Community Development Using the Church As a Base

Community Development Using the Church as a Base

“I knew that I needed to get people to trust and like me and my singing and playing my guitar at the services helped a lot,” said Ada Suarez, a young and dedicated second-year community organization student at the University of Connecticut School of Social Work. . . . Ada had been raised as a Pentecostal in Puerto Rico and was convinced that organizers can tap into the spiritual mandate that Pentecostals have to do “God’s work” and enable the “brothers” and “sisters” to be more effective with their goals for church and community improvements. . . .

The church’s pastor welcomed Ada’s help, seeing her as a nonpaid staff member who also brought University resources. In addition to singing and helping the pastor with clerical duties, Ada visited the homes of people she identified as having leadership potential, met with the church’s elders, and played big sister to some of the church’s youth. She also distributed questionnaires to members, asking them to provide information about what they felt their needs were. She did this data gathering at youth meetings, meetings of the women volunteers, prison visiting committees, etc. She then shared with the congregation what they had identified as problems and recommendations for addressing them. “Some brothers and sisters want to read and write better in Spanish, some want to learn English, and others want help in finding work or better jobs. . . .

Some committees want help in functioning better at meetings and others want to know more about how to help people. . . . The youth want to discuss school issues and some church elders wish to learn how to be better leaders in and out of the church.” Ada brought the public school system into the church to teach literacy (in Spanish) and English classes for non-English speakers. She organized leadership training workshops and called on Puerto Rican Studies faculty, community organization students, and community leaders for help. Wherever possible, church members themselves introduced speakers and planned gatherings. Workshops on job training, resume writing, interviewing skills, and on eligibility for food stamps were conducted at least twice in one year.

Ada also chose to work on some more controversial projects. For example, she organized workshops on AIDS. . . . Ada encouraged young people to talk about their feelings of isolation in school and in the community due to the strict moral codes of the church (no hard rock music, makeup, movies, smoking, etc.)

and some parents were less than comfortable with that. In addition, she facilitated and encouraged the women of the congregation to become more assertive and to be more represented on the Board of Elders.

With sensitivity she explained to the church members that since they welcomed drug addicts and worked with prisoners, some had expressed interest in knowing more about the AIDS epidemic. . . . She imparted community organization skills to elders and had them prepare flyers, lead discussions on setting agendas, form committees, and select strategies. She utilized videos, films, and other visuals effects when talking about conserving energy, applying for a job, presenting information on AIDS, etc.