Epic Huggles

11/12 Reflection

I thought the nine different questions that we talked about were very interesting. The question that everyone in my group really emphasized on was "how to keep people involved and interested in the group." I think it is important because just from personal experiences, I'd much rather sit at home than going to a group meeting that I don't care much for their cause or if it is redundant with the issues that it is dealing with.
I enjoyed the guest speaker. It opened my eyes a little more to poverty. Poverty statistics have been thrown at me multiple times. There was not really anything he said that I have not heard. I realized how much I take my life for granted. People living on $2/week is an incredible fact. It would be so hard to do that here in the States. It would be living on the street and eat one meal the whole week.

November 12th Class Reflection

I certainly enjoyed class this past week.  The strategic planning exercise was interesting and made you think critically about a situation and the best means on approaching it through a community-based effort. Although I am still a little unsure about some of the various elements within the strategic planning process, the exercise allowed me to gain a better grasp of the whole picture and how each step is related to the next.  I also enjoy the guest speaker from Peacework.  I spent some time on their website after class and now have a much greater appreciation for the work they have done, are doing and will continue to do in the future it seems like.  It's a interesting idea that they serve as sort of a middleman, bringing problems and projects from desperate areas to unviersities that have the resources and motivation to solve them.  With the type of issues and countries Peacework works with, it reminds me of the work done by Frank McKinney's Caring House Foundation.  On spring break last year,  I lead of group of students on a Habitat for Hummanity alternative break trip to South Florida where we met Frank McKinney, a real estate tycoon in the area.  Long story short, he uses his wealth to build self-sustaining villages in the poorest countries around the world through what he calls the Caring House Foundation.  They address a wide range of issues when building these villages because Mr. McKinney is well aware you can't just give someone housing and expect their lives to turn around.  One day, I hope to be able to do work for some group like Peacework or Caring House Foundation. 

Strategic Planning Q. 1

Question 1: What are your issues?

We chose scenario number 3, in which residents of Blacksburg were unhappy with the sprawl development taking place and large-scale commercial centers coming to town.  The problem was obvious - citizens were unhappy with the type of growth.  But why?  What issues about the sprawl development and proposals for large-scale commercial center were citizens most concerned with?  After making a lengthy list of possible issues, we narrowed it down to two main issues we thought citizens would care most about: revitalizing existing business, particularly in the downtown district and controlling residential spawl development.

Reflecting on 11/12

I really enjoyed this last class. Mostly because of the our guest speaker, Steve, from Peacework (No offense Allie (sp?). You did a great job leading discussion). I have always been interested in improving/providing international health care and nutrition. Since taking International Development 1 year ago I have seen how development is so multifaceted and that development won't occur if we work on one problem at a time. Education, healthcare, jobs/economy, basic needs like food shelter and water, all effect eachother and often prevent successful development. I am so interested in the work that Steve and Peacework do because they try to work on more than just one facet of development. Partnering universities with villages is a great grassroots and symbiotic way to further the goals of development and the goals of a university setting. Wow, I can't say enough about what Peacework is doing. The rest of the class was neat. I think our strategic planning exercise could have been a lot better if we had more time to go over the questions and really provide feedback to one another. I'm actually a little nervous about what our guest will have to say about it!

Strategic Planning Q.8

What are you going to do next, after this meeting? And after that?

Between meetings, the leadership needs to be sure that tasks are being carried out, keeping in touch with members, and planning for the next meeting.  The most important thing though, is to continue to try and reduce the inevitable turnover that occurs in organizations.  Ways that can be done are through focal activities that reinforce the organizations cause, such as going to a Town Council or Planning Commission meeting that is discussing the issues we are concerned about, having a booth at Town events like Stepping Out or Gobblerfest, etc. The leaders also need to figure out who they are trying to target for support, like downtown business owners, residents of surrounding neighborhoods, etc. Other ways to try and reduce turnover is to delegate tasks to various members in the group, even if it is something small, that is a way to get even the most shy person involved.  In doing so, this creates and strengthens relationships between the members, thus creating a stronger, unified organization that has a clear direction and cause.

11/12 Reflection

Wednesday's class was a mix of a couple different things. As a group, we started to put together a strategic plan for our Blacksburg, "anti-"sprawl group.  I think it was somewhat hard for our group to separate the questions since there were more of us than questions, and because a lot of them were so interrelated that our ideas overlapped. However, it is a good idea at the same time to have overlapping ideas because that means we're all on the same page.  It will be interesting to see the final product and how it relates to our discussion next week.  After that, we had our blog group, in which we discussed why people do or don't get active in community activities/events.  I think this was an extremely relevant topic since most of us want to go into fields where public participation is key, and to try and understand the underlying reasons why people don't become active, and try to think of ways to reduce those feelings, etc it can only benefit the whole community.  Following that, we had a speaker from Peacework. I liked how he understood that he knows that they can't solve the world's poverty as a whole in one big swoop, but that going to individual locations and teaching people how to survive and come out of poverty is more vital to solving the underlying problems, not just giving people money. Taking their actions "one community as a time" shows a greater understanding of how the world works and how to try and solve systemic problems.

Strategic Plan; Question 4

The Blacksburg Town Council webpage would be good place to post a message about setting up a meeting to stop or reduce sprawl development in Blacksburg.  Another way would be actually attend one of the town council meetings, hand out flyers to people, get to know them, give them a little bit of information on the group, what the group is going to be about, and what their group is trying to accomplish.  Another way would be to get a list server of the Blacksburg town area and send out emails about the meetings, group, and their goals.  Within these notifications state the reasons for joining this group; would be to help stop development in Blacksburg area so we can keep this rural community setting.

11/12 Reflection

The guest speaker Steve on peace work really helped me understand some of it; I had heard of peace work before but really didn’t know what they were about.  The ability to connect on so many different levels is great because being able to use our students, faculty, and college to help others who need our resources.  My group mainly discussed that people have the desire to help a group but don’t because of certain issues.  A lot of people want to support a group that have the same desires as they do but don’t go out and support it because of laziness, feeling singled out, and feeling like the group is already established.  Also the strategic planning exercise went over really well with group, everybody discussed their individual questions and I think the document should come out good.

Discussion Q Nov. 12

A social problem that can be addressed through a community based organizing effort would be a factory that is polluting the water source for a community. An issue associated with this problem could be increased cancer rate among people drinking this polluted water. This issue is a mobilizing issue, because once people figure out that it is the pollution that is making them sick, they will jump to action to combat the pollution. It is a good issue to address the problem of pollution because since it is very personal to people who have the ability to put up a fight, it makes them angry and scared. It is in their best interest to do something about it.... whereas, if another issue caused by pollution from a factory was the focus of trying to mobilize action, say, the extinction of a unique bird or something, its unlikely that people would do much about it.

Discussion for November 12

The social problem that I have been discussing throughout the semester is environmental justice or environmental inequality. This issue encompasses a wide variety of problems including social inequality and discrimination, racism, poverty, and political helplessness. A particular issue involved with these overarching problems is the consistent siting of landfills, waste incinerators, and other sources of pollution that more affluent, powerful members of society impose on poorer communities.

This particular issue is a hybrid of sorts because it is a mobilizing/recruitment issue, but it is also a long-range issue as well. Fighting the siting of these undesirable industries and land uses will generate dissatisfaction about perceived conditions and spur people to action. The thought of more air and water pollution issues and continued degradation of the neighborhood would illustrate the problem to those living here and give them motivation to stop it. However, the process of getting an injunction to halt the construction of these facilities will be difficult to procure in a short amount of time. This is why I consider this issue a long-range one as well. The legal battles could be long and difficult on the community and this could cause less people to become involved. They might believe that the people trying to site this landfill might just be too powerful to stop. However, it will be important to nourish community involvement in this situation and the benefits to the community would be great.

The issue at hand is a good one in order to solve the overall problem of environmental injustice and discrimination. If a targeted community can fight off the placement of a landfill, etc. then this will give hope to discriminated communities across the country. Also long battles in courts could generate adequate media attention, which in turn would raise the awareness of this particular issue. Fighting the siting of a landfill or other undesirable industry would require concrete action, immediate action, offers the beneficiaries a way to participate, would promote community unity, and would involvement plenty of emotional and intellectual attachment. Individual human health won’t be the only concern of the community. Their values and ways of life could be altered forever. These are important things for anyone to fight for.

The issue is immediate because it involves something the community is currently worried about: the siting of another polluting industry. The issue is pretty specific and actionable. People can do something to stop this problem from getting any worse. Also communities have stopped the construction of highways, landfills, and industries before and it can be accomplished again. This issue is a threat not only to health and the community, but to the emotions of each individual fighting it. It will be important to make sure that the community feels that these personal values are at stake, that something can be done (even if its incremental), that this issue does affect them, and it would be helpful to instill a vision of what the community will look like in the future.

Individuals in the leadership core of the community organization will serve the purpose of keeping things alive and moving, would do everything to ensure that the movement wouldn’t dwindle and die. Without them others might not feel that anything is being done, because this core group usually goes above and beyond what is required. This core group will also make sure that a clear picture of the overall program is kept running. However, the leadership core wouldn’t be able to keep the movement going on its own. We would need both workers and advisers in this situation. Workers provide the majority of hands on work needed to ensure the success of the movement and have a steady interest in the succeeding. Advisers would be needed to accomplish more technical problems. This could include setting up meetings with the media, giving us guidance on how to proceed at certain times, or how to influence a public figure. These advisers wouldn’t be attached to the community organization directly, but would still provide very insightful guidance.

Nov. 12 Discussion

Staying consistent with similar topics I have discussed in the past, I am going to focus my social problem on development, with the issue centralized around economic development.  Economic development is a strong community based issue because the development coming into the area can have both a strong and negative impact.  I am calling development a “problem” because of the inconsistent opinions by a community to bring in new opportunities for revenue; viewing development, especially in rural areas, as a way to become urbanized. 

Economic development is a mobilizing issue within the greater problem of development.  Because economic development plays on the community’s self-interest, the community becomes more invested and involved with the development problem.  Economic development is a good issue to address because concrete action can occur, ie: you are either in favor or not; emotional and intellectual attachment is there; and community unity can be promoted with response to the needs of the issue/organization. Action for or against economic development is embedded in the personalized, invested emotions and attitudes towards this type of development.  The issue will have a cause for action through a simulated vision of what economic development can provide the community, therefore allowing the community to look at the broader picture and the benefits the vision can provide.  Action for economic development can sometimes be a slow process, but once people become personally invested, then action becomes an active issue for change.

Individuals have a lot of opportunity to become involved; the three most common would be leadership, workers, and advisors.  The most active role for the economic development process is the role of leadership.  It is the leaders, who seek out advisors, because there have become aware of a development problem, and would like to use economic development as a way to counteract it.  The advisors also play a very important role for economic development.  Advisors help guide the community through a more expertise perspective, providing the community with different avenues of development.  Finally, it is the workers who are the most invested, who help keep the economic development process active.  Economic development is a very involved process that requires a great deal of community involvement to help provide the best opportunities for the people.

November 12th Discussion Questions

Heavy dependence on the automobile is a challenging problem facing our society today.  As a result of our sprawling style development, many are forced to spend excessive amounts of time commuting, stuck in traffic or searching for parking.  This not only affects our personal lives in terms of free time, available cash flow, health and overall happiness, but also greatly affects how our tax money is spent and the impact we have on the natural environment.  This problem, although very large scale, must still be addressed locally and doing so through a community-based organization effort is an ideal way to draw attention to local citizens so that it really "hits home" with them.

One specific issue related to the much broader problem of heavy automobile dependence is the high costs it incurs to users.  Automobiles are expensive to purchase, maintain and insure and are not something that everyone is able to afford.  Many times, money that would be spent elsewhere is spent on fuel or maintenance just to afford the user the ability to travel to where they need to go.  This issue is especially evident as fuel prices reach record levels, the economy slows and people lose significant amounts of personal wealth.

There are many alternatives to personal transportation in the automobile.  To draw attention that will result in changes to alleviate the heavy dependence on the automobile, one first must identify what type of issue they are dealing with.  The (increasingly) high costs of automobile dependence is a specific, mobilizing issue in many respects.  The strongest way to strike at people’s self-interest is through their wallet, where it hurts the most.  Factors such as rising fuel costs, longer commutes and the increasing hassle of finding parking will hopefully illustrate the problem and give people something to do about it (Homan p.353).

The high costs of automobile usage is a good issue to address the larger problem of our society's heavy dependence on the automobile because no matter what your stance is on the environment, how you think taxes should be spent, how much money you have or what you do for a living, everyone likes to save money.  This issue emphasizes what a money pit automobiles are and will strike peoples self-interest to get involved and therefore, save themselves money.  The suggested immediate action of driving less and/or carpooling is clearly communicated when people realize the high costs. This issue will also promote community unity because it affects nearly everyone and responds to the needs of the community, whether it be a high amount of through traffic or road noise.

This issue will lead people to action by continuing to "rub raw the sores of discontent" (Homan p.357) focused around the increasingly high costs of driving an automobile.  The price of fuel, higher costs of parts and labor, and increased traffic will generate enough emotion among citizens to get them off their feet and start looking at ways to reduce their costs and dependence on driving.

Obviously, the community-based organization effort would need a core group of leadership to head up the effort.  These leaders would serve in a much more active capacity than, for example, the workers or assisters by actively organizing and participating in any meetings held and fundamentally initiating the changes.  However, the roles of workers and assisters are also very important.  These roles would likely make up most of the remaining community members and would offer critical support to the leadership and take part in the changes they initiate.  Something that would need to be addressed is the workers and assisters dedication and loyalty to the issue, especially long-term.  If the dependence on the automobile is to be broken, it will take a strong commitment to change from not just the leadership, but also a wide swath of the community.

Discussion for Nov 12

Again, remember that my major is HNFE and I am trying to relate our class to health problems...

1. The problem I am going to talk about is the obesity epidemic
2. The issue associated with the problem is a general lack of physical activity among community members. Now this is often thought of as a personal problem. But it can be aided through community-based organizing efforts. For instance, having available walking/running trails, bike-friendly roadways, and low-cost fitness centers (ex. YMCA) in a community are all important to encourage physical activity for community members. Daily/weekly exercise seems impossible to people in some low-income urban areas because the streets aren't safe to walk on, and they can't afford a gym membership across town.
        - I think that lacking opportunity for physical activity is a long-range issue. As with many health issues the benefits are not immediate and the biggest payoff is in the future. 
        - It is a good issue because it is simple to understand, there are concrete suggestions and ways to improve opportunity to exercise, it relates to everyone because there is a standardized recommendation of physical activity for all adults and children. Building a park is a way to give people a safe place to exercise and that would definitely give a sense of community unity. The challenge may be a little big, depending on the community's power.
       - This issue will lead to action because it is immediate in that people are paying more attention to their health and wanting opportunities to exercise to help lose/maintain weight, get healthy and live longer. This issue is specific in that recommendations for physical activity are standard and identified and it is clear if members of a community have safe and convenient opportunities to meet the recommendations. It is actionable because there are things that a community planner/local government and even concerned citizens can do. They can make safe parks, add bike lanes, make room for a Y or other fitness center.   
       - Leadership would obviously be a critical level of participation. Getting people involved to lobby for park space or a gym. They would be the point of contact for the local gov, or for someone interested in opening a rec center. And maybe its just a matter of cleaning up a local park/modifying it. In that case one-shot participants could be really helpful if there was like a work day that they came and helped only that one time. Also, inactive general supporters could be helpful if it was a matter of petitioning for a park space or something of that nature.

11/12 Discussion

Just to be consistent with what I blogged about in the beginning of the semester, I chose Environmental Degradation as my problem. Specifically, Environmental Degradations as result of Solid Wastes. Wastes are taking over a lot of our land. We are running out of space to put landfills. And as a result of our waste capacity running low, living standard is decreasing due to proximity to landfills that are full of pathogens and all kind of corrosive chemicals. Life is definitely not pleasant when you live near a landfill. And the problem continues to grow as people generate more wastes.

My issue is Recycling. By recycling, we would save the dump trucks numerous trips to the landfills, thus, reduce the need for landfills to grow. But unfortunately, not a whole lot of people are doing this. People would rather throw a plastic bottle away even if the recycling bin is right next to the trash can. The action was probably done sub-consciously. So the issue here is the mind set. People don't have the mind set that automatically recycles instead of tossing.

-This is a long-range issue because it would take a lot of effort for people to be able to see the consequences of their actions.
-It is a good issue to address the problem of overflowing landfills because they are very closely related, since people can help solve the problem if they take action with the issue.
-This can lead into actions by a lot of means. People can feel guilty for not recycling if recycling becomes something "cool" that everyone does. They can also be more aware when the discomfort of having to live close to trash hits home for them before we all actually have to do it.
-On going active participants, advisers, and general supporters are three level of participation that would really help the issue lead to actions. There should be people recycling on a regular basis, advising others to do the same, and more and more people supporting 100% recycling.

11/12 Discussion question

The social problem I want to talk about is gun control and rights.  The issue here is simply gun related accidents either by children or adults.  The type of issue here is mobilizing or recruitment because this strikes self interest through peoples past experiences with the issue.  People put a lot of emotion into this concept because if the correct actions or laws were passed the related incidents could be reduced or even eliminated in some cases.  These types of issues draw quick results from people but are hard to get put into action.  This is a good issue because people promote change because it seems like a straight forward problem with a quick simple fix, but this issue is forever ongoing.  The countries pass history with gun laws has made it very difficult for change with the different organizations fighting for change and those fighting against change.  This issue will lead to action because a lot of people in US have had family related gun accidents or family members being hurt by guns.  So this issue will always have people looking for quick action to solve this problem to reduced future accidents involving guns.  The people who will play an active role for this issue are the leadership core, workers, and advisers.  The leaders are the core group and will always be on top of the issue working hard to solve the problem and bring some relief to the people.  Workers are the people who have been involved with gun related accidents that want change and but can’t make to all the discussions or deliberations but are active participants most of the time.  Advisers are the people that can provide information, ideas, or support on these issues.  They know how to get things done right and will help people put words into action for responses.

reflecting on 11/5

I thought our field trip was really cool. I was actually already familiar with Shadowlake Village before we went. I had Lisa Polley for International Development and we watched multiple movies for the class in the common house and I learned a little about the community then. But I did learn a lot on our field trip. I think cohousing is a cool idea. I especially like the way Shadowlake carries out the concept. It looks like a great place to grow up as a kid. I really enjoyed my childhood in a neighborhood where I could roam around with friends my age and feel safe. I still kinda wonder how its so different from regular neighborhoods. I guess its because social interaction is expected and heavily encouraged. However, I do think that you can get similar experiences in regular neighborhoods with a little more effort (and  you get a bit more privacy too). I also wonder about the drawbacks of only having most people with the same worldview or religion. I think that there is definitely a real risk for group think and isolation in cohousing communities. But there is also great potential for community and increased awareness of a greater community's happenings and needs.

Nov. 5 Reflection

Wednesday's class to the Shadowlake Village was definitely an experience and a great way to get an inside look on how cohousing developments work.  The field trip did help to put cohouusing into a better perspective.  I understand more of the community atmosphere that is created through the layout of the development: from the interconnecting sidewalks to group parking spaces to the large front porches.  I also found the Shadowlake Village development to be unique from other cohousing developments in that they have held the larger Blacksburg commnuity meetings and home schooling sessions in their community building.  Shadowlake Village is a good representation of what a cohousing community is like, however, I still have some doubts about the functionality of the development and the exclusive factor.

11/12 Discussion

The social problem I selected that can be addressed through a community based organization is deteriorating environmental issues in a community.  The issue that I’m going to focus on is lack of recycling at a community level and that governmental action should implement a recycling program.

Recycling is considered a specific issue. More specifically it can be considered a long-range issue. While some citizens may see recycling as a way to help preserve the environment on a more long-range time range, others may shun the idea because it is long-range and feel that they won’t reap any immediate benefits, so why bother?

It is a good issue to address the problem of deteriorating environments in the community it suggests immediate action - even though it has long term effects, it is simple to understand, people have a self-interest in recycling because it will benefit them and their children, grandchildren, etc., offers easy ways for people to participate (ie paying for a recycling bin, filling it, putting it on the street, and it being collected for you), helps unite the community in the effort to help preserve the environment, and provides a moderate challenge in that some people don’t believe it’s necessary since there is no immediate self-interested, material satisfaction.

The issue will lead to action by people realizing that this simple action done everyday can benefit the environment. It requires very little effort, and barely anymore time than it would to throw an item in the trash. Do this, people will visibly see how much trash reduction there is, providing an immediate visible change.  Ways to help initiate and gather enough people to put pressure on the government to provide recycling services, will be to highlight aspects that make people feel angry or guilty, almost a peer pressure effect too (my neighbors are recycling, maybe I should too); challenge people to separate their trash and recyclables so that there can be another visual to use as a case to present the government; point out details that benefit the individual citizen; if the government is saying that they want to be more sustainable, then hold them to their word, even on this simple action; etc.

Three levels of citizen participation can be critical to the effort for getting a community recycling program.  A leader(s) needs to be present to be the voice for the group, providing motivation and group unity so that there is a cohesive front going to the governmental body asking for change.  One shot participants can even be useful because they may only come out to the public meeting, but just that support could be enough, because the elected body may see the numbers and acknowledge that there is a large constituency that wants the policy, even if you’ve never stepped into an active role in the group.  Additionally, inactive general supporters could be good because they will be the ones who may not say anything during the discussion, but will be actively recycling once the program is in place, giving credibility to the policy once its enacted.

Reflection on Co-Housing

Due to the fact it was night time and right after Halloween I think my opinion of co-housing is still up in the air. I really like the way the community is designed. The common gardens,pedestrian friendly walk ways,and common house are all great ideas that build a sense of community that is missing from most suburbs. Everyone seemed to get along with each other and I sensed a connectedness among each of the neighbors. The fact that parents could let their kids run around at night with confidence nothing bad would happen speaks volumes to what co-housing is trying to accomplish. Building a community based on collaboration and teamwork could just be what this country needs to solve some social issues.

However, I'm still a little skeptical about the "political"side of Co-housing. Once again the community is designed well for both building social capital and mitigating harm to the environment. I sincerely hope that more developments will be designed in this fashion in the near future. However, I believe that everyone should be able to live in these sustainable communities. Even though Shadowlake didn't have a selection process per se..other co-housing units on the website did. I don't see a very fair or efficient process here. Also they kept mentioning that they have no "rules", but they do have norms and expectations. Sorry those kind of sound like rules to me. I asked our tour guide if any families had left Shadowlake on bad terms. She said some families had left and that "they didn't see things eye-to-eye with the rest of the development". What does that mean?

Also I'm worried for the kids. The question I was dying to ask was two-fold. Do the parents expect the peaceful setting they are currently enjoying to change once these kids all become teenagers? Also what happens when these kids go to college and the culture shock is just too much for them? It seems that if I grew up in a community where everything was shared, everyone was friendly and supportive, and everyone made sure problems were worked out through collaboration I would be disappointed with the rest of the world. Maybe they would shake out of it, but I just see the transition being difficult.

Maybe I'm just being cynical. Long weekend.

Shadow Lake Village Visit: Reflection

I really enjoyed the field trip to the Shadow Lake Village Co-Housing community on last Wednesday.  I was a little leery at first because I the thought the development was some type of cult, but after listening to some of the residents that participated in the discussion panel my reservations were put to rest.  I personally would not live in a co-housing development but i do see the benefit of this type of communal living.  For example a person with children could possibly save a great deal on daycare cost by having a community member watch there children sometimes.  Also there are savings that can be attributed to buying luxuries such as satellite TV and internet access in communal package in which every beneficiary pays a small portion.  I think however there would be a lack of privacy living in such a close-knit community.  I also think that in the case of Shadow Lake Village there has to be some type of screening process associated with the acceptance of potential residents.  Because there are many small children living in the neighborhood and one can never be too careful.