Abstract: Understanding and Evaluating the Impact of Community Building: The Case of the Oaks (Society for Social Work and Research 22nd Annual Conference - Achieving Equal Opportunity, Equity, and Justice)

Schedule:

Sunday, January 14, 2018: 8:00 AM

Independence BR F (ML 4) (Marriott Marquis Washington DC)

* noted as presenting author

Shane Brady, PhD, Assistant Professor, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK

Background and Purpose:

This case study in community-engaged research focuses on the preliminary organizing process and outcomes related to a newly established community-based initiative known as the Southern Oaks Initiative (SOI), which was established by social work interns and local neighborhood anchor institutions with some involvement from neighborhood organizers and associations. The mission of SOI was to bring residents and institutions together in a diverse community in a medium sized urban city in the South Central region of the U.S. in order to promote community well-being, capacity, and positive youth development. One of the preliminary aims of the SOI was to foster a stronger awareness about local needs and challenges as well as a stronger connectedness and trust between community members, anchor institutions, and other local stakeholders in order to improve collaboration on current and new community-based projects and social change efforts.

Methods:

This case study is rooted in two years of quantitative and qualitative data collected using a community-engaged research approach. Data was collected from participant interviews, focus groups, observation, and community surveys. Data was collected from residents and partners from 4 diverse neighborhoods within one census tract. Data was collected from more than 30 institutional, community rooted groups, and stakeholders, along with data collected from more than 500 residents in order to understand how residents and partners each viewed their connectedness to the community and to the SOI collaboration effort. Semi-structured interviews, mapping, and surveys using the community connectedness scale were utilized.

Results:

Analysis of all data sources provided the following results related to community building as a process and outcome of community-engaged practice.

Qualitative interviews and focus groups illustrate three different levels of partners that vary in trust and connectedness with the community and among residents based on their level of involvement and visibility in the community.
Quantitative results taken from surveys of community partners using the Community Connectedness Scale illustrated statistically significant increases in community connectedness among all partners over the course of one year of working together.
residents felt an increased sense of community after participating in several community events.
Other results pointed to challenges in community building related to conflicts between partners over competing values, missions, resources, and credit for efforts.

Conclusions and Implications:

Implications point to community building as an ongoing process that is essential for building trust in community practice. Results point to the need to better understand what constitutes a partner in the context of a community-based initiative and the likelihood that partnership occurs along a continuum with some partners being more invested than others, which could mean different levels of connectedness to the collective work and community as a whole. Partners working more closely to a community based initiative will have stronger feelings of connectedness to the work than partners who are less involved, and will have greater trust among residents in the community.