Cultivating community in a concrete jungle

Concrete / jungle – both powerful forces

Delinquency is not inherent in people but a product of their environment.Position 1

Holding space for the “eco” in “ecosystem”

Current service ecosystem

• Helping individuals cope with existing environment

• Focus on psychology

• Belief that problems require treatment

• Needs-based

• Goal is for individual facing difficulties to behave differently

• Professional-client (beneficiary) relationship

• Helping is the domain of experts

Community building approach

• Transforming environment to care for all individuals

• Focus on context and circumstances

• Problems are an opportunity for people to come together

• Strengths-based

• Goal is for community and society to behave differently

• Relationships between neighbours, fellow citizens

• We all have a stake and can co-create solutions

Shifting the narrative about youth on the margins

A social issue is not just a problem to be eradicated, but an opportunity to rally different segments of society towards a common good.

Position 2

Wider society strengthens

local community efforts

Local community cooperates

Families and friends support

each other

A whole-of-society approach

Building community from

the inside out…

…with goodwill flowing

outside in.

Co-creation with community

Empowerment is not simply transferring power, but championing cooperation over competition, and acting from a place of abundance rather than scarcity

Position 3

Cultivating community is more like farming than gardening

What we must safeguard

Shared meanings and purpose,

despite differences

Within community; and between community and other

stakeholders

Families’ stability and self-

determination, from system interventions

Family Group Conferencing

Community resources and initiatives, from the encroachment of more powerful interests

Void decks, community centres

Interdependence between

neighbours, rather than dependence

on systems

Community can respond to crisis and develop sustainable

solutions

Counter-narratives from

the margins, amidst dominant

narratives

Community theatre, social media, engaging

decision-makers

Some other things we must safeguard…

• Our self-reflexivity, from the anxiety to “do good” and the pressure of KPIs

• Our commitment to people, principles and positions, rather than specific models and programmes

• The rhythm and pace of community, from organisational logic

• Our identity as citizens, alongside that as customers, consumers, professionals and clients

Thank you!ged@beyond.org.sg

www.beyond.org.sg

Facebook: Beyond Social Services

+65 63752940