Informal associations of people focused on the common good have existed in most societies. The first formal precursor to the Community Benefit Organization was recorded in Elizabethan England to overcome the acute problem of poverty, which led to beggary. In England, Elizabethan poor law (1601) was set up to provide services to the needy. The London Society of Organizing Charitable Relief and Repressing Mendicancy and the settlement house movement followed in England during the late 1800s. This model of community organizing was carried into the United States of America. In 1880, the Charities organization was set up to put rational order in the area of charity and relief. The first citywide
Charity Organization Society (COS) was established in Buffalo, New York, US, in 1877. Rev. S. H. Gurteen, an English priest who had moved to Buffalo in 1873, gave led COS to outreach in more than 25 American cities. The American Association for Community Organization was organized in 1918 as the national agency for chests and councils and it later became known as community chests and councils of America (CCC). The Cincinnati Public Health Federation, established in 1917, was the first independent health council in an American city. In 1946, at the National Conference of Social Work met in Buffalo, where the Association of the Study of Community Organization (ASCO) was organized. The main objective was to improve the professional practice of organization for social welfare. In 1955, ASCO merged with six other professional organizations to form the
National Association of Social Workers. The
Settlement movement and "
settlement houses" are historically significant examples of community organizations, participating in both organizing and development at the neighborhood level. Settlement houses were commonly located in the industrial cities of the East and Midwest during the beginning of the 20th century;
Jane Addams'
Hull House in Chicago, Illinois, was a notable example. They were largely established in working-class neighborhoods by the college educated children of middle class citizens concerned by the substantial social problems that were the results of the increasing
industrialization and
urbanization of the social settlement movement. History shows that innovative methods of community organizing have risen in response to vast social problems. The social problems at the time of settlement houses included child labor, working class poverty, and housing. Settlement workers thought that by providing education services (English classes) and
social services (employment assistance, legal aid, recreational programs, children services) to the poor the income gap between them and the middle class would regress. The majority of funding for services came from charitable resources. Another development in the history of American community development occurred in the wake of World War II. Of prime importance were the American Red Cross and
United Service Organizations (USO), which recruited an immense number of people for volunteer services during the war. After World War II, the focus of community organization fell onto rising problems like rehabilitation of the physically and mentally challenged, mental health planning, destitution, abandoned aging population, juvenile delinquency, etc. The historical development of community organization in the UK is divided into four phases, according to Baldock in 1974: •
First Phase (1880-1920): During this period community work was mainly seen as a method of social work. It was considered a process of helping individuals enhance their social adjustments. It acted as major player to co-ordinate the work of voluntary agencies. •
Second phase (1920-1950): This period saw the emergence of new ways of dealing with social issues and problems. The community organization was closely associated with central and state government programs for urban development. The important development in this period was its association with the community association movement. •
Third phase (1950 onwards): This period emerged as a reaction to the neighborhood idea, which provided an ideological phase for the second phase. The professional development of social work took place during this period. Understanding the shortcomings in the existing system, it was a period where the social workers sought for a professional identity. •
Fourth phase: The ongoing period that has marked a significant involvement of the community action. It questioned the very relationship of the community work and social work. It was thus seen as period of radical social movement and we could see the conflicts of community with authority. The association of social workers and the community are deprofessionalized during this period. Thus it was during this period the conflictual strategies that were introduced in the community work.
Categories Typically community organizations fall into the following categories: community-service and action, health, educational, personal growth and improvement, social welfare and self-help for the disadvantaged. Community-based organizations (CBOs) which operates within the given locality insures the community with sustainable provision of community service and actions in health, education, personal growth and improvement, social welfare and self-help for the disadvantaged its sustainability becomes healthier and possible because the community is directly involved in the action or operation wherever and whenever monetary and non-monetary support or contribution is generated.
Amateur sports clubs, school groups, church groups, youth groups and community support groups are all typical examples of community organizations. In developing countries (like those in Sub-Saharan Africa) community organizations often focus on community strengthening, including HIV/AIDS awareness, human rights (like the
Karen Human Rights Group), health clinics, orphan children support, water and sanitation provision, and economic issues. Somewhere else social animators are also concentrating on uncommon issues, like
Chengara struggle, Kerala, India and Ghosaldanga Adivasi Seva Sangh which is reported in West Bengal, India. == Models ==