A community activist is someone who feels moved to create positive change in the social environment and helps bring others together to achieve those goals. Community activism is typically focused on a particular geographic area, such as the neighborhood where an activist lives or where the activists work or go to school. It can also include specific issues in that area, such as zoning or land use decisions. Community activists may also be referred to as community organizers.
Community activism is often a form of social praxis, an iterative process of consciousness-raising, critical reflection, and action that seeks to transform relations of power and inequality. This concept of activism is based on the belief that citizens can take steps to create changes in their own communities, if they are motivated and equipped to do so.
Some people who participate in community activism are part of organized movements, such as environmental or civil rights groups. However, many community activists are independent of such groups and act largely or exclusively on their own to address specific concerns. For example, an individual may protest a decision by local government to increase police surveillance of schools serving mainly low-income students, or she may organize a group to boycott a store that does not support community-based economic development initiatives.
Volunteerism is a form of community activism that can include hands-on efforts such as cleaning up litter or helping a neighbor who has fallen on hard times, or it can be more formal activities like giving free medical services to the needy or providing pro bono legal counsel. Community activists are usually interested in working at a grassroots level to affect a broad range of community concerns.
A community activist who works in the public health field, for instance, might be responsible for assessing local population health needs, advocating for legislative changes in funding and resources to meet those needs, and educating communities and legislators on how to best meet their own needs through available resources and programs. This type of work requires a great deal of interpersonal skills, since it involves interacting with numerous different people.
Many individuals choose to become involved in community activism for personal reasons, such as a desire to help others or the feeling that injustices should be corrected. Community activism can be a very time-consuming effort, but it can also be very rewarding. It is important for anyone who wants to engage in this kind of work to educate themselves on all aspects of the issue at hand, including its history, and how other activists have addressed it in the past. This will help to prevent burnout and ensure that the work has a lasting impact. It will also ensure that the activist has all the tools necessary to effectively advocate for change. Then they will be able to determine whether this is really the work for them.