Final Paper

Identity, Service, and American Democracy

Eden Audelo

Arizona State University

 Introduction

In this Paper, statements will be under the idea of a specific organization and connections

within civic engagement, social capital, diversity and mobilization strategies. Connections like

these can be made from day to day life, and even imputed to our personal volunteering journey.

In the United States Alone, about “63 million of Americans,25% of the adult population,

volunteer their time” according to Non Profit Source.com. That is actually not a lot of people if

you think about it. On average, there are about 328.2 million Americans, as of 2019, and

comparing that to the 16 million volunteering adults in the United states there is a big gap. I

personally didn’t have a huge interest in volunteering within my time, even though it meant

volunteering through non profitable organizations. But without realizing, I’ve realized

throughout this course that I do have some experience in volunteering and helping my

community. I realized that when you are doing something you enjoy and have an interest in you

may not even realize you are contributing to your community. That’s why in this Final Paper I

will be talking about an organization that connects with me and who I identify as a part of me.

That organization is La Casa Hogar.

La Casa Hogar’s main mission is to bring together neighborhood communities, and

connect with different cultures by educating Latin families that live within the community of

Yakima Valley. We see from this course the concept of civic engagement, from module 1, in
which we can also see through the organization La Casa Hogar because of the mobilization

based on race/ethnicity.

Identity

In la Casa Hogar, the main Identity you can see within this organization is the latino

community from yakima county. In terms of age, all ages and gender are participating,

children,men, and women.

The Identity of people involved in this organization affects the organization in a positive

way, this is because this specific organization targets latin families who would like to learn

english along with other things that are difficult to accomplish when English is an unknown or

second language. So, when other latin families or individuals recognize that they are within a

comfortable environment they are most likely to depend and change from this

organization.Though this organization shows shared identity within the interior of the

organization, the organization targets identity divide within neighborhood communities. La Casa

Hogar’s vision is separated into three main ideas, based on the main page of the organization, but

all three ideas can be categorized under one idea of shared identity. These three main ideas are

the envisioning of transforming divided neighborhoods to connected communities, inviting the

community to integrate and celebrate our cultures, and connecting with different cultures of the

community to remain united.

Social Capital
 Priorities are important at La Casa Hogar, this organization makes sure that children and

latina families are educated with the necessary resources in order for families and children to

have the best learning and evolving experience.

This organization particularly is under political dimension. This is because La Casa

Hogar is a social organization that focuses on one community to impact other communities. But

what is a political dimension? To better understand the purpose and length of this organization

it's better if we understand what supports and categorizes this organization. A political dimension

is “any social or cultural entity, from the smallest interaction, as in a dyad (two people), to a

whole country. As when a pencil may be short or long, it always has a length, so small or large

groups and institutions have a political dimension.” according to Community Empowerment

Collective.

I believe being a part of this organzanitation brings an influence through relation to other

identity groups other than the latin community. This is because the main vision of this

organization is to connect different cultures within the community and unite. That being said, we

can say for sure that membership in this organization (La Casa Hogar) influences relations with

other identity groups.

Civic, Political, and/or Social Engagement

Volunteering and engaging in this organization, La Casa Hogar, looks quite busy based

on the many options provided through this organization. La Casa Hogar provides many general

work and daily classes for people of the Yakima County Community, this includes Adult

education, preschool, citizenship education, and legal services. La Casa Hogar’s about page says
itself “La Casa Hogar prioritizes civic engagement and is actively involved in immigration rights

coalitions, census work, local and statewide government and other community committees.

Internally La Casa prioritizes collective care, and development of student and team members in

their professional and personal goals.” Being involved in this organization means engaging all

year long, fall, winter, spring, and summer.

Mobilization

Some messages and important ideas provided from La Casa Hogar’s main page is the

idea of becoming a better version of yourself by transforming our own lives to impact others in

our community, Specifically the Yakima County. La Casa Hogar’s about us page states “La Casa

Hogar connects and educates Latina families, to transform lives and our Yakima Valley.”

Though an exact or average Number of members and volunteers is not provided

information on the La Casa Hogar main page, What is provided are the main team members who

make this organization run to its full potential. The team consists of about thirteen members and

volunteers who are in and out.

Because La Casa Hogar is an organization that focuses on bringing the Latino

Community in need to learn as well as bring together different communities, there must be a very

welcoming and supportive community within the organization of La Casa Hogar. This is why La

Casa Hogar focuses on the environment of the organization. La Casa Hogar states in their about

Page “La Casa Hogar equips the Latina community with self-confidence, strengthening their

leadership to navigate systems in daily life.” as well as using words to descriptive words to show

what main ideas the organization withholds “Empathy, respect, relationship and trust,
authenticity, justice and equity. Identity and dignity, relationship and community, compassion

and justice, hope and promise.”

Though La Casa Hogar doesn’t have a specific public problem they would like to fix,

They have a general motive that focuses on helping Latino individuals have the chance to learn

english and have an opportunity to succeed without the barrier of their language like getting a

driver’s license.

Does this organization mobilization compare to any organizations from this course: We

can see a movement that resembles La Casa Hogar inside of the course like the #MeToo

movement which talks about communities coming together for healing. La Casa Hogar also

hopes that with their organization communities can work together. This shows the idea of a

political dimension, in which people come together and coexist.

American Democracy

How does La Casa Hogar fit in place inside american democracy? Because La Casa

Hogar is a non profit organization we must align non profit into american democracy. According

to a text book passage by Erica Greeley “Our American democracy is founded on the freedoms

of speech and association. Nonprofit organizations represent the primary vehicle for these

freedoms and for the realization of any democracy that is “of the people, by the people, and for

the people.”

Service means to supply personal and planned out time for the public or for a cause. So

what makes service unique to american democracy is the fact that people all around are
volunteering and dedicating their time to the american public, and even going beyond to helping

those in other communities and even countries.

So you see, La Casa Hogar is a great example of a non profit organization that focuses on

the greater good of the community. Though you may not see all of the things one single

organization upholds, taking time to investigate and see a connection to an organization might

make you get a chance to help out the community with something you are passionate about.

There is an organization for everyone.

 Work Cited

Volunteering statistics and trends for nonprofits. (n.d.). Retrieved May 05, 2021, from

https://nonprofitssource.com/online-giving-statistics/volunteering-

statistics/#:~:text=Approximately%2063%20million%20Americans

%20%E2%80%94%2025,time%20is%20%2424.14%20per%20hour.

Cultivating seeds of success. (n.d.). Retrieved May 05, 2021, from http://www.lacasahogar.org/

Bartle, P. (2012, March 6). Political dimension. Retrieved May 05, 2021, from

http://cec.vcn.bc.ca/cmp/modules/dim-poli.htm#:~:text=The%20political%20dimension%20is

%20in,institutions%20have%20a%20political%20dimension

Greeley, E. (n.d.). Our American Democracy: How Do Nonprofits Fit In?