Community Systems Photo Essay

By Jennye Cooper

Community Systems Photo Essay

Objective #1:“Summarize the historical roots of community development and organizing, advocacy, and social movements” (Kincaid, p. 1).

“Raises Not Roses”This photo is one of many from the feminist movement that occurred in the 1980s, which fought for equality for women. This social movement become very important to human services as human service professional are advocates for equality among all.

Photo Courtesy of Diana Henry.


“Godfather of Community Organizing”Saul Alinsky, the father of community organizing, in 1966 on Chicago's South Side. Without his ideas and the activist approach he took on community organizing, community organizing wouldn’t exist to the extent it does today.

No Author. (1966). Saul Alinsky. Retrieved from http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/April-2011/The-End-of-Community-Organizing-in-Chicago/

http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/April-2011/The-End-of-Community-Organizing-in-Chicago/


“All in a Days Work”Dorothy Day, pictured above, was a social activist who found the Catholic Worker Movement , which started out as a newspaper, but has grown into soup kitchens in which help the poor. Day, herself lived in poverty. She lead anti war protests and refused to pay taxes. Essentially, she made herself history by working to help other in need.

Photo Courtesy of Meyer Liebowitz-NY Times.

“The start of a new movement”This is one of the photos taken by Andrew Stern that influenced the social movement called

The War on Poverty, which was started by the Lyndon Johnson Administration. The War on Poverty was mentioned in Professor Valocchi’s writing on Community Organizing. Community Organizing starts in three different forms, and they can blend together: Social work, political activist, neighborhood maintenance approaches.

Photo Courtesy of Andrew Stern.


“Preparing and gaining support for a plan”This photo represents identifying an idea or problem and bringing it to a group of people who

have ideas to fix the problem. This concept of identifying a problem or strategy is discussed by Homan on pg. 100.

Photo Courtesy of Seattle Department of Neighborhoods.

Objective #2:“Analyze community systems and structures, and design and evaluate processes to initiate and sustain change through specific strategies, tactics, activities and social policy advocacy” (Kincaid, p. 1).

“Community Support”This photo represents community support. In order to make a change and strengthen the

change, the community needs to support the change that is being made. By having more community support, this means that there are more people from the community being represented . Community Support is part of the development stage of making a change (Homan, p.27).

Photo Courtesy of Mukesh Shah-National Geographic.


“Teamwork and partnerships”This photo represents working as a team to make a change and the

positive effects we can have on each other when we work as a team. Working as a team can mean working with our neighbors, coworkers, supervisors, or even strangers to make a change.

Photo Courtesy of Corey Seaton-National Geographic.


“Who lives here?” This photo represents assessing the community or neighborhood to identify what issues are

common and how to change people’s habits (Homan, pg. 335). To strengthen a change in the community, especially one that will change habits, there has to be a good plan and it must meet the criteria Homan discusses in order to take action and keep the change going.

Photo Courtesy of Dave Shortt-National Geographic


“Public Outreach”This picture represents the experiences we share together through public

outreach. We are able to build support in our communities through public outreach, and this is how we get most of the communities attention for issues that arise in the community.


Objective #3:“Record, assess, and reflect on experiences with community and the influence of human services values, attitudes, and ethics in relationship to community change” (Kincaid, p.1)

“Community Working Together”This photo is an example from a Seattle garden that was built for the community and community

members who are disabled and need room to get around. Anyone is allowed to help maintaining and improving the garden, which makes it a community effort. Community enhances and experiences like this influence the value of community service and change/improvement.



“Neighborhood building”Some people have the desire to maintain and improve their neighborhood by working with others to

cleanup the neighborhood, as well as add new attractions. These attractions ranges from gardens, statues, parks, etc. The value outcome from this type of work is community appearance and building.

Photo Courtesy of Google Images-Neighborhood Cleanup.


“Volunteer and Fundraise”These photos represent agencies coming together to help raise money for a good cause. When

fundraising for a change, the main value is money and raising a certain amount of money. People are also important in this process as they are the one’s who organize the fundraising.

Photo Courtesy of Lake Stevens Fire.

Objective #3:“Record, assess, and reflect on experiences with community and the influence of human services values, attitudes, and ethics in relationship to community change” (Kincaid, p.1).

Objective #4:Analyze the systemic issues related to culture, diversity, and social class in the context of community systems. (Kincaid, p.1).

“Cultural Awareness”This photo for me represents all of the different kinds of cultures that can come together in one single street. It puts together activities that we participate in, in one busy street. I think this picture signifies cultural competence and diversity in our own environment.

Photo Courtesy of Larry Louie-National Geographic.


“Don’t underestimate!”We learned from Walk Out Walk On to not underestimate the power of other cultures. They are not afraid to spend time on something to make it work correctly for them. They are not afraid to reinvent the wheel, and even though some cultural communities may be seen as low social class, never underestimate what they can do. Photo Courtesy of Steve McCurry-National Geographic.


“Future Health Care?”This picture relates to the Walk Out Walk On book we read this quarter. The Comprehensive Rural Health Project was established in 1970 and offers free preventative health care to people who are unable to afford it. The United States does not offer free health care to their citizens and still cannot solve the health care crisis, when other countries like India where this picture was taken can offer health care to their low income and poor community members. Photo Courtesy of Lynn Johnson-National Geographic.


“Misconception”This photo represents the common stereotype that Americans have on other countries not having technology that could be used more efficiently than the technology we have here in American. Walk Out Walk On showed us how different cultures function across the world, and some have ideas and ways of thinking that we would never consider in America.

Photo Courtesy of Stephen Alavarez.

I learned not necessarily about how social movements effect human services, but more about the actual issues. I wasn’t expecting to learn about how women’s salaries were lowered when they took over the secretarial field or how they were not allowed to practice law at one time because men were seen as the one’s who should be working, not women (Sargent, p.164). The fields that women took over were essentially fields that men worked in before the feminism movement.

From reading the learning objectives I knew I was going to learn about community change, but I didn’t know I would actually be able to connect it to my professional work. Many of the topics such as gaining support is something that in the fire service many of us struggle with, and learning about how to gain support through steps that Homan discussed on pg. 100. I really thought I was going to develop academically with this course, but it actually contributed professionally too.

In relation to my professional life, I worked at the Office of Neighborhoods in Everett. It was interesting to learn about the concept of neighborhoods, or review what I had already learned, and again relate it back to my professional life. Neighborhood association or home owners associations are great places to start to search for community support.

Overall, I wasn’t expecting to connect what I am learning in school to my professional life yet. I thought this would happen after I graduate for some reason, but because I am in my career already I think this class helped improve my professional knowledge of my community, how to get support, and also my agency and how to gain support within my agency.

Professional vs. Academic Development

Reference Page

Alavarez, Stephen. (2011) [Photograph] Retrieved from http://www.alvarezphotography.com/#/Portfolios/Culture/6/caption Henry, Diana (n.d) Raises Not Roses. Retrieved from http://dianamarahenry.com/img.php?

subid=26&realname=Activists&pageNum_rsPhoto=4 Homan, M. S. (2011). Promoting community change making it happen in the real work. (5 ed.). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole Cengage

Learning. Johnson, Lynn. (2009) Newborn Weigh-In. [Photograph] http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photo-of- the-day/newborn-india-pod/ Lake Stevens Fire. (2009). Fill the Boot [Photograph] http://www.lakestevensfire.org/gallery_eventphotos.htm Liebowitz ,Meyer. (1972). [Photograph] Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/27/nyregion/sainthood-for-dorothy-day-has-

unexpected-champion-in-cardinal-timothy-dolan.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 Louie, Larry. (2009) Crowded Street. [Photograph] Retrieved from http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photo-of-

the-day/crowded-street-kathmandu-pod/ McCurry, Steve. (2010) Women Digging. [Photograph] Retrieved from

http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photo-of-the-day/women-digging-rajasthan/ No Author. (2009). Neighborhood Cleanup.. [Photograph] Retrieved by

http://portlandenglish.com/directorblog/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Neighborhood-Cleanup.jpg No Author. (1966). Saul Alinsky. Retrieved from

http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/April-2011/The-End-of-Community-Organizing-in-Chicago/ Sargent, L. T. (2009). Contemporary political ideologies, a comparative analysis. (14th ed.). St. Louis: Wadsworth Pub Co. Seaton, Corey. (2009). Pre-Game Ritual. [Photograph] Retrieved from http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photo-

of-the-day/pre-game-ritual-pod/ Seattle Department of Neighborhoods. (2013). LongfellowP-Patch. [Photograph] Retrieved from

http://www.seattle.gov/neighborhoods/ Seattle Department of Neighborhoods. (2013). Public Outreach and Engagement. [Photograph] Retrieved from

http://www.seattle.gov/neighborhoods/poe/ Seattle Office of Neighborhoods. (2013) Public Outreach and Engagement Liaisons. [Photograph] Retrieved from

http://www.seattle.gov/neighborhoods/poe/poel.htm Shah, Mukesh. (2009) Festival of Colors. [Photograph] Retrieved from

http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photo-of-the-day/festival-colors-india-pod/ Shortt, Dave (2011) Street Scene. [Photograph] Retrieved fromhttp://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photo-of-the-

day/havana-street-scene/ Stern, Andrew. (1959). Girl Fingerprinting. [Photograph] Retrieved from http://www.andresternphoto.com/Appalachia%20Univ%20of

%20Kentucky%20Exhibit/ Wheatley, M., & Frieze, D. (2011). Walk out walk on. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

http://www.alvarezphotography.com/

http://www.alvarezphotography.com/

http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photo-of-the-day/newborn-india-pod/




http://www.lakestevensfire.org/gallery_eventphotos.htm

http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photo-of-the-day/women-digging-rajasthan/



http://www.seattle.gov/neighborhoods/

http://www.seattle.gov/neighborhoods/poe/

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Community Systems Photo Essay