More than twenty-five community members and three service providers were present for the Community Speak Out (Appendix E). The team relied on input and advice from community members and service providers while planning the Speak Out, and credit them for a spirited discussion that day.
The event began with a presentation of our findings from interviews with service providers and residents, as well as a summary of secondary data discussed earlier in this document. However, the majority of the Speak Out was spent in open discussion among participants. We encouraged the residents to lead their own discussion, while team members simply acted as facilitators by taking notes and ensuring participants had an equal opportunity to be heard. The forum was an opportunity for residents who previously may not have spoken so openly, to share their observations and brainstorm possible solutions for the challenges faced by members of their communities. Issues of concern and proposed resolutions are included in the minutes from the forum, which are found in Appendix E. We are optimistic that the discussion sparked by the Speak Out will generate future involvement.
All indications suggest that Trinity Court and Pritchard Park residents are fully capable of community action in the future. "The fact that there's a fairly strong proportion of youth there gives [these communities] some energy," a service provider observed. "That energy isn't always channeled real well, or even supported." However, providers and residents agree that the potential for positive action exists. "I think there's interest in the children, and that's a strength. With some help that could be used very positively," another provider stated.
Empowerment. Clearly, Trinity Court and Pritchard Park residents have been actively involved in community efforts in the past and are capable of generating positive growth. Putting that ability into action requires empowering and organizing residents. According to community organizing authority Nina Wallerstein (1992), empowerment refers to "a social-action process that promotes participation of people, organizations, and communities toward the goals of increased individual and community control, political efficacy, improved quality of community life, and social justice." In some cases, creating a safe and encouraging environment and opportunities for free expression such as the Community Speak Out, are the first step towards empowering a community. A resident said, "I wish more people would speak up. People don't because they don't think it'll help. They won't do anything. I guess they don't care." Showing community members that they possess the skills and resources to produce positive change must be done to remove barriers to community action and empower residents.
Community Organization. According to Meredith Minkler and Nina Wallerstein (1997), "Strict definitions of community organization...suggest that the needs or problems around which community groups are organized must of necessity be identified by the community itself, not by an outside organization or change agent." A service provider said, "Although it's often been around a negative issue, that the community can band around an issue. I've seen some of that community building kinds of things, community organizing." Another provider also noted, "There's often agreement among residents about what they feel about [an issue], and they'll come together and try to get some changes. I've seen sort of a rallying of ideas. They've done that about things like the fence....They got the whole community together and had a meeting. At least there was an exchange; there was a dialogue." "[Trinity Court and Pritchard Park residents] have had a history of having some success as a community. It's just been a long time. Their biggest need is leadership."
Units of Change. According to Steckler, Dawson, Israel, and Eng (1993), "units of identity" are "natural groups that people form for themselves to organize their relationships and identity with other people." Trinity Court and Pritchard Park are themselves two distinct units of identity according to this definition. Families, neighbors, and social groups among the residents of these two public housing communities also form informal support groups or units of identity, which make community action possible. Equally important to the function of these communities are their "units of solution," which are defined as "aggregates of two or more units of identity that must pool their resources, mediate with the wider society for additional resources, or do both." The Trinity Court and Pritchard Park Family Resource Center and the many resident groups organized within these two communities can certainly be considered "units of solution," (Steckler, et al., 1993).
When they do make the effort to be involved, residents need to see their energy rewarded. Sustaining the momentum of community action can be difficult, but an empowered community will have the skills to see thoughts and aspirations put into action. Residents of Trinity Court and Pritchard Park should realize that they will always be more knowledgeable about the needs and priorities of their own communities than any outside provider. Therefore, strong leadership from within the communities must be nurtured to overcome the barriers to resident involvement and effect change. Trinity Court and Pritchard Park residents should also recognize that the necessary resources for community action exist within their communities. These resources can be even more effective if residents members from both communities organize together. Trinity Court and Pritchard Park, while maintaining independent identities and advocating for the needs of their own communities, could come together to produce a stronger voice and a greater "critical mass." Finally, service providers and residents should realize that while the number of active members in a community makes a difference, when it comes to community organizing, the strength of those who lead the community is most important.
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