Answer: “A 'real' community developer would never screw in a lightbulb by themselves. It would be more important to develop the capacity of people in the community so they could do it themselves next time.”
So far so good.
But in government’s version of community development, developing capacity usually means hiring someone to visit everyone and organize meetings and surveys. That’s where it starts.
Next thing you know, they’ve hired someone else to stay at the office to answer phones. Then someone else suggests doing research on other communities that have replaced lightbulbs. Maybe some do it more effectively than others, and we wouldn’t want to do it wrong.
Next thing you know, there’s a fancy newsletter. Then someone is tasked with communicating with politicians and liaising with bureaucrats. Paperwork and reporting requirements are so onerous that you almost need a dedicated employee who does nothing but put pen to paper.
You might have to hire someone else to pursue the best sources for light bulbs, and hold more meetings to establish a model for assessing quality and selecting suppliers. A bookkeeper will be required to keep everything tidy for an annual audit.
Then someone suggests that others should be hired to develop the capacity of the next generation of lightbulb replacers.
Imagine what would happen if the community developers had a mandate to do more than screw in a light bulb!
The parable sounds ludicrous, but it mirrors what’s happening in neighbourhoods like ours every day.
Bewildered residents and businesses watch the evolution of new bureaucracies of “helpers.”
I used to believe the community development lingo of empowerment and capacity building. But I'm getting less and less sure whose capacity is being developed.
It's a perversion of the old story, “You give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day. Teach him how to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime.”
Nice philosophy. Too bad that's not how it works around here.
In our neighbourhood, the people that already know how to fish are routinely pushed aside and ignored so others can get paid to do the work of “developing capacity.”
Community economic development strategies usually revolve more around alternative economies than the already established and struggling small businesses in the community.
Warning signs are numerous. There is no clear definition of how many developers are needed to develop the community. There is no clear benchmark of when the development is complete.
The problem with the development talk is that it does more to make our neighbourhood dependant on an overdeveloped organization with onerous requirements in paperwork and a voracious appetite for funding its own administration.
It gets to be more of a problem when you like the people that got hired, because it’s not really their fault.
People from outside this neighbourhood continue to pull strings behind the scenes. I’m upset with governments who are too lazy and short-sighted to see what they're doing to our community and taxpayers in general.
Their version of revitalization is so costly it’ll be years before other communities get the help they need.
The most recent example came this week. Over the last six months, the local, government anointed community development group developed a plan for housing.
They stole the philosophy of one housing group and misappropriated the financial figures of another. Rather than consult with the existing groups, they pieced together a plan that leaves everyone else out in the cold. Even worse, they’re pretending to be able to do something that, until now, they’ve only watched others doing, criticizing them all the way.
It became very clear that they’re more about developing their own capacity than raising the capacity of others who are already doing the work.
There's no telling how many millions of dollars have been spent in pursuit of “prevention,” “development,” “empowerment” and “building capacity.”
In terms of dollars wasted, local waste pales in comparison to federal millions spent on rent for buildings that sit empty and multi-billion dollar databases. But it’s not just about wasted tax dollars.
There’s no audits for how many people are left in the wake of flawed “community development” initiatives. The capacity of some is developed while the capacity of others is denigrated and diminished. Many empowerment efforts encourage more dependence than development. And the dependent are always on the verge of despair if the funding disappears.
Our initial question leads to an enduring challenge to government: “Find a way to screw in the light bulb without screwing up the community.”
Rev. Harry Lehotsky
514 Maryland Street
Winnipeg, Mb R3G 1M5
(204) 775-4929
lehotsky@escape.ca