UnderstandingtheConceptsand

PrinciplesofCommunityImmersion
People involved in community immersion must be knowledgeable on
the basics of community, its meaning, concepts underpinning principles
and nature of problems and issues arising there from. This will enable
the trainees to have a good grasp of the local situation thereby preparing
them to appropriately respond to the multifarious concerns in the
community and property carry out immersion projects and activities that
is so conceived to bring about long-term amelioration, and not just over-
night solutions of the social menaces and ills.

Community immersion is basically community service. It teaches

students how to be a good citizen.

Community Immersion, a program of the AQ CSTP, is an experimental

process of being with the people in communities. The process helps
concretize theoretical classroom discussion through actual experiences.
It also raises the level of awareness and consciousness of the realities
besetting the people in the communities.
 Concepts and Principles of Community Immersion

Community- According to Arlien Johnson, a noted community

development specialist, a community is a collective of people with
similar interests and goals whether living in the same geographic
locality or not.
Geographical and Functional- Geographical community is defined
in the purview of group of persons living in the same geographical
location like a certain village, town, district, area or territory.
Functional Community- is defined as aggregrate of people though
not necessarily based on living in the same geographical location,
is bounded by a common end such as fighting for the same cause,
having the same interests and goals.

Elements of a Community

The important elements of the following:

Demographics- includes population distribution and density

History- events of the past that contributed to the development of
the community
Culture- ways of living of the people
Economy- income level and occupation of people
Structures- physical, political and social structures in the
community