COMMUNITY ACTIVISM IN OAK PARK: COMPETING AGENDAS ...
COMMUNITY ACTIVISM IN OAK PARK: COMPETING AGENDAS ...
COMMUNITY ACTIVISM IN OAK PARK: COMPETING AGENDAS ...
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the various definitions of “community” held by residents. Eventually, I co-founded a<br />
community group named the Oak Park Neighborhood Latinos, worked locally for the<br />
CSUS Math Engineering and Student Achievement Program (MESA), became a<br />
participant in a Women’s Needs-Assessment Study, became a regular attendant of<br />
Neighborhood Association meetings, and became a labor organizer for three months at<br />
the neighborhood Labor Association.<br />
While living in Oak Park, I noticed there were a multitude of community groups<br />
and non-profit organizations that focused their work on helping the poor in the<br />
community in different ways. I performed volunteer work with the intention of learning<br />
more about how social change was being accomplished for poor residents and I began to<br />
attend local Neighborhood Association meetings once a month to learn of the<br />
revitalization projects and community initiatives taking place. While attending the<br />
Neighborhood Association meetings, I met a handful of residents who were very<br />
enthusiastic about participating in community projects. Some residents who partook in<br />
community groups in Oak Park cheerfully welcomed my presence, while other<br />
residents—particularly lower-income residents—observed my presence with curiosity.<br />
From the perspective of community activists, I was a resident of Oak Park and therefore<br />
could easily “belong” to such community groups. But many lower-income residents<br />
remained both curious and suspicious of me as I interacted with middle-class residents.<br />
Over time I learned the perspectives that some residents had about poverty in Oak Park<br />
and learned that middle-class perspectives about poverty fueled the creation of various<br />
community groups.<br />
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