COMMUNITY AND ITS ELEMENTS

What is a Community?

The word "community" is derived from the old French comunete' which is derived from the Latin
communitas (from Latin communis, things held in common), a broad term for fellowship or organized
society. A community is essentially a group of people that are living in a particular area. This can be
physical or it can be with everyone sharing common interests. The meaning of community goes
beyond the place you live. Community is something that encompasses a group of people that support
each other. A community could be found in a town, a church, a school or a sports team. A community
is a social unit of any size that share common values. Although embodied or face-to-face communities
are usually small, larger or more extended communities such as national community, international
community and virtual community are also studied.

The term 'community' refers to a group of people gathered together in any geographic area, large or
small, who have common interests, actual or potentially recognized in the social welfare field.
A community is a collective of people with similar interests and goals whether living in the same
geographic locality or not. The meaning of community may actually vary depending on the objectives
of a program to be conducted thereat.

As per concept, a community may be categorized as geographical or functional. The term geographical
community is defined in the purview of group of persons living in the same geographical location like
in a certain village, town, neighborhood, district, area or territory. Meanwhile, community is said to
assume the functional nature if the aggregate of people though not necessarily based on living in the
same geographical location, is bonded by a common interests and goals. These are people who hold
common values, share common functions or express common interests

A certain type of community has recently emerged. Some refer to it as just social movements but its
definition points out that it surfaced out of the two other types of community. It is called a relevant
community that defines a group of people having similar interests and goals as the communities
around them. These populations have common interests in changing existing institutions to their
advantage in order to achieve redistribution of resources. It is geared towards organization of the
poor.

THE ELEMENTS OF A COMMUNITY

As a CWTS student, one should be aware of elements of a community in order to understand the
dynamics thereof. The important elements are demographics, history, culture, economy, and
structures. The demographics (characteristics of population) tell a lot about the movement of the
population in the community that you will serve. History allows you to identify certain patterns of
change and people's way of adapting to these changes that can be useful in plotting your activities.
Understanding the economy, culture, and community structures increases the chances of the success
of activities since anyone can provide culture-based and more realistic solutions to community
concerns.

In example, you were able to identify that it floods in a market area nearby the creek. During rainy
seasons, sales are very low because their merchandise gets soiled by the rain. They have adapted by
using improvised plastic covering to coat their merchandise but they are not so attractive. What kind
of projects do you think you can do by learning this information already? By experience, the
architecture and fine arts students training in the NSTP would usually think of enhancing the features
of the merchandise covering and the stalls itself to attract more consumers even during the rainy
season. Based on their assessment of these elements and by working with the community, one can
already formulate plan of actions.