Community Development 101

After seventeen months pursuing an MSc in Community Development, I can boil most of what I'm taking away into two simple words:

Stay Home

My generation, generation Y that is, has been enculturated to believe that success is defined by how far you go in life. Go, meaning of course many things-- how much money you make, how much you travel and, quite frankly, how far away you make it from your home town. In the small town that I'm from, anyone that ended up staying home was immediately chastised- "What's wrong with them" we would all say, "I guess they can't make it in the real world."  Following this logic, most of my peers moved to the city. Metropolitan areas all over the county have played a large role in the depopulation of the rural and peri urban landscape. And who wouldn't blame youth for going? Cities boast exciting nightlife and professional opportunities.

But- after nigh on two years studying community development, I've decided the most powerful choice a young person who is interested in social change can make, is to Go Home.
When you work in your home town, or close to it, you avoid the neocolonialist issues that come with bringing your ideas and opinions about how others should develop/rehab/change their community. When you work in your home town you bring your inherent knowledge of political problems with you. When you work in your home town, you have relationships that you can rely on, and people you can trust. Let's face it, when you're from somewhere, you immediately have more street credibility walking into a room than you would as a newcomer. And, more importantly, you have more at stake- which ultimately will make you a better community developer/advocate etc.

Having something at stake is perhaps one of the reasons people choose not to work in their own communities. When I was working for environmental change in Central America, I had stop working before my goal was accomplished- and at the time it was easy to get up and leave the issue without a thought about long term ramifications of my actions. Were I to be making those same decisions for my own community, I would not have walked away, fearing community consequence and ultimately the tarnishing of my good name.

I suppose this post is in reaction to what I see as a glorification in the academy of those who choose to work in low income communities of color both domestically and abroad. Of course, those communities need allies, they too need the resources and connections that we as outsiders often have. But I wonder that it may be better for those of us from privilege to work in our own communities- changing the very structures at home that disempower other communities from changing themselves.

While I realize that not everyone has a home community that they identify with, and that not everyone wants to go home, going home has been a powerful decision for me, as a young community developer, to make. It hasn't been easy, and there are definitely nights when I wish I was in a city with more available restaurant choices, but ultimately, I'm very happy with my choice. I feel that the decision to return to my home community has given me a location to engage in true praxis- challenging my assumptions about my community, my self, and ultimately, discovering the most affective way for me to engage in social change.