A community project is a term applied to any
community
A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...
-based project. This covers a wide variety of different areas within a community or a group of
networking entities. Projects can cover almost anything, including the most obvious section of concern to any community, the
welfare element. Welfare community projects would for example be, a locally run and locally funded orphanage; a Christmas dinner kitchen for the homeless. Another important sector of importance to the community would be
charity
Charity may refer to:
Common meanings
* Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons
* Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sha ...
. Charitable projects in the community can include, but are not limited to,
ecological charities concerned with either the maintenance of
green spaces, or in some cases, the prevention of the reduction/removal of green spaces. An old
clothes collection service would also be a community-based charity project. One important subdivision of community projects, and at times overlooked, is those of an economic nature such as
LETS. The highlight of economic community projects is what is known as
Transition Towns. Most economic community projects are designed at creating some sort of economic
autonomy
In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy is the capacity to make an informed, uncoerced decision. Autonomous organizations or institutions are independent or self-governing. Autonomy can also be ...
.
It begins when a small collection of motivated individuals within a community come together with a shared concern: ''how can our community respond to the challenges, and opportunities, of
peak oil
Peak oil is the point when global oil production reaches its maximum rate, after which it will begin to decline irreversibly. The main concern is that global transportation relies heavily on gasoline and diesel. Adoption of electric vehicles ...
and
climate change
Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...
?''
Scope and size
All community projects are different in some way; the size and scope of these projects is determined firstly by the community they cater to.
According to the definition of a community,
a community could be the entire
human race or parts of it anywhere on the planet. However, because of phenomena like
distance decay or
demographic
Demography () is the statistics, statistical study of human populations: their size, composition (e.g., ethnic group, age), and how they change through the interplay of fertility (births), mortality (deaths), and migration.
Demographic analy ...
factors such as age group, gender and income that determine
social identity
Identity is the set of qualities, beliefs, personality traits, appearance, or expressions that characterize a person or a group.
Identity emerges during childhood as children start to comprehend their self-concept, and it remains a consistent ...
of
groups, the extent of community-based projects is usually much more limited.
See also
*
Community service
Community service is unpaid work performed by a person or group of people for the benefit and betterment of their community contributing to a noble cause. In many cases, people doing community service are compensated in other ways, such as gettin ...
References
Community organizing
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