Forging Relationships for Community Action
By Michele Buono, CSW, Goddard Riverside Community Center
October 2003
At Goddard Riverside Community Center we have developed a program called “Connections.” The program exemplifies a model of community-based practice, unique to settlement house social work. At its core, settlement work builds on the strengths of program participants rather than on their deficits, and on the belief that change is possible.
In my role as the “Connections Worker”, I employ a variety of methodologies with children and families — case work, group work, community organization and program development – to name a few. Within all of these approaches, my work centers on fostering positive relationships among program members, building mutual aid and support, and galvanizing citizen participation to address social, political and economic issues.
My work is not confined to one program. I am involved with families in our early childhood education, after school and evening teen, and college access programs. Families at Goddard Riverside have strong connections to the agency. Many have grown up and graduated from our programs, and now send their own children to the center. I also play a critical role as the educational coordinator in developing placements for graduate social work interns, coordinating their activities with the schools of social work as well as serving as the field instructor for two students.
The practice of group work is essential to my success. This is underscored in two of my work assignments. I have organized a group of parents who have come together to receive help in coping with the stress of balancing the demands of working and parenting. Parents prefer a safe, supportive environment in which they can share personal experiences that have affected their lives and the lives of their children. At one of our initial meetings, which we called “The Dinner Party,” we transformed one of the classrooms in the after-school program into a serene and tranquil dining room. When parents arrived, they felt appreciated and cared for. I could not get the meeting to end on time because parents were so engaged in exchanging suggestions and ideas about all aspects of parenting. This group continues to meet monthly and has added an important dimension to our after school program.
My use of groups extends to my work with teenagers from our Beacon Program. During this past spring, the group was active in fighting to restore the proposed cuts in the summer youth employment program. These youth depend on the program for their summer work experience and to help their families financially. Members of the group engaged people within the community and at their schools to sign petitions, attended rallies, and lobby city and state legislators. The teens spoke at the Goddard Riverside Senior Center about their advocacy and received a standing ovation when they requested that the seniors support their cause. The teens took ownership over the issues and directed the agency's participation in these advocacy activities. In our debriefing sessions, we used this sense of achievement and empowerment to communicate to the youth the belief that joint action is possible and can lead to change.
Settlement house workers have a unique opportunity to experiment with a powerful and varied model of community-based practice. Whether we engage individuals in a church basement, a shared office, on the train or on the street corner, the process entails the building of relationships that reinforce the willingness to collectively work together to affect change, individually as well as in the neighborhood, and beyond.