Powerful Community

Something out there must enjoy drenching my life in irony.

I was asked to give a presentation this week on creating a powerful community and this also happened to be a week were I had a lot of hurt feelings concerning community.

 

It’s hard to know how to hold communities accountable to the individual. The excluding or “owning” of ideas, basically choosing individual power over collective power-sharing, makes resentment and hurt alive and vivid in any community. Especially when community building spans a continent, it can be a hot mess in a minute. While I struggle with my emotions, I know my heart needs to choose what to be “for” something instead of being angry, petty, or seeking to “get them back”.

Choosing to be “for” something often feels like the harder choice for me. I am good at fighting for what I believe in, but in my experience, choosing to be against something can get people impassioned for a while, but it doesn’t sustain a movement or an individual (or me).

As I contemplate an action that speaks to my truth, I’ll share the points I made for creating a powerful community.

  I’ve found that there are 3 techniques when woven together create a strong and powerful group.

Always, always, always start where you are. If you don’t have the perfect Board of Directors or group of volunteers – start anyway. If things fall apart – start where you are.

Ask questions of the group – Do people understand the cultural context that we do our work in? (For example, Do they understand how disability fits in with their own identity and culture?)

In order to create social change for others, people have to understand themselves and understand how their experience relates with other people’s experiences. This happens best when people learn and grow together.

The second strand or technique is that once people understand themselves, they can shift to owning collective power. Collective power is all about helping people understand not just what they have a right to, but what they are responsible for.

Ask the group – How do we be responsible for being allies to others? Do we know enough about gender issues or racism? Would learning about how social privilege works or other issues be helpful?

Could we show up in support of another groups action? When people feel responsible to others after having a chance to connect and grow – they become a powerful entity.

The third strand, which I think is the most important, is to make sure there are lots of ways to have fun together!! Acknowledging that people in this work need time to reflect and relax will help a group trust you, themselves and each other.

When woven together people become ready to frame the work they want to do and powerful enough to do it.