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Community Engagement Reflection
For this survey about a neighborhood where a community engagement is meant to take place, I used various resources, including transportation, online resources such as websites, the GPS features in my phone and the company of a friend. These resources were critical as they proved helpful in my survey. For transportation, I borrowed my mother’s car as I had to drive around the neighborhood as I took mental notes that I would use to develop my report later. Since I did not have a car, I only had to borrow and fuel my mother’s car. Online resources including websites, journals, and videos, were helpful in helping me research and learn more about the demographics of the community I intended to engage. Since I was in unfamiliar territory, I had to use the GPS feature on my phone to navigate my way around the community. I invited my friend to tag along as I was going into unfamiliar territory for the first time and she had been in the area before.
During my visit, I saw people from all walks of life; the community there is diverse and has people of all kinds of ethnicities ranging from African Americans, Whites, Latinos, and Asian Americans. The community has people of middle economic status. Driving around, I noticed that the community was very clean as it was rare for me to see dirty streets or homeless people roaming around the community. I also noticed that the people are very warm and welcoming. I think that the people who live in the community work both white and collar jobs. The city is populated and is located next to an industrial hub which points out that the people would be the source of labor for the companies found there. The neighborhood has various assets, including a local airstrip and the biggest cement power manufacturing plan in the area. Some of the assets found in the neighborhood that are managed by outsiders include a public school and hospital who serve people from the community as well as outsiders. Outside assets originating outside the neighborhood that are managed by outsiders include repaved parking lots extending throughout the neighborhood that are maintained by external figures.
My reaction to this community engagement survey experience was eye-opening. At first, I had no idea what to expect as I was driving a territory I had never been in before. When I arrived in the neighborhood, I was impressed with what I saw. I was happy to see that the neighborhood was clean, not crowded and did not have homeless people. Honestly, this is a community I foresee myself living in one day. It is the kind of environment that attracts a person, from its quiet vicinity to its warm people.
The unexpected thing that emerged from my drive that surprised me was the fact that the community has small airstrip miles away from the outskirts of the central business district. Frankly speaking, I did not expect to see such a facility in the neighborhood. I am impressed as I know that the airstrip will come in handy in transportation of members of staff into and out of the city, as well as resources once community engagement begins.
Undoubtedly, following my drive around the neighborhood, my picture about the community did not change much. This is because I told myself that I would go for the drive to survey with an open mind. I tried not to have expectations while going for the drive because I did not want to set the bar too low or high than reality. I am glad I did this because I was impressed with what I saw in the community.
I felt more connected to the community following my drive because I could resonate with almost everything I saw. I saw children playing in the drive ways of their neighborhoods after school and this took me back to a time when I was their age. I also saw countless individuals leaving for home after a long day of work from their respective companies and this resonated with me a lot as it reminded me that people work just trying as much as possible to get the best out of life. The best way for me to engage with members of this community would be to become one of them. One can do this by placing themselves at the heart of the community, talking to influential individuals such as community and religious leaders as they are the ones that bear influence in the community and will determine the success of the community engagement.
