Define: According to Phillips and Pittman (2015), “community building refers to activities pursued by a community in order to increase the social capacity of its members. In the words of Gardner (1993), community building involves “the practice of building connections among residents, and establishing positive patterns of individual and community behavior based on mutual responsibility and ownership.”
Apply: For my group project we have been working with the Pontiac SUN Timebank. As community organizers within the timebank, the community building theory is being used because they are mobilizing residents to build connections as well as take responsibility and ownership of not only the timebank itself but doing acts of service for their community with no financial incentive. The timebank is building social capacity within its membership by focusing on sharing your time with one another rather than your finances.
Adapt: This theory could be applied to a specific learning expedition that took place within the charter school I am doing my field placement at. The first grade students were taken out to a community park next to the school to talk with one another about the needs of the park and what could be done to make it better. The students immediately took ownership of the project and came up with a plan collectively on how improvements could be made. They felt responsible for how the park could look and wanted to make the best suggestions on how the park could be enhanced such as repainting the swing set in a rainbow color.
Source: Phillips, R. (2015). Social Capital and Community Building. In An introduction to community development (pp. 62-63). London: Routledge.
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