This assignment will ask you to provide a comprehensive overview of the community that you have chosen. Only by knowing the people, their history, values, problems, and concerns will you be able to gain an understanding of the role you can play in their lives.

In preparation for the final project in this course where you will write a grant proposal with an accompanying presentation, you will need to develop a clear understanding of the community you seek to serve with your project. In this assignment, you will construct a specific service project that meets the needs of the particular community it engages. Use a variety of sources to establish a preliminary picture of the community in order to gauge the concerns of actual members within the community itself.

Do the following:

Compile research from both scholarly as well as local sources such as newspaper articles, interviews, town-meeting notes, etc., to develop a "big picture" of the community.

Conduct research, including interviews, questionnaires, and surveys, in the field to supplement this information if such information will help in further developing your understanding of the community.

Here are some topics to help guide your research:

History:

When was the community started?

Why was it started?

What has been the main economic base for the community? Has it changed since its founding? If so, how has this affected the community?

What about the history of minority groups in the area?

People:

Who are the important people (elected officials, church leaders, community leaders, etc.)?

Who works with these individuals to support their efforts (community organizations, churches, non-profit organizations, local governments, etc.)?

Groups:

What are the various groups within the community (geographic, social, racial, ethnic, etc.)?

Who represents the interests of each? Are there any particular organizations that serve particular groups?

How do these groups interact with one another? Are there groups that tend to work together or at cross-purposes? If so, identify how and why such relationships develop.

Are there any particular groups that undertake work of a similar nature as your proposed project?

Problems:

What problems do you see?

What problems do the others see?

What problems do the important people that you identified see?

What problems do government officials see?

What problems do the smaller groups within the community see?

Compile your research into a paper. Include the following details:

An introduction of your proposed action.

An assessment of the needs of the particular community you seek to serve based on the research conducted above.

An overview of the potential impact this plan might have on the community (both positive and negative).

An assessment of how your initial proposal can be modified to meet these particular concerns.

Write a 5-page paper in Word format. Please be sure to use reliable and valid research or report data from at least eight references (four of

which must be scholarly references). Include a title and reference page. Apply APA standards to citation of sources.