To Heal a Community, Build Capacity [RWJF.org]

About 15 years ago, non-profit and public service providers in Cowlitz County, Wash. were trying to figure out why—despite great planning and programming—there were still problems in the neighborhood that made the most 911 calls. The prevailing wisdom was that the neighborhood was dangerous because it was dark outside people’s homes, and it stayed dark because people liked it that way. It helped conceal criminal activity. But the coordinator for the service collaborative knew she needed to engage with residents and learn what they thought. So to start to figure out what was happening, she went house by house to talk to people.

As those discussions with community residents grew, it became clear that residents saw things differently.

Some warned her that the neighborhood was dangerous, that once it got dark at night the streets weren’t safe. But others felt it was a much simpler issue: it was dark because people couldn’t afford light bulbs for outside their homes. The darkness made people feel like they didn’t have control over their own safety, and that in turn led to negative assumptions that further exacerbated the problem.