4.3: Community Organizations and Services

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Types of Community Organizations and Agencies:

There are many types of organizations we can find in communities from religious, cultural, public, private, or government that can provide help to families in many different ways. Some of these might be businesses offering services for a fee or sliding scale. They might be medical services to keep children healthy or they might be educational opportunities for a child to gain experiences from and learn. These community organizations and agencies are socialization agents and can help children understand the world around them, how it works, and how they interact within that space. Some of these experiences are formal learning experiences and others are learned informally, by watching what is going on around them.

Businesses

In any urban and some suburban and rural areas, you will find many types of businesses. There are large corporations in some areas of town, and small family run businesses. One of the ways that children learn about money and finances is to see the adults in their lives spending it. How they spend it, what they spend it on and where they spend it are all lessons they are learning. The adults are also interacting with shopkeepers, and waiters, bank teller and cashiers. Children from a very young age are watching the interactions between these very important people in their life and these people within these businesses. The adults are modeling behavior and ways of interacting with others that are outside of their family and school setting. Businesses are a great educational resource for children as well. Whether it is learning about produce at the grocery store or counting out change at the bank, or ordering food from a menu at a restaurant or learning how manufacturing works in a factory, there are many ways that children can learn from the businesses around them. These experiences provide an opportunity for young people to learn about social relationships and emotions through education and exploration.

Reflection

What businesses are around your school that you can partner with for an educational experience for the children in your class? What would the children learn from the experience?

Social Organizations

Many social and cultural experiences exist for children as well and can provide a rich curriculum and foster a love of the arts. But there is a gap in opportunity when not all families have equal access to these cultural and social events. Some events, such as street fairs and parades, may be free. Some museums, theaters, or cultural centers may offer free or reduced priced days for those that can't afford it. Many of these museums offer hands on activities for children and educational programs. One of the most accessible, free and educational resources for children are libraries. According to the American Library Association, there are an estimated 116,867 libraries of all kinds in the United States today. Libraries are one of our best resources. The purpose of a library is to provide free access to books and other cultural materials, but they are so much more. They are a meeting place in the event of a disaster. They are a place to hold community events. It is a social gathering place and provide space and companionship for seniors and parents and guardians of young children. There are story times for young children often with crafts and a lesson. Many times mothers or fathers are able to meet other parents and it can become a social experience as well as childcare. It can also help instill a love of learning and begin the child on their literacy journey, which hopefully continues through life.

“Google can bring you back 100,000 answers. A librarian can bring you back the right one.” Neil Gaiman, Author

Religious organizations offer services and often times youth groups and camps and can also be a vital part of a community. Churches are another gathering place in times of disaster and many open their doors to those in need often with food or shelter or other support.

Note

In August 2017, Hurricane Harvey devastated parts of Texas including Houston, with record flooding and families in crisis. The Islamic Society of Greater Houston which provides religious and social services to all Muslims but who live their vision by providing a social services unit to any in need, opened their mosques to any Houston residents that had been flooded out of their homes. “There’s no religion, there’s no color,” one of the volunteers said of the tragedy. “We are open to help everyone and anyone. When disaster strikes, we have to jump on this immediately.” One Islamic center set up a 24-hour hotline to help with medical emergencies.

Hurricane Harvey flooding in Port Arthur, Texas

Community clubs are another way that children can informally learn. They could be clubs for adults that children are welcome or they could be specifically for children. For adults there are car clubs and exercise clubs and hobby clubs and social and religious clubs. For children there can be Girl or Boy Scouts, theater clubs, team clubs, sport clubs, all types of clubs for the social, physical and emotional development of children. The boys and Girls club of America is another club, which helps kids and does not need parental support in the way of money or transportation. It is a way for a child to connect with a big brother or big sister mentor to guide them through life's challenges to be a successful and productive member of society. But as Lareau (2011) states in her book Unequal Childhoods, a family's social class determines how much children will participate in community opportunities, as a lot of these are fee based and require transportation and time away from work or commitments for parents.

Transportation

Each community offers different types of transportation, whether they are private or public. Some urban and suburban areas offer private transportation services such as airplanes, taxis or ride shares, but there are also city transportation services such as buses, trains and subways. Transportation is not limited to vehicles, but also to bikes, scooters, wheelchairs and our feet. The safety and amount of bike paths available, as well as the proximity of services makes it easier to get around a community. Transportation can be limited and difficult in rural areas of the country, while it can be dangerous for children in some urban areas. All of these transportation services can be educational opportunities for children.

Social Service Agencies

Part of Bronfenbrenner's Macrosystem is the political ideology of the community, and the larger country, which creates policies and determines which services are worthy of support. For example, Head Start was started under President Lyndon Johnson, but although the country has not been able to pass federal legislation for Preschool for all children, several states such as Georgia and New York have. We have a wide variety of social service programs that are either government funded, privately funded or funded through a non-profit.

Some of these programs are:

YMCA: A non-profit committed to strengthening community by empowering young people, improving the health and well-being of people of all ages and inspiring action in and across communities.
Catholic Charities: A religious organization that is called to provide service to people in need, to advocate for justice in social structures, and to call the entire church and other people of goodwill to do the same.
WIC: The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) provides federal grants to states for supplemental foods, health care referrals, and nutrition education for low-income pregnant, breastfeeding, and non-breastfeeding postpartum women, and to infants and children up to age 5 who are found to be at nutritional risk.
Family Service Agencies: These services are broad and can offer help in:
- Early Childhood and Child Care Services.
- Education Services.
- Health Services.
- Housing Services.
- Respite Care Programs.
- Services to Children and Youth With Disabilities.

They are also a referral agency and can refer families to the help they need.

Child Welfare: The purpose of child welfare is to protect children from abuse, neglect, abandonment or delinquency. Traditionally children are only removed from the home in extreme cases but Foster Care, Kinship Care and Adoption are also social service programs for children in abusive situations. In cases of delinquency the child may stay with the family or they may be placed in juvenile detention or an institution.
TANF: Temporary Assistance for Needy Families is a federal government program that offers assistance with shelter, food, jobs and cash assistance to help people with children to get on their feet. Each state uses the program differently.
Regional Centers: Regional centers oversee the coordination and delivery of services for those with developmental disabilities. They are part of the department of social services and provide assessments, determine eligibility for services, and offer case management services. Regional centers also develop, purchase, and coordinate the services in each person’s Individual Program Plan.

There are many more social service programs and they vary from community to community, but they often do not always meet the needs of those in the community. Like previously stated, the people in power decide what is worthy of support. Unlike other wealthy nations, the United States lacks federally mandated supports for family life in areas such as adequate parental leave and child sick leave, universal health care coverage and affordable quality child care (Cruse, Hegewisch, &Gault, 2016). Resources vary significantly state to state and community to community due to local and state government political ideology.

Reflection:

What resources do you have in your area? If a family came to you looking for a resource would you know what resources are available to them?

References:

Lareau, A. (2011). Unequal Childhoods: Class, race and family life (2nd ed). Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Cruse, L.R., Hegewisch, A., & Gault, B. (2016). The need for support for working families