Authored by: Krisztina Tury 

Definition:

“A community is a group of people who are socially interdependent, who participate together in discussion and decision-making, and who share certain practice that both define the community and nurtured by it” (Bellah...

Learners research a natural disaster and examples of aid to help the affected populations. They learn the roles of the four sectors in responding to the needs. They participate in a collection campaign or other service project and learn about organizations to which they can contribute their philanthropy. Youth carry out the project, track their results, advocate for the cause, and reflect on their participation.

The youth read the book Seedfolks and discuss the diverse characters and their individual contributions to a community garden. While learning about the thirteen individuals in the story, they identify their character, heritage, motivations, and contributions to nourishing and maintaining the vacant lot garden. They discuss how their combined efforts changed not only their lives but also the lives of their community for the better. They relate this to their own diverse community.

Using the three economic sectors (for-profit, government, nonprofit) the learners will identify and categorize local organizations into one of these three economic sectors, They will write letters to those in the nonprofit sector in an effort to determine if and how their services might be utilized. The learners will then provide a service to one a selected nonprofit organization. 

The identification of the services provided by for-profit, nonprofit and governmental organizations and the drawing of community map that not only identifies the various services provided by these community organizations but also maps areas of need in the community form the intent of this lesson.

Pages