Asset-Based Community Development Analysis

Staff working in partnership with a service user’s family will become more aware of families' individual needs, and know more about an elderly person's home context, thus enabling them to be aware of how the care home is different or similar to their own home and understand the elderly person’s behaviour with this in mind.

My community placement has given me the privileged to be nurse educator and as part of my teaching and learning plan in the community, I have performed an assessment regarding the group of elderly people in the community. Before formulating my teaching plan. I had to first cover the

Do you have an interest in working with your community? Over the years I have had experience working with the elderly, adolescent children, young adults, the homeless, and individuals of different ethnical backgrounds. I have found each experience challenging and rewarding.

Throughout our lives we find ourselves associating with different groups of people. The thing that makes all the difference is the impact one make when one finds himself/herself part of a discourse community. Whether you impacted the community or the community impacted you, it still matters. The Navigator Program at DFW Airport was my community. Much of my personality and social skills come from my time volunteering at the airport. Through this program, I learned to guide travelers to their gates and terminals, while continuing to learn about the little nooks and cranny’s that the airport held. I’ve grown much since that scared teen who was afraid of interacting with strangers, but my experiences and how they nurtured me are what changed my life for the better.

Community is the difference between being and belonging. It is just too easy to just be a part of a group, but to feel like you belong to the group is far more meaningful. You can go to the meetings and know everyone’s names but none of that means anything if you don’t feel that you are a significant component in a group. To be a part of a community means that you are a part of group where inclusion, support and friendship are highly-regarded. The beauty about community is that everyone has their own gifts, talents, opinions and experiences to offer to it, therefore making each member valuable. As a Resident Assistant, I intend to create an inclusive community in which each person is accepted and encouraged regardless of race, gender, religion, sexual-orientation or ability. By promoting diversity in my community, I hope that everyone gains a sense of belonging. In my community, I will have an open mind and tolerant attitude and will encourage my residents to do the same. Because understanding that no two residents are the same, I will conduct myself through equity. I will try to learn about my residents individually so if

From shoveling driveways or helping rake lawns for the senior citizens in my neighborhood I’m always there to lend a helping hand. However, some actions I take in my community are not done for other families but for my own. The responsibilities I have overtaken through the years in my household have definitely helped improve my maturity, and my character. I do these actions not to gain recognition, but instead to service my community and to aid those in need. Each day I aim to improve myself and to improve the community around me. Through doing that I exemplify these ideals, and will teach others of doing the same to keep our community

I am grateful that I am a client in the Elderly Services Program of the Council on Aging. The resources that I receive are: case management, electronic medical monitoring, medical transportation, Meals-on-Wheels, and home care assistance. They have become an integral part of maintaining my lifestyle.

The area is always having community based events which keep myself and neighbors involved and close knit. What really set this community apart is the group or neighborhood cohesion that the management office constantly creates for its tenants to enjoy.

Today I spoke with a very outspoken neighbor of mine who was kind enough to participate in my assessment project. Iris L. is her name and she was born in March of 1940, which makes her 76 years old. She has lived in the small town of Archer Lodge, NC since she was born. She has been widowed for over 35 years and has one son who also lives five minutes away. She remains very active within the community but spends a majority of her time with her two grandchildren, ages 9 and 11. She has three sisters who all live within a few minutes of her home. She is active in her church and has lots of community friends that she assist in taking to appointments and says she also enjoys “feeding the shut-ins”. She is retired from a manufacturing job of 35 years but returned to work part-time at Dollar General approximately 8 years ago. She told me “if you don’t keep busy and active, you will go downhill quickly when you retire”.

We have maintained an excellent leadership team and staff loyalty and retention. Our staff goes beyond providing care and our services exceeds customer satisfaction. We work with elders and their families to meet each resident individualized needs. Our activities are structured to enhance the residents’ cognitive abilities and reconnect them to their past. Our schedule outings involve theaters, beach and social events. Our exceptional services have earned our communities trust and the expansion of our services is just one way of keeping up with our longstanding history of community

Vital Connections of the Midlands (VCM) is a non-profit early child care and education program located in Columbia, South Carolina. The organization is currently certified through the United Way of the Midlands and is accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. It provides family-centered services for at-risk families who are experiencing homelessness, poverty, substance abuse, and/or child abuse and neglect. VCM’s priority is given to families who are experiencing homelessness. This means that children who live with parents experiencing homelessness are automatically admitted into the program, free of charge, before families with a different crisis. Over the past decade, since 2007, the

Externally outside of school work, I volunteer and take many Senior Citizens who live in Haven Towers and are members of Haven of Rest Missionary Baptist Church to the Grocery store on Saturday,return back to the Senior Building and prepare a meal for all of the participants in the Community Kitchen, and sit down with them and enjoy their company. As an Independent researcher of Urban/Human Geography I have come to learn that when Senior Citizens do not have anyone to be amiable with them, that is usually when they fall into a depressive state, and give up on life. Ever since I have been spending Weekends with this group of senior citizens, it has been fulfilled with food, frivolity, fellowship and

My community, Kissimmee, Florida, is just south of Orlando and it is mainly known to outsiders for its multitude of amusement parks such as Walt Disney World, Gator land, Volcano Bay etc. and its beautiful lakes surrounded by walking paths, playgrounds and fishing post. Although my community has many wonderful attributes, the thing I truly admire the most is how strongly it is invested in each other. There is always something going on that gives the community the opportunity to come together. Throughout my first three years living in Kissimmee, there has always been community-wide parades, the annual fair, Boys and Girls club, YMCA, many establishments lending a helping hand to help our schools excel etc. It didn’t matter if you knew someone

Senior citizens are a key part of our community and function as the backbone to our society. To ensure that seniors have a meaningful contribution to the community we must develop quality relationships with them and also ensure that they have healthy and successful lives. Based on our experience at Taylor Yard Senior Housing Apartments we came to the conclusion that creating and maintaining relationships with elderly adults improves their health and well-being. In the article Building Living Alliances: Community Engagement and Community-Based Partnerships to Address the Health of Community Elders by Kim E. Radda and Jean J. Schensul they discuss how building and creating relationships or alliances not only with other members of your community

The ‘Community Architecture’ is kind of architectural practice between architects and users. Also, it can be described as architect follow the wish of users or community to design the building fit the requirement by using local materials and helps the residents to build the structure. Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) described ‘Community Architecture’ should follow the idea about "The aim of community architecture is to improve the quality of the environment by involving people in the design and management of the buildings and spaces they inhabit." () In general, architect call ‘Conventional Architecture’ product, nevertheless ‘Community Architecture’ represents the process rather than the product and most proponents claim that the built product of ‘Community Architecture’ is often better than the product of conventional architecture. “Community architecture means that the personal who inhabit it are involved in and may even be instigators of, its creation and its management as well. The inhabitants are the clients; and the architect works for, or at least with them--in contrast to the typical situation where architects and user never meet.” () The ‘ community architecture’ was the newly invented notion that user participation in the environment is more important than any of another architectural concept, especially in contrast to ‘conventional architecture’. The reasons of that could be limited resources, materials and