Community-Based Assessment and Design

Residents of urban at-risk communities often have ministry done to them by well-meaning people. Organizations (non-proftis, churches, government, etc.) swoop in with money, people and resources and tell the community what they need. Playgrounds are erected overnight, murals painted over, or gardens appear without anyone asking the people who live there what they want. The message that no one listens is reinforced in their minds. God's concept of "shalom" is not one of doing to people but one of inviting people to participate in their own community development. Students in this course will develop the skills necessary to engage a local community. This approach is guided through the development tools of community assessment (listening to the community) and project design, monitoring and evaluation (responding with the coomunity to a limitation). At the end of this course students will have the skills necessary to involve the community in its own restoration.