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NCLB Implementation guide

Community Mobilization

Overview
Social mobilization is one of the core components the NCLB uses for community engagement towards positive change. Staff from the CHRC mobilizes the community towards achieving the objectives of the proposed process. Community mobilization is the CHRC’s main area of expertise and is an ongoing process of building stakeholder commitment to the revitalization of the neighbourhood.

Vision
Apart from bringing the community together to work on and implement the No Community Left Behind process, community mobilization is most effective in situations in which community complaints are ignored by certain  departments or agencies regarding some issue, thinking why bother when there are others to address it? Such situations warrant a community mobilization strategy. The solution in such situations is to bring out community members to voice their concerns and demand changes that positively affect their community.

The success of the NCLB process depends in part on the ability to successfully mobilize stakeholders to support the local strategy as well as its goals and objectives. Mobilizing community members is an empowering process that often results in an increase in the number of community leaders, a clear vision of what the community would look like and an increase in community members’ responsibility for the positive community changes.

As previously mentioned, NCLB is not a one-time project; rather, it is a comprehensive strategy that brings all stakeholders in a community together to effect change. There could be many issues, which are defined as a problem, that can be solved through the collective persistence and responsibility of community stakeholders. Community mobilization brings together interested stakeholders who develop viable solutions to problems — in itself, it is not the solution to problems.

The process of community mobilization can have many positive outcomes. When executed correctly, community mobilization can help build a community in ways that building new structures or refurbishing old ones never can. Healthy communities begin with the community members who live in them. Empowering these individuals to engage in the rebuilding of their neighbourhoods is a critical step in promoting healthy communities. In addition to empowering community members, community mobilization processes helps create a vision for the community that serves to focus community members’ energies. Again, one of the challenges of distressed communities is that they often have no vision. As a result, resources may be redirected to other communities that are mobilized and articulate their requirements for further development/redevelopment.

In addition to empowering community members and helping create a vision for the community, community mobilization has another positive impact: increased capacity for sound decision-making by community members as well as community-based organizations. Community mobilization has some profound effects not only on the community members but also on the other stakeholders (public and private) who are serving the community.

Implementation Process

Community mobilization actually starts when someone in the community expresses concerns over social problems and makes others think that conditions might warrant some remedial action. These concerns are conveyed to various stakeholders and meetings are held to discuss how the issue could be addressed.

This is how the community mobilization process begins. Community mobilization is an important element of community organizing. It focuses on bringing together community members and other stakeholders to take collective and strategic action for change in the community. Community organizing generally is viewed as the broader process that is focused on a particular issue to promote change. Community mobilization may be one of the tactics used to help facilitate action. Both community organizing and community mobilization are ongoing, long-term processes.

The ability to mobilize community members and other stakeholders at the onset of the NCLB process is critical; however, the work does not end when the communities are designated as a NCLB site. In fact, the work is only beginning. Many community members of distressed communities have become disenfranchised after many years of watching programs start and stop, with no permanent change resulting from them. Feelings of hopelessness are common in these communities, so the community representatives will have some major challenges to overcome before the strategy can be implemented.

In developing an implementation plan for community mobilization, there are several critical steps to follow.

Step 1:         Securing Resident Commitment and Involvement

Community mobilization is about enlisting community members to become engaged and involved in and accountable for the planned changes that result from the No Community Left Behind strategy. A good indication of resident commitment to the NCLB process is the extent to which community members participate on the Steering Committee and subcommittees and their awareness of and interest in their neighbourhood.

The crucial questions are: How many community members turned out for the initial meeting to introduce the NCLB process? Do community members attend other functions that focus on conditions in the community? Are community members involved in discussions about the changes they are prepared to make for their community? Are community members volunteering their time to help to the extent they can? Who are these community members? Seniors? Working adults? Youth? Before a community can begin to create a new vision, it needs to recognize itself as a community.

The CHRC may not receive an overwhelming level of support at the beginning. Many community members take a wait-and-see approach to new initiatives; the NCLB process is not any different. What is important is to determine if there is some level of commitment and involvement.

The most important hurdle to overcome is the number of naysayers in the community. Generating resident commitment and involvement is key. Respective CHRCs begin by looking toward the community leaders on the Steering Committee. The community leaders often have a level of respect in their communities and some type of community following. These leaders help in recruiting community members to attend community meetings to:

•  Provide information on No Community Left Behind strategy;
•  Discuss how community members can become involved in the No Community Left Behind strategy;
•  Explore what community members perceive are the critical problems affecting their neighbourhoods (this information is vital to the community assessment part of the process);
•  Engage community members in discussions about how problems can be solved and how they can be involved in implementing the solutions.

Positioning resident leaders to help facilitate these types of meetings helps to build trust in the community relative to implementing the No Community Left Behind strategy.

Step 2:         Encouraging Community Members to Help Provide Community Focus

One of the important steps that must be completed is a community assessment. Historically, needs assessments focused primarily on the needs or problems of the community with the expectation that the resources to solve those problems would come from the outside. As a result, community members were viewed not as contributors to the growth of their community but as recipients of the various programs and services offered to solve the problems. Unfortunately, this proved to be a flawed way to examine a community. Through a neighbourhood assessment, the current focus is to identify all the assets of the community, including the skills of the community members and their interest in the neighbourhood. The steps involved in conducting a community assessment are identified in Phase 4; however, it is important to stress that the focal point of the process is to identify public issues and challenges and the available resources.

One of the advantages to the community assessment is that it serves as an important tool to help community members learn more about their community. The goal is to get community members to articulate their needs as well as contribute their skills toward changing the community. By getting community members to help decide on the changes required, the community mobilization process helps expand the base of informed resident leaders.

The CHRC uses several ways to mobilize community members for this task, including the following:

• Encouraging participation in existing events such as school fairs, community festivals and block parties, by providing literature on the NCLB process and by disseminating surveys;

• Coordinating with area faith-based institutions to include information in their weekly bulletins, and providing brief presentations during services.

When community members see that the NCLB focus is consistent with their own perceptions of their neighbourhood, they are more likely to participate in its activities.

Step 3:         Building Community Networks

In every community, there are both informal and formal networks that connect community members and other stakeholders. Formal networks include tenants or other neighbourhood associations. Informal networks include families who have lived in the same community for years and have been appointed as the neighbourhood spokespersons. Other networks include social clubs and business associations.

These networks are important to community mobilization because they represent a significant source to target to gain support for the No Community Left Behind process. In fact, in some communities, new efforts die quickly if they do not go through at least one of these networks. Taking stock of these networks helps determine what issues they may have about the NCLB process.

Participating organizations and agencies examine the composition of their Steering Committee to determine whether these networks are adequately represented. One of the advantages these networks have is that the individuals involved feel connected to the network’s cause. Whether or not the networks are associated with community change is irrelevant. People support initiatives in which their friends and colleagues are involved; therefore, recognizing these networks as an important resource is a significant step in moving forward with the community mobilization efforts.

Step 4:         Creating Resident-Led Leadership Structures

Resident-led entities, a subset of community networks, serve as ideal resources to help identify key leaders with critical leadership skills in the community. Individuals who are leading or have led organizations such as Tenants’ associations or resident councils are strong candidates to help lead community mobilization efforts behind the  No Community Left Behind process. This is the point where the CHRC and other partners link up their existing programs for leadership development in the community to the No Community Left Behind process.

Typically, these leaders are concerned citizens who have the ability to bring community members together for a common cause, such as public housing improvements, affordable housing or public safety. If the cause is related to promoting some type of positive change in the community, these leaders must be a part of the community mobilization efforts.

Step 5:         Leveraging Internal and External Resources

Community transformation requires that resources both internal and external to a community be identified and incorporated into a strategy for change. This is the fundamental principle behind the No Community Left Behind process. Community mobilization is not only about mobilizing people, it is about mobilizing all types of resources, of which people are key.

Step 6:         Creating Additional Communication Vehicles

Community mobilization cannot succeed without strong communications. How the vision, issues and opportunities are communicated to people influences the success of the mobilization effort. All forms of communication from the CHRC should consider the local languages and dialects. Not every pamphlet needs to be written in street language and translated in three or four languages, but documents (newsletters, fliers) should be developed in languages and at a reading level that communicate the NCLB effort to most of the community.

More Community Mobilization Tactics
Community mobilization is one of the hardest tasks associated with No Community Left Behind process. As a new initiative in the community, the No Community Left Behind process has to win the confidence of community members before the CHRC secures their support. This takes time, but it can be done.

Examples of these tactics include

•  Door-to-door campaigns,
•  In-house (community centre, etc.) coffees,
•  Street fairs and festivals,
•  Community rallies,
•  Promotional materials that highlight the NCLB process.
•  Dissemination of fliers in public facilities,
•  Dissemination of fliers at other events in or near the designated community,
•  Church-based functions such as revivals, church meetings and concerts.

Community mobilization is an important tool for successfully implementing the local No Community Left Behind strategy. As the Steering Committee develops the goals and objectives, the CHRC makes sure it considers how community mobilization tactics continue to identify and generate additional resident support. Specifying separate action steps designed to build community support goes a long way toward ensuring the acceptance and integration of the No Community Left Behind process into the neighbourhood.

To assess the success of the mobilization process, the CHRC focuses on the following questions:

•  How is it communicating what the NCLB process is about to community members?
•  Did it get feedback from community members regarding the effectiveness of the message?
•  Has it leveraged the relationships of key leaders in the community to help promote the process?
•  Has it asked around to find out why people are not interested in the No Community Left Behind process?
•  Are there other issues confronting the community that it is not addressing?
•  Are the events it is hosting offered at convenient days, times and locations for community members?
•  Is it expecting too much community participation too soon?

Although these are tough questions, the answers provide a clearer sense of what needs to be modified to generate the level of desired support. Although the CHRC and its partners may get some level of resident involvement, community members’ top priority often is to support their households. Therefore, encouraging people to stay connected even if they can devote only a few hours to the NCLB process effort is  key. Every bit of resident involvement helps.

Critical assumptions
As the CHRC implements a community mobilization plan, participation by community members may remain low. Community mobilization requires community trust, which takes time and patience. The following are major implementation issues that are addressed over time:

Issue: No one shows up for meetings.
Possible solutions: Review the days, times and locations for meetings. Are they convenient for community members?

Poll some of the community members who attended past meetings. Have people expressed concerns about the meetings and their structure or content?

Issue: One representative attempts to speak for the entire community.
Possible solutions: Seeking out other leaders from faith-based institutions, schools and local neighbourhood associations. Talking with senior community members to learn more about the history of the community to help identify community members who have longstanding credibility but may not be active at this time. These individuals may be a guide to the engagement of additional community leaders.

 

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© 2005-15 South - East Ottawa Community Health Centre
Centre de Sante Communautaire du Sud Est D'Ottawa

Contact: Abid Jan Tel./ Tél: (613) 737-5115 Ext. 2403  Fax/Télé: (613) 739-8199

NCLB matters because neighbourhoods matter