Throughout this week's readings, a constant theme which prevailed was the importance of working together in a group to strive for change in the community. Well in similarities to working together in group, I found an article which demonstrated how four students at the Roosevelt High School in L.A., California wanted to fix an issue in their community and presented their work and tactics through mapping. The students presented their work based on important issues facing their community (Simon). As stated in the article, "The maps compared median household income and race to show segregation; the numbers of murals to the number of billboards; and where environmentally contaminated areas overlap with high density neighborhoods...All the students were told to map an environmental justice issue" (Simon).

Link: http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2013/11/26/community-activism-through-mapping/

In times of a natural disaster occurring, I feel as if collective action is the most prevalent in times like these. Despite that the contributions given to places whom were victims of a natural disaster, are individual, but people reunite and everyone collectively pitches in to help those in dire need. This is recently seen with the disaster which occurred in the Philippines. Medic from South Australia and other parts of the work are taking the initiative of going to the Philippines and aiding those who need assistance. The organization There For The Philippines was also started to help raise funds for the reconstruction of the lives of the Typhoon Haiyan victims. It is in times like these were collective action is seen, and people from all over the world unite in raising assistance, funds, organizations, and such in helping those whom have faced loosing everything.

link to the article:

http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/20076013/medics-fly-home-after-fortnight-helping-typhoon-haiyan-victims-in-philippines/

After reading this week's reading in regards to Powerful Planning, I disregarded the section which stated that planning was a waste of time, because even if it is, I always thought it to be VERY useful, especially which my short-memory. Therefore, I wanted to search for an article to give an example that such techniques, like brainstorming were very helpful when generalizing ideas, writing a paper, etc. During my search, however, to my surprise I was coming across articles which stated the exact OPPOSITE. In the article, Why Brainstorming Doesn't Improve Productivity or Creativity, written by Ray B. William, it states that brainstorming might not be the best technique to creating "varied ideas" (Williams). As stated in the article, "...brainstorming may not be the best strategy to generate unique and varied ideas... group brainstorming exercises can lead to fixation on only one idea or possibility, blocking out other ideas and possibilities, leading eventually to a conformity of ideas" (Williams).


link to article:

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/wired-success/201204/why-brainstorming-doesnt-improve-productivity-or-creativity

Throughout this weeks reading, the core issue spoken upon related to power, and the bases of power when working with people, the community, and the human service field. Therefore an example of civic engagement I wanted to share was one that touched upon the importance of maintaining power in the workplace. The article Power and Communication, it explains the importance for social workers to understand the levels of power, and the significance power beholds to the work of a social worker. Despite them feeling powerless at time, it is always important for social workers to understand the "power imbalances". As stated in the article, "It is important, therefore, for us as social workers to be highly sensitive to the complex dynamics of power relationships. We have to be able to recognize power imbalances where they exist, and learn how to act appropriately and confidently within them" (Power and Communication).

Link to article:

http://learntech.uwe.ac.uk/communicationskills/Default.aspx?pageid=1379

Throughout this week's readings the core issues related to the importance of taking action for community change as well as the importance of youth community activism and civic engagement in their communities. As seen in chapter 7 in the book Better Together, the importance of youth engaging in their community and the importance of being consistent and committed were strongly emphasized. Therefore, the article, The Importance of Youth Involvement in Community Activism and Volunteer Programs written by Timothy Higgins, JR, also relates to the readings in regards that it emphasizes the importance of children and teenagers beings involved through many ways in their community, starting at an early age, in order to develop further skills such as leadership, responsibilities, etc. in the future. As stated in the article, "By getting involved, young people not only directly help the group they work with, but they take a great deal from the experience as well. Young people can develop many skills which will help when job hunting later in life. These skills include communication skills, responsibility, and work experience...Young people will also see that they can make a difference and help to influence events in the community" (Higgins).


link to article:
http://www.junipercivic.com/juniperberryarticle.asp?nid=482

In connection to this week's reading, I decided to search for an article which spoke upon the status of the Saddleback Church, in present day, and how its community service and "civic efficacy" had progressed since it was written in Better Together. As stated by Rick Warren, an author and pastor at the Saddleback Church in California, in the article, Saddleback Church Fights Bad Economy With Free Community Services, "'We are serious about helping people through this recession...There are more people hurting today than ever during my 31 years as pastor in Orange County. We decided that we've got to step it up. We've got to go to another level of care and support"' (Murashko). As seen in this article, the initiative for improvement and change is still in effect, and their actions speak just as loud as what Warren preaches to his community.

Link to article:
http://www.christianpost.com/news/saddleback-church-fights-bad-economy-with-free-community-services-65361/

Relating to this weeks readings, in particular the chapter in Better Together, I sought to do a little bit of research on the status of Dudley Square today, since its its renewal in the 1980's. I found an article which related greatly to this weeks readings, and which I found interesting to find out that Dudley Square, today is in process of being "revived" once again. In the article, Pieces are being put in place for a Dudley Square revival, states thatthe city of boston are investing in a $115 million constructions, and as stated in the article, "City officials believe the Dudley Square area can accommodate up to 2.4 million square feet of new development - a huge influx of new homes, offices, and shops that will have a much deeper impact than 500 municipal employees could on their own" (McMorrow).

Link to this article:

http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2013/07/16/pieces-are-being-put-place-for-dudley-square-revival/Qd7bBQ0MrNgQ1eraIq7QcL/story.html

Touching upon similar key insights from this weeks readings, another million dollar lobbying has taken place in MA over the last six months. The gaming interests has spent over $1 million in MA in Casino lobbying to build casinos in the state, according to Bernstein from the Boston Daily.

Link to this article:
http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/blog/2013/07/23/million-in-casino-lobbying-massachusetts/

Relating to the chapter in Better Together, and how the Near North Branch Library was created to bridge communities together, bring together residents of two different neighborhoods who "had virtually no contact with one another", well that is exactly an example I wanted to share which i found very interesting, which takes place in my community as well. As i mentioned before, a new library is being built in East Boston and is announced to open in November 2013. However, the library was built in order to close down to smaller libraries, and the new library will serve as two operating branches (Swasey). As Thomas Menino states, "This state-of-the-art branch library will bring people together from across the neighborhood, providing not only a beautiful facility, but outstanding programs and resources for all East Boston residents" (Swasey).

Link to this article:

http://www.wbur.org/2012/04/25/new-east-boston-library

As I had mentioned on my reflection, which related to the readings as well, I mentioned about the ROCA nonprofit organization, which I am somewhat familiar with, which is located in Chelsea, MA these groups as wells as the groups mentioned in the readings all help the youth try to take them out the streets and have then engage civically in our community for our future. Recently, the City of Malden has expanded contributions to create partnerships with the ROCA from Chelsea as well, which is great because it demonstrates its interest in increasing awareness in youth participation in communities, and also in the cities interest in expanding such organization which are limited to only a couple of communities such as Chelsea.

Link to this article:
http://www.nobomagazine.com/2013/06/04/roca-city-of-malden-collaborate-to-expand-proven-intervention-model-for-high-risk-young-young/

An example of civic engagement which relates a bit to this week's reading is the donation of $3million which Bain Capital gave City Year to help the nonprofit group continue its services in helping schools from all over the world (Anderson). Over the years, City Year's members have worked and engaged in helping and supporting students in "high poverty public schools" to obtain an education. This relates to the article of the efforts the North Shore Community College in promoting their students to become civically engaged and also enhancing their development towards public and civic engagement.

link to this article:
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/09/17/bain-capital-pledges-million-gift-city-year/Skphi6t868fCFUSqP6jOgK/story.html

One example of civic engagement which i found interesting was the Muslim Youth Peace Rally, where 20 members of "Muslims for Peace" rallied together at the Boston common in order to try to make a difference and change some of the perceptions that have been created since the Islam's terrorists attacks. The group gathered together because since the incidents that has occurred over the last year with the incidents in London, the Boston Marathon Bombings, and other Terrorists attacks, they want to demonstrate that Muslims are harmless and want to be eliminated from the stereotype they are categorized under. As one of the speakers from the rally said they wanted was "to promote peace, to promote understanding, to promote brotherhood and sisterhood."

http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2013/08/muslims_rally_for_peace_and_understanding\