Before you begin your search for a Community Need that you can be invested in -- let me spend a moment defining "Community Need." A community need is a problem that affects many people in the community in a similiar way. A community need is never caused by one person; these needs always have a complicated history and are rooted in multiple institutions and events. Different groups in the community are affected in different ways, but what makes it a *community* need -- is that many people are troubled and almost everyone wants to solve it (though in different ways).
I recommend that you start this process by brainstorming. What are the community needs that you already know about from your own hometown? They can be needs that exist at the neighborhood level, the city level, the county level. These issues could be related to some community institutions, community businesses or just residents. These issues might affect only older people, younger people, married people or handicapped people.
Often the problems that are most significant in our own lives -- are rooted in a much larger systemic problem that might not be obvious at first, but may actually be a problem that could be addressed in the community.
I'd recommend that you brainstorm a list of problems that you can think of without doing any research first.
Next, I'd recommend that you try to think about how other people, unlike you, who also live in your community, might answer the question: What are the biggest problems that people in the community face? What are the biggest problems that the community faces?
After you've thought hard about your own experiences and those experiences that you're aware of -- I suggest you look to some other sources. There are institutions that already exist in this community (the greater Canton area & Stark County) who only exist to address existing problems. Many of them are non-profit institutions; a few more are government branches. I suggest that you browse the links below and expand your list of problems by thinking about the work that these organizations do.
Stark County Foundation
Stark County Family Council
City Data on Canton
Census Data on Stark County
After you've thought hard about these agencies and their work, you may already have enough options. If you don't, I suggest that you read the paper. The Canton Repository and the Akron Beacon Journal (maybe the Cleveland Plain Dealer) are good; I might recommend a national paper or two, too (The New York Times, The Washington Post, etc...). Unfortunately much of the newspaper's pages these days are NOT devoted to community needs, but are, instead, devoted to surprising local events.
Make sure you focus your reading on problems that fit into the definition above.
Now that you've brainstormed a huge list of potential problems -- how do you choose the right one for you to address?
I suggest that you identify the top three-five problems that you're most interested in and spend an hour or two researching them on the web. How have other communities dealt with this problem? What does this problem look like in this community? What information and resources will aid your preparation for this presentation? Look over the assignment again before you make your choice -- which option best fits:
your gifts + the assignments demands + your classmates' interests + this community's needs.
Once you've settled on a Community Issue, send me an email proposal and if I approve it, I'll add it to the list of approved topics here on the blog. If I have some concerns, I'll email you.
When you send me your issue-proposal-email, you should clearly articulate the problem in a full sentence. In a second sentence, you should explain *why* this is a problem, even if it seems too obvious to you, I want you to explain the "harms" and the "impact" of this problem.
That's it. Just two sentences. I'll only accept these proposals through email. While these proposals are not graded, the longer you wait to turn one in, the more difficult it will be for you to find a problem. If you present a problem at the fair that I have not approved in advance, you risk the possibility that it will not meet the criteria I stated at the top of this post. If you present a problem that does not meet these criteria, your presentation will automatically have 20% deducted from the grade you earn.
