I live in a black community (normally referred to as townships), these areas are habited by poor people, where the unemployment and poverty levels are extremely high. Youth idleness and drugs and crime are very high.
I bought a piece of land that I would like to convert into a community center in order to provide the youth with opportunities, for healthy lifestyles, income generation projects and academic skills development, to build a safe space for youth to engage in, collaborate, explore opportunities and build positive habits.
The main objective is to take these youth out of the streets, provide them with opportunities to learn different skills in an environment that is conducive, where most of the amenities that were previously lacking will be made available to them, like internet cafes, learning and study center etc.
Hi Michael,
Welcome to the Community Tool Box (CTB) and Ask an Advisor, we’re very glad you chose to visit us and for your excellent idea. Thank you for the work you are doing on behalf of your Township and for wanting to improve the lives of the youth who live there, hopefully I can find you some resources that will move you along in the building of the community center. On a personal note, I lived in South Africa briefly and spent time with community members in a Township near to where I was staying, and I must say I was completely in awe of their resilience and determination to make a better life for themselves, truly inspirational.
Before we get down to business, let me explain how Ask an Advisor works. The advisor, in this case me, finds resources within the CTB in the form of chapters rich with information, toolkits with nuts and bolts, how to get stuff done information with examples, and community stories from people just like you who have done what you want to do, while drawing upon my own community building work to help you come up with the answers you're looking for. In short, the advisor provides links to information in the CTB or from elsewhere if necessary, it is then up to you to sort through and determine the information likely to be the most relevant and helpful. If the advisor thinks her/his own experience might be helpful too then that's added into the mix. Make sense?
So, what do you need to build a community center? Well, I think the very first thing you need is a model that will get you thinking about how you want to go about planning, implementing, evaluating, and sustaining the community center. The CTB model provided through the link below is to get you to really focus your thoughts about what you both want to do and how to go about doing it in terms of: assessing what needs to be done and what’s already available in your Township in terms of resources; planning how to get from where you are now (a piece of land) to where you want to go (a fully functional community center); acting by mobilizing other people (you really can’t go this alone, all the best community projects have a diversity of partners working together to solve community problems); evaluating whether the community center is working as intended; and in sustaining the community center in perpetuity. So, all that said, I suggest taking a look at A Model for Getting Started: https://ctb.ku.edu/en/get-started. I know, there’s a lot to unpack in this model, what with all the toolkits and other resources, but for my money this is absolutely the best place to start, taking it one step at a time. The good news is that you already took a giant step in the right direction by purchasing the land upon which the community center will be located, you’re off to a great start. In Chapter 2 – Other Models for Promoting Community Health and Development: https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/overview/models-for-community-health-and-development you’ll find 18 models, or examples if you prefer, but I think the most relevant to what you want to do are found in Section 8 – Communities that Care: https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/overview/models-for-community-health-and-development/communities-that-care/main and Section 16 - Building Compassionate Communities: https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/overview/models-for-community-health-and-development/building-compassionate-communities/main. Between the CTB model and the two other models you’ll have a good idea of what can be done. While the latter two sections won’t tell you how to get the community center built, they will give you some principles to consider as you put the community center together.
To give you a bit of a breather from all that modeling, I found the following link in Chapter 26 - Changing the Physical and Social Environment, Section 8 – Creating Good Places for Interactions: https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/implement/physical-social-environment/places-for-interaction/main which will teach you how to create a community environment that promotes diverse community engagement, which in essence is what you are looking to do. After reading through this section have a look at the examples in Section 8 to give you an idea of what others have done: https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/implement/physical-social-environment/places-for-interaction/examples. I always find the examples to be very insightful and inspirational, and I hope you find them to be likewise.
Last, I’ve given you a lot to consider. The one thing we haven’t really talked about is how you’re going to fund your community center. You purchased the land yourself, but I think you should consider putting in place a financial plan to actually get the community center built. So, I have two chapters for just that purpose: Chapter 42 - Getting Grants and Financial Resources: https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/finances/grants-and-financial-resources, and Chapter 43 - Managing Finances: https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/finances/managing-finances.
Phew, that’s a lot to get through Michael, but the resources provided will give you a good start. Just remember, you don’t have to do everything all at once, one step at a time. I suggest reading through the CTB model first, then Chapter 26, Section 8 and the example, last the two chapters on funding. If the resources provided don’t give you everything you need then do visit the CTB again and I will try and find you more of what you need; as I said, you have enough at the moment to get you moving in the right direction. With that, on behalf of the CTB thank you so very much for presenting me with an interesting and challenging question, and for what you are attempting to do in your Township, it is admirable and inspiring! We wish you the best of success in all your endeavors.
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