The Strengthening Community is a process of addressing problems and challenges by involving members of the community. This process involves planning and implementation of specific actions, addressing underlying causes of powerlessness and politically oriented activities. The end result is transformation and empowerment of community members. To strengthen your community, consider the following tips. First, identify the right people to represent the community. This will help you avoid creating a minority that imposes its will on the rest of the community.
Second, focus on addressing social injustice by strengthening communities. By addressing social injustices, communities can prevent disease and expand resources for health promotion. In this chapter, we explore community transformation, focusing on public health workers’ role in this process and building on community strengths. Ultimately, our goal is to strengthen communities’ capacities to confront health problems and improve their ability to solve them on their own. To do this, public health interventions should focus on building capacity in the community and developing individual problem-solving skills.
Finally, we’ll talk about strengthening community identity through the Arts. The National Endowment for the Arts is committed to strengthening communities through arts integration, healthy living, and social responsibility. In Iowa, for example, the Rebuild Iowa Infrastructure Fund funds organizations to engage in arts, cultural, and economic activities. In addition, we’ll discuss how to strengthen community identity and civic engagement. These are important objectives in the process of strengthening community identity.