COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION[84]
From one standpoint the whole progress of civilization is but a process
of social organization, the establishment of those relationships which
best promote the largest measure of human welfare. In the previous
chapters we have noted the various aspects and problems of rural life
which have necessitated the community as a unit for social organization.
As a result of the growing conviction that the conditions of rural life
can be made satisfying only through the collective efforts of definite
communities, there has arisen a widespread movement for the better
organization of community interests and activities, which has come to be
known as community organization. Although this movement is being
encouraged by many agencies, its greatest significance and importance
arises from the fact that, for the most part, community organization of
many diverse types is springing up in rural communities throughout the
country as a means of meeting their local needs. This spontaneity of the
movement is the best evidence that changing conditions have brought
about a real need for some better machinery for community development.
In order to understand community organization so that we may
intelligently encourage its development, it will be well to consider (1)
the underlying causes, (2) the process of organization, and (3) the
forms of organization.
1. _Causes._--Usually the immediate cause of attempting community
organization is the common desire to meet a need which cannot well be
realized except through the united effort of the whole community.
Improved roads are needed, a library or playground is desired, a Liberty
Loan must be raised, a Fourth of July celebration or a pageant is to be
undertaken, a band or baseball team needs financial support and
patronage to prevent its disbanding, hard times or a fire make unusual
aid necessary to certain families, an influenza epidemic compels a
united effort for the care of the sick. In all such cases a citizens'
committee is usually organized which represents various organizations
and interests so that the support of all the elements in the community
may be enlisted. When any common need is of such a magnitude or of such
a nature that it is not within the field of any one organization or
agency, then some form of at least temporary community organization is
necessary. When some of these needs, such as a community house or a
public health nurse, require permanent maintenance, and the cooperation
of various organizations is essential for the success of the enterprise,
then some permanent form of community organization becomes desirable. If
a community organization is to be permanent and is to really function,
there must be work for it to do which cannot or will not be done by
existing agencies.
A second cause for community organization arises from the increasing
complexity of human relationships, even in a rural community. We have
observed that in recent years there has been a rapid increase in the
number of associations each of which is devoted to some one special
interest. The life of simpler or more primitive communities is a unit
with regard to all phases of their life, religion, government, and
social affairs. Such was the township of colonial New England and many
a community in the pioneer stage. But in modern times a multiplicity of
voluntary associations have sprung up and have spread from one community
to another. In many cases the members of such organizations become more
loyal to them than to the community; organizations become self-centered
and divisive rather than being devoted to the community good. Religion,
government, economic life, and education have become more or less
separate spheres of life, each having a code of its own, whereas human
problems involve all of these aspects of life and cannot be successfully
solved while there is conflict of standards between religion, business,
government, and social life. Not infrequently more than one organization
undertakes the same or similar work, or the demands of one clash with
those of another, and social confusion arises. When this occurs in a
large city between organizations which are supported by the wealthy or
by different groups, each may go as far as its resources will permit;
but in the rural community where organizations must be of the people and
supported by all of them, such a situation cannot be tolerated for both
funds and leadership are limited.
Organizations arise to meet recognized human needs, but no one
organization can meet all the needs of the whole community. Nor do all
organizations appeal to all people. Men associate according to their
special individual interests, some are more interested in religion and
business, others in social life or athletics, or what not. As the
organizations representing these interests become more and more
specialized, each individual belongs to several organizations, whose
interests sometimes conflict and members of a community are arrayed
against each other. Thus an individual is sometimes involved in a
divided loyalty between two groups, and finds himself with a conflict of
purposes which lessens that personal unity which is essential for
character and personal peace. The character of the individual is
developed to the extent that he is able to resolve this conflict of his
interests in one dominant purpose. So the welfare of the community can
be secured only by a unity of purpose among its organizations in their
loyalty to the common good. This tendency to form associations for
special interests is shown in the following diagram:
FOR A SATISFYING} {ASSOCIATIONS AND
LIFE EVERY MAN } These needs {ORGANIZATIONS REPRESENTING
NEEDS: } are met by {SPECIAL
} {INTERESTS OF THE
} {COMMUNITY, such as
1. ECONOMIC PROSPERITY Cooperative Marketing Assns.
--An Adequate Income Cooperative Buying Assns.
Commercial Clubs
Farm Loan Assns.
2. HEALTH Public health nurses
--Physical Fitness Local health officer
Local hospitals
3. EDUCATION Schools
--The Ability to Learn Parent-Teacher's Assns.
Farm and Home Bureau
Boys' and Girls' Clubs
Public Library and Museum
Community Fairs
4. SOCIABILITY AND RECREATION Lodges
--The Joy of Playing Together Women's clubs; men's clubs
Scouts; Camp Fire Girls
Athletic Clubs and Assns.
Moving pictures and theatres
Public playground & gymnasium
5. ARTISTIC ENJOYMENT Village Improvement Societies
--Appreciation of Beauty in Community Choruses
Nature, Music, Art and Literature Bands and Orchestras
6. RELIGIOUS LIFE Churches and church federations
--The Common Quest of the Y. M. C. A. and Y. W. C. A.
Highest Ideals Young People's Societies
7. FAMILY WELFARE Red Cross--Home Service
--Love of Family Child Welfare Bureaus and Child
Study Clubs
8. A PROGRESSIVE COMMUNITY Some form of a Community
--A Desire for Opportunity organization, bringing together
for All--i.e., Democracy all the above.
On the other hand we must recognize man's gregarious tendency, his
desire for the support of public opinion, his craving of a feeling of
"togetherness." The elation which comes to a people engaged in war or in
meeting any common disaster comes chiefly from the satisfaction they
experience in being united in a common cause and enjoying the sanction
of their fellows without division among them. The individualistic
philosophy of the more sophisticated may enable them to find
satisfaction in more or less socially segregated groups under ordinary
conditions, but when they face calamity, when the most fundamental and
deepest issues of life are involved, then they enjoy association with
those who surround them--they become "neighbors."
This desire of men to associate in groups which represent their special
interests, and their equal desire to be _en rapport_ with all their
fellows with whom their life is associated in community life, is one of
the paradoxes into which many of our basic human problems resolve, and
furnishes one of the primary reasons for some form of community
organization which will unify the increasing complexity of associations.
A third underlying motive for community organization, which is just
coming to receive recognition, is the need of defending the interests of
the local community against the domination of national or state
organizations, of maintaining a necessary degree of local autonomy. All
organizations which become associated in state or national federations
inevitably develop a central administration which tends to become more
or less of a hierarchy or bureaucracy. The national organization seeks
to achieve its special objects and to emphasize their supreme
importance. It tries to secure efficiency of the local groups through
standardization, and very naturally encourages their loyalty to the
state or national aims and purposes. This tendency is more or less
inevitable and is an inherent weakness of all large organizations which
do not constantly place their emphasis on strengthening their local
units and encouraging devotion to community service. But in many cases
the larger organization has lost a true perspective of its relationship
to its local units and of their primary duty to their local communities.
The most flagrant instance of this principle is in the domination of
local government by national political parties, whose policies have
nothing whatever to do with local administration, but who maintain their
"machines" so that an efficient organization is available for mobilizing
the vote in state and national elections. The resulting reaction has
given rise to citizen's tickets, commission government and city
managers, and in the more progressive smaller communities a growing
tendency to vote for the best man irrespective of party. Wherever a
community votes independently of national party lines on local affairs,
there will be found healthy local government. For the same general
reasons we have observed the growth of the community church movement (p.
127) as a protest against sectarian rivalries, the new emphasis of the
master of the national grange (p. 172) on the community responsibilities
of the grange as more important than its legislative activities, and the
effort to prevent an over-centralization of school administration
through the creation of community school districts under local control.
A striking example of the reaction of local communities in self-defense
against the demands for support from many organizations was the rapid
spread of the "War Chest" movement among our cities during the war as a
means of raising funds for various national organizations carrying on
war work. Subsequently the same idea has given rise to the organization
of "Community Chests" or "Community Funds" for financing various
community and national welfare agencies, so as to ensure adequate
support for those which are necessary, but to discourage a multiplicity
of competing organizations, and to furnish a mechanism whereby the
community may exercise some definite policy with regard to its social
work.
Such are some of the fundamental causes which have given rise to various
experiments in community organization. They commenced about a decade
ago, but increased slowly prior to the war. The war brought about a new
realization of the community, as it was necessary to organize war
activities, "war drives," etc., on a community basis. Under the National
Council of Defense were organized State and County Councils of Defense
and finally President Wilson issued a letter encouraging the
organization of local Community Councils,[85] to bring together all
organizations and interests of the community not only for war purposes
but with a view to their future usefulness in times of peace. In this
letter, President Wilson said:
"Your State, in extending the national defense organization
by the creation of community councils, is in my opinion
making an advance of vital significance. It will, I believe,
result when thoroughly carried out in welding the Nation
together as no nation of great size has been welded before.
It will build up from the bottom an understanding and
sympathy and unity of purpose and effort which will no doubt
have an immediate and decisive effect upon our great
undertaking. You will find it, I think, not so much a new
task as a unification of existing efforts, a fusion of
energies now too much scattered and at times somewhat
confused into one harmonious and effective power. It is only
by extending your organization to small communities that
every citizen of the State can be reached and touched with
the inspiration of the common cause."
The organization of community councils was actively pushed by the
National and State Councils of Defense, and thousands of them were
organized. This was in the summer of 1918, but owing to the early
declaration of the Armistice they had but little opportunity to become
thoroughly established. As they had been created primarily for war
purposes, most of them ceased to function with the cessation of
hostilities, but the idea had taken root and the experience of common
effort in war activities had brought about a new sense of the value of
some sort of community organization.
2. _The Process of Community Organization._--As corollaries of the
motives for community organization which we have just discussed, there
are certain fairly obvious principles concerning the process of
organization which deserve emphasis.
The first essential is to determine whether there are unsatisfied
desires which cannot be met except by community action and whether they
are sufficiently desired to command the united support of the community.
Only as individuals and associations have common desires which cannot be
satisfied without their united activity can community organization be
effected. The mere logical desirability of coordination of effort,
however rational it may appear, is too abstract an objective to inspire
enduring devotion. The allaying of antagonisms between special interests
makes no appeal to any of them until they are unable to achieve their
ends without joint action. Therefore, the primary consideration in
community organization is to determine what is the most important unmet
need of the community which requires united action for its satisfaction,
and to enlist all possible elements in the common enterprise.
A community must be thoroughly convinced of the need of some definite
form of community organization before it can succeed. Sudden enthusiasm
due to the power of a persuasive speaker or a community meeting may
result in the formation of a community organization, but unless a
considerable proportion of the people representing various interests are
firmly convinced of the need and are willing to pool their interests in
community activities, such an organization will be like many a convert
of a revival meeting, it will soon "backslide." To secure the
recognition of the need for concerted action by all elements of the
community will usually require time and education, and is a process
which cannot be forced too rapidly--all education or learning involves
time.
Even when an outstanding need is apparent it may not always be possible
to gain the support of a sufficient portion of the community to justify
an immediate effort for its achievement. It may be necessary to first
arouse good feeling and community spirit by some activity which, though
relatively less important, will command more general interest and
participation, and may pave the way for other enterprises. The first and
essential step in community organization is to get the community to act
together, for only through collective activity is community spirit and
loyalty developed. It is for this reason that Old Home Weeks, family
reunions, athletic or play festivals, baseball teams, picnics, pageants,
dramatics, community fairs, community Chautauquas, holiday celebrations,
and kindred events are often the best means for creating better
community spirit.[86] It should be remembered that the objective of
community organization is not _an_ organization, but the active
cooperation of all the people and organizations of the community for the
common welfare. The essential is common ideals and loyalties; the
mechanism whereby these may be achieved is incidental.
Until genuine local leadership is available, community organization will
be impossible. It is true that often where the need for community
activity is sufficiently great that the very necessity develops new
leadership. Herein lies the value of beginning the process of community
organization by some enterprise which enlists the enthusiastic support
of the whole community, for in such activities new leadership is often
developed.
Any form of community organization which is to be permanent and
effective must represent the actual life of the community, which is
largely dominated by existing organizations. Most individuals are loyal
to certain of these organizations and these loyalties are the social
realities which must be recognized in any attempt to unite them in
larger aims. Unless most of the leading organizations of a community can
be affiliated for community progress, any so-called community
organization will be but another organization. The League of Nations
hardly represents the world community as long as the United States,
Germany and Russia are not affiliated with it, nor would our federal
government be representative of our national life if it were
responsible only to the direct vote of the people and did not give
recognition to the states as states. It is for this reason that
community organization will proceed most efficiently where it is
initiated by the joint effort of several of its leading associations,
the churches, the grange, the farm and home bureau, the Red Cross, the
business men's association, etc., for without their support a divided
loyalty will persist.
For the same reason, a community organization cannot be under the
auspices of any one existing organization as a chamber of commerce or
farm bureau. Both of these and others are community organizations, but
they are for specific purposes. Proponents of both of these have
advocated making them community-wide and all-embracing in their
functions, but it needs but little reflection to show the impossibility
of such a plan. To cite but one objection. The rural church is the most
deeply-rooted and in many ways the most powerful of rural institutions.
It can cooperate with these other organizations for community purposes,
but neither of them can enter into the religious field. The same is true
of lodges, schools, health organizations, government, etc. Community
organizations, such as the Chamber of Commerce or Commercial Club, the
Grange and the Farm Bureau for agriculture and homemaking, the Red Cross
for its activities, Church Federations, and others should all be
encouraged where needed, but although each of these has certain
community functions, no one of them can do or can direct the work of
another. The community organization must bring them together so as to
best coordinate their work for the good of the community, not through
the power of an organic federation, but through the influence of
conference, good will and devotion to the common weal.
3. _The Community Council._--Community organizations are, as yet, in an
experimental stage and their formal constitutions or by-laws are of many
different types.[87] The Community Council, as suggested by the National
Council of Defense, has been adopted in many communities with various
modifications to meet local conditions. A community council consists of
one representative from each general organization which affiliates with
it and of a variable number of members-at-large elected by the annual
community meeting. All citizens are entitled to vote for the
members-at-large. The usual officers may be elected by the community
meeting, or, preferably, be chosen by the council itself. Thus the
council represents both the existing organizations and the community as
a whole. The council does not attempt any control over existing
organizations, but merely provides a means for their voluntary
cooperation and is an agency for promoting community activities. In many
cases where there are a large number of organizations, and it is
surprising how many are found in many average-sized rural communities,
the council will be too large to be an effective working body.
Furthermore, the members who represent various organizations may not
always be the best persons to carry on the particular enterprises which
the council desires to promote. The council may, under such
circumstances, devote itself to the consideration of policies and
enterprises, and may create committees of citizens who are best
qualified and most interested in particular projects to have charge of
their execution. Thus if the council decides to get back of a movement
for a playground, a public health nurse, and a band, committees would be
appointed to take charge of organizing each one of these enterprises.
These committees should be selected so as to represent the various
organizations most directly concerned with or interested in the
particular project as far as possible, but they should be chosen
primarily for their ability to produce results. Committees should be
appointed only for those projects which the council decides to
undertake, although one or two committees may be appointed merely to
investigate suggested projects and to report their findings for further
consideration. Where the council is large, and it is not practicable to
have it meet more than once a quarter, it may be well to have its work
carried on in the interims by an executive committee consisting of the
officers and the chairmen of the committees.
There can be no one best type of community organization adapted to the
widely varying conditions of all sorts and sizes of rural communities;
each community must have a form of organization adapted to its needs.
The important thing is not the creation of another new organization in
the community, but to afford the means for the better team play of those
which already exist. The mechanism must therefore depend upon the
character and stage of development of the community and will be modified
from time to time as its experience, or that of similar community
organizations, warrants.
Finally let us remember that community organization is not an end in
itself, but that it is merely a means whereby conditions in the
community may be made such that every individual in it may have the best
possible chance to develop his personality and to enjoy the fellowship
of service in the common good. The aim of all social organization is
personality, but personality is achieved and can find its own
satisfaction only through fellowship. The ideal community but furnishes
the social environment in which the human spirit realizes its highest
values.
FOOTNOTES:
[84] Much of this chapter is a revision of parts of an article by the
author entitled "Some Fundamentals of Rural Community Organization."
Proceedings Third Natl. Country Life Conference, pp. 66-77.
[85] See Elliott Dunlap Smith, Proceedings first National Country Life
Conference, pp. 36-46 and Appendix C.
[86] In this connection, Dr. N. L. Sims in his "The Rural Community" (p.
640. New York. Scribners, 1920), has propounded a most interesting "Law
of Rural Socialization":--"Cooperation in rural neighborhoods has its
genesis in and development through those forms of association which,
beginning on the basis of least cost, gradually rise through planes of
increasing cost to the stage of greatest cost in effort demanded, and
which give at the same time ever increasing and more enduring benefits
and satisfactions to the group."
[87] See pp. 74-5, "Some Fundamentals of Rural Community Organization."
Proc. 3d National Country Life Conference; and, E. C. Lindeman, "The
Community," Chap. X. New York, Association Press, 1921.