Villa Marillac Center

Jack Rothman's
Model of Community
Organization/
Modes of Community
Intervention
 JACK ROTHMAN
American sociologist and social worker.
Best known for his work in community
organizing within the field of social
work.
Introduced three models of community
organization (1968)

Revised and refined the three model

constructs (2001)
 Locality Development Model

In order to effect change, a wide variety of

community people should be involved in
planning, implementation, and evaluation.

It is a community building endeavour with a

strong emphasis on the notions of mutuality,
plurality, participation and autonomy.
 Locality Development Model
Promotes process goals: community
competency (the ability to solve problems on a
self help basis) and social integration
(harmonious inter-relationships among
different ethnic and social class groups).

Humanistic and strongly people-oriented, with

the aim of “helping people to help themselves”.
 Locality Development Model

Leadership is drawn from within and direction

and control are in the hands of the local people.

“Enabling” techniques are emphasized.

 Social Planning/Policy Model
Rational, deliberately planned, technical process
of problem-solving with regard to substantive
social problems characterizes this model.
Data-driven and conceives of carefully
calibrated change being rooted in social science
thinking and empirical objectivity.
Building community capacity or fostering
radical or fundamental social change is not a
major goal of this model of community practice.
 Social Planning/Policy Model

The approach presupposes that change in a complex

modern environment requires expert planners who
can gather and analyse quantitative data and
maneuver large bureaucratic organizers in order to
improve social conditions. There is heavy reliance on
needs assessment, decision analysis, evaluation
research, and other sophisticated statistical tools.
 Social Action Model
The approach presupposes that a disadvantaged
segment of the population needs to be organized in
order to make demands on the larger community
for increased resources or improved treatment.

Key themes in this model are social justice,

democracy, and the redistribution of power,
resources, and decision making.
 Purposes in Considering
Various Models
To identify and make explicit the assumptions
and conditions that influence the selection of a
model (or mixing models) of organizing, as it
affects the process and the outcomes of the
community assessment.
To integrate theory with the practice of
community work.
Purposes in Considering Various Models
To facilitate discussion and reflection on the
process of community work.
To identify the types of skills and roles required
by a community worker in different projects
and the focus of how one spends his/her time.

To structure the tasks and techniques that will

aid in achieving the process goals of community
development.
Purposes in Considering Various Models
To assist community workers in understanding how
their orientation towards a particular model has
affected the kinds of community projects they have
become involved in and how they have chosen to work
within a community.

To provide a framework for community workers to

revisit those decisions and do future planning.
Comparison of 3 Models
 Thank you so much!

MARICON CAASI ROXANNE B. GIL MARIE B. LALAS

Student Affiliates- Villa Marillac Center