Approved May 16, 2002

COMMUNITY PORTRAITS

RATIONALE:  Both as citizens and as public and community service workers it is important to understand the geographical communities and neighborhoods in which you live and work, and which your work affects.  You need to be able to build and refine this understanding not only through first-hand knowledge and direct experience, but also by drawing upon the great array of sources and types of information about local communities.  Furthermore, it is not enough to develop a rich understanding of a community just for oneself; it is important to be able to craft information into community portraits that can be shared with others—such as community members, public officials, the media, foundations and funding agencies—to enhance their understanding, effectiveness and responsiveness.

This competency requires the student to demonstrate familiarity with and ability to utilize various types of community information useful to public and community service workers.  This includes Census and similar types of demographic data, agency reports and public records, maps, historical documents, and other types of qualitative and quantitative information.  It requires the student to demonstrate familiarity with and utilize various places and sources where information about local communities can be obtained, including: formal sources, such as libraries, the Census Bureau, other public and community agencies, and the Internet; and informal sources, such as newspaper classified ads and key informants.  The competency also requires the student to demonstrate practical skills in actually obtaining, summarizing, interpreting and evaluating both qualitative and quantitative information about a local community.  Finally, the competency requires the student to demonstrate the ability to produce short written research papers that are based upon community information, inferences drawn from the information and the student’s own ideas. 

Competency:  Can prepare a written portrait of a geographical community, describing social, economic and physical aspects of the community, as they are currently and as they have developed over time.

CRITERIA:

1.      Select a geographical community and briefly describe its location.

2.      Obtain quantitative data about the social, housing and economic characteristics of the community, organize the data into summary tables, perform basic computations with the data, and prepare a written summary and interpretation of what the data reveal about the community. 

3.      Prepare a present-oriented historical sketch of the selected community that identifies and briefly describes the major periods, events and developments that have made the community what it is today, socially, economically and physically.

4.      Obtain information about the current situation and possible recent changes with regard to at least one other aspect of the community, and summarize the information both visually and with a brief written summary and interpretation.

PORTFOLIO LINKS:  You are expected to use the Writing Portfolio criteria and standards as guidelines for the written products required by this competency. Papers written for this competency may be considered for submission to the Writing Portfolio.

STANDARDS:

1.      For Criterion 1:

a.       The selected community should have a population between approximately 10,000 and 50,000.

b.       The description must include:

• the name of the community
• whether it is a city, a town, or a neighborhood within a larger city or town (and if so, what is the larger city or town)
• the approximate distance and direction in relation to downtown Boston
• what it is bordered by in each direction (the cities, towns, neighborhoods, or bodies of water, as relevant).

Criterion 1 is to be demonstrated in a well developed paragraph or two, plus a map showing boundaries of the community and the bordering localities or bodies of water.

2.      For Criterion 2:

a.       The data must be obtained for at least two separate points in time, separated by at least five years.

b.      The data for at least one of the two points in time must be from the decennial U.S. Censuses (such 1990 or 2000); the data for the second point in time must be either from another decennial Census, or the American Community Survey, or another well-regarded source approved by the evaluator.

c.       All Census data must be Census “long form” data, referred to as Summary Tape File 3A data (STF 3A).

d.      For at least one of the years the Census data are to be obtained from the Census Bureau website.

e.       All of the data must be for the appropriate geographical area.

f.        The data are to be tabulated and percentage distributions and percentage changes calculated using spreadsheet software.

g.       All percentages must be to one decimal place and must be correct.

h.       The written narrative must accurately summarize the major changes in population, housing and economic characteristics, as revealed by the data over the time period.

i.         The narrative should include brief interpretations of the implications of several of the identified changes.

3.      For Criterion 3, the historical  sketch should address several major questions such as the following:

• What were the major periods of population growth (and perhaps of later decline)? 
• What have been the major ethnic or demographic changes in the types of people living in the community?
• During what periods was most of the housing built?
• What major types of industries and other economic activities came and went?  When?
• What types of major transportation changes, if any, shaped the community?  When?
• Were there any natural disasters, or major social movements or political struggles that have left a lasting imprint on the community?

4a.     For Criterion 4, prepare one of the following or another approved by an evaluator:

• apartment rent survey
• health data summary
• social service profile
• school inventory and enrollment summary
• transportation profile
• land use map
• environmental profile
• industry and employment profile
• real estate title searches
• municipal budget summary
• crime summary
• voter registration and election statistics summary
• the major elected and appointed positions and boards, and the individuals who occupy them

4b.       For criterion 4:

a.       The information must be accurate and complete for the chosen community and time period.

b.      The visual summary is to be in the form of tables, graphs and/or maps.

c.       The written summary and interpretation should be about 2-3 pages in length.

d.      Sources of information must be identified and properly cited.

EXAMPLES / MODES OF DEMONSTRATION:

1.      Prior Learning: A student had a work-study job in the McCormack Institute’s Center for Social Policy that included working on a study of housing needs in a number of North Shore communities. While her own community of Rockport was not one of the communities being studied, the adjacent community of Gloucester was, and so she focused particularly on Gloucester.  She obtained, tabulated and assisted in analyzing 1980 and 1990 Census data for Gloucester; conducted an apartment rent survey based on ads in the local newspaper; and conducted interviews with a number of housing officials in local government and non-profits.  She submits a copy of the report and an affidavit from the project director attesting to her role and skills.  The project did not involve an historical sketch of Gloucester, so to complete that part of the competency she prepared a present-oriented history following guidelines provided by an evaluator.

2.      Independent Learning: The student is a Boston police officer who works in East Boston, grew up there, and still lives there.  He feels that he does not need to take a course to demonstrate the competency, meets with an evaluator and effectively makes the case to be able to do it independently.  The evaluator provides him with a set of assignments corresponding to the competency criteria and standards.  The student completes the assignments and submits them; meets with the evaluator to discuss several aspects that need some additional work; completes the additional work; and is then awarded the competency.

3.      CPCS Course: A student takes a course and completes all of the assignments for his community of Malden.

4.      Field Project: A team of CPCS students and faculty conduct a project with the Chelsea Commission on Hispanic Affairs to document the size of the Latino community in Chelsea and analyze the community’s social, economic and housing conditions.  The team sets the study into a historical perspective on Chelsea to show how previous waves of immigrant populations have fared and been treated in Chelsea.  They analyze Census data, state agency data on income and employment trends, and a parish census.  They analyze the City budget to determine how public spending is allocated to predominantly Latino portions of the City.  They examine the portrayal of Latinos in the local newspaper.  They conduct interviews with residents, advocates, and agency staff and local government officials.  They produce a series of reports that are released at a press conference.