Prevention and Juvenile Justice Glossaries

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from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP)

The following content is collected from a variety of resources including: Assets Based Community Development Institute of Northwestern University Campus Compact Central Singapore Community Development Council Connecticut Assets Network Health Canada http://comm-org.wisc.edu/ http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/library/agec2/L830.pdf New York Times American Democracy Project Ottawa Community Economic Development Network American Psychological Association Search Institute Sloan Work and Family Research Network The Case Foundation The Sloan Foundation University of Florida Extension http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/CD021 Wikipedia www.actionforchange.org www.investorwords.com www.public.iastate.edu/~amaney/glossary.html

ACTION RESEARCH - A way of generating research about a social system while simultaneously attempting to change that system. Action research seems both to understand and to alter the problems generated by social systems. Kurt Lewin, the social research who coined the phrase, explains: “One of the best ways to understand the world is to try to change it”

AGENCY – Usually a non-profit group of professional providers organized to provide services to clients or consumers.

ASSESSMENT – The process of collecting and using data to make informed decisions about the goals and directions of a community. More specifically, community assessment is the use of a set of tools and data which allows a community to reveal and understand the strengths, assets, weaknesses, trends, and opportunities within the local socio-economic environment. This information can then be used by the community to develop appropriate strategies to address priority issues.

ASSETS – Individual, association, and organizational skills, talents, gifts, resources and strengths that have potential to be shared with the community.

ASSET BASED COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT – A type of community development based on the work of John Kretzmann and John McKnight of the Assets Based Community Development Institute of Northwestern University. It is an approach that builds on a community’s existing strengths and resources -- natural, cultural, structural, and leadership -- to create valued products and services that can be sustained for local benefit. The process is to identify the potential within a community and then use these strengths as building blocks for strategies to address a community’s needs. An Asset-based approach is: (1) Built on strengths, starting with what is present in the community, the capacities of its residents and workers, the associational and institutional base of the area, rather than focusing on what is absent, problematic, or needed (2) Internally focused, concentrating on the agenda-building and problem-solving capacities of local residents local associations, and local institutions (3) Relationship driven, underscoring a central challenge of constantly building and rebuilding the relationships between and among local residents, local associations, and local institutions.

ASSET MAPPING – A process whereby a community’s individual, association, and organization strengths and resources are identified and documented for community building uses. A visual map of these resources is usually created. Asset Mapping sometimes refers to a Community Capacity Inventory.

ASSOCIATION – An information or formal group of citizens working together to achieve a common goal. Associations usually achieve their goals by deciding on a common problem to address, developing a plan, and taking action to implement the plan.

BUSINESS – A commercial activity engaged in as a means of livelihood or profit, or an entity which engages in such activities. www.investorwords.com

CAPACITY – The potential for sharing assets, resources, gifts, and talents. In order to reach capacity, people and organizations must recognize they are willing to share these assets for community building.

CAPACITY BUILDING – The mobilization of individual and organizational assets and combining those assets with others to achieve community building goals.

CHANGE AGENTS – Persons who contribute to shaping changes or transformations that improve their communities’ ability to meet the needs of people living there.

CITIZEN – People involved in public problem-solving in partnership with people and communities who may need help.

CIVIC ENGAGEMENT – The process of citizens working together to make a difference in the life of communities and developing knowledge, skills, values, and motivation to make that difference. It is promoting the quality of life in a community, through both political and non-political processes.

CIVIC ENTREPRENEUR – Leaders who provide collaborative leadership to bridge the economy and the community. Civic Entrepreneurs move communities forward by employing skills which include: motivation, networking, teaching, convening, integrating, agreement building, pressing for outcomes, and mentoring others to sustain the gains that have been accomplished. (Nenton, Melville and Walesch, Grassroots Leaders for a New Economy)

CIVIC RESPONSIBILITY – A sense of commitment by a citizen to his or her community

CIVIL INVESTING – Innovated by the Kettering Foundation, civil investing refers to foundations and corporations investing their resources in a community process to build civic responsibility on the part of the citizenry to solve their own problems.

CLIENT – People who use professionals to help them solve their problems. Clients are often seen as needing additional resources or assets to help them resolve specific needs.

CO-CURRICULAR – Signifies community service that is not explicitly connected to a school academic course.

COLLABORATE – To work together with others in pursuit of a common goal; usually used in a positive way to mean cooperation or partnership

COMMUNITY – People with common interests living within a particular area, such as a town or city; also refers to the town, neighborhood, or region itself.

COMMUNITY ASSESSMENT – All inclusive information gathering and sharing about the community, its needs, resources, gaps, pictures, environment, economy, etc. See Assessment.

COMMUNITY BASED – Refers to organizations that provide care or services in neighborhoods and communities instead of on site at their facilities. For example, hospitals have opened community primary care centers that serve specific areas or problems. It can also refer to efforts that are created and driven by individual citizens and community groups within the community.

COMMUNITY BUILDING – When people and organizations from across the community come together to envision how their ideal community should look and then begin to develop plans to mobilize all the community resources to achieve their vision.

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT – Community development seeks to empower individuals and groups of people by providing these groups with the skills they need to effect change in their own communities. These skills are often concentrated around building political power through the formation of large social groups working for a common agenda. Community developers must understand both how to work with individuals and how to affect communities' positions within the context of larger social institutions.

COMMUNITY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT – The processes whereby members of a community, either geographical or community of interest, are involved in activities that will benefit it economically. This process usually uses inclusive practices and procedures to enhance community through action, knowledge and participation. (Paraphrased from Ontario Council of Alternative Business, Working for a Change (2002), p. 56)

COMMUNITY ORGANIZING – It involves "the craft" of building an enduring network of people, who identify with common ideals, and who can engage in social action on the basis of those ideals. In practice, it is much more than micro-mobilization or framing strategy. Community organizing can refer to the entire process of organizing relationships, identifying issues, mobilizing around those issues, and maintaining an enduring organization. The distinction between community organizing and social movement is that community organizing is localized, often "pre-political" action, while social movements are multi-local. http://comm-org.wisc.edu/

COMMUNITY OUTREACH – Purposeful efforts to build relationships with others in the community by offering education, assistance, and services.

COMMUNITY POLICING – A law enforcement strategy that builds on relationship building between police officers and community residents. It usually encourages neighborhood residents to take responsibility for law enforcement through cooperation with the police in the neighborhoods.

COMMUNITY PROFILE – Creating “a picture” of the community that usually describes the demographic, economic, human, social, visual, and natural resources of the community. It also includes both the needs and resources of the community. Asset-mapping and other assessment strategies would be involved.

COMMUNITY SERVICE – Refers to action taken to meet the needs of others in the community, usually to improve the community as a whole. Services volunteered by individuals or an organization to benefit a community or specific sectors in a community. Many schools and educational institutions require their students to complete community service activities.

DEMOCRACY – Commonly understood as a political system defined by certain key attributes: popular suffrage; the right to challenge laws; freedom of speech, press, and religion, and assembly; and a society where people have the freedom to associate meaningfully with others.

DEVELOPMENTAL ASSETS – Developed by the Search Institute, this refers to 40 internal and external positive experiences, meaningful opportunities, and personal qualities that young people need to be responsible, successful, and caring. http://www.search-institute.org/assets/forty.htm

DIVERSITY – The many differences that make up communities and individuals such as economics, culture, race, background, size of families, talents/skills, etc.

EARNED INCOME – Revenue generated by non-profit organizations or charities through the sale of products or services. This income is to be applied to areas of work that further the organization’s mission.

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE – This is a collection of skills, characteristics, and talents including self awareness, self regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills. Daniel Goleman and his followers believe that all effective leaders possess a high degree of emotional intelligence.

EMPOWERMENT – Empowerment promotes the power that all people have. It helps all people to know that they can accomplish project goals for community betterment, even if they do not have official authority or power.

ETHICAL FITNESS – Developed by Rushworth Kidder, ethical fitness refers to keeping people in moral and mental shape to recognize and address ethical dilemmas. Ethically fit people possess global values such as love, truth, freedom, fairness, unity, tolerance, responsibility, and respect for life.

FACILITATION – A method for conducting meetings or organizing group activities which encourage participation of all participants, in order to reach goals on which all participants can agree.

GIFTS – The skills, abilities, resources, qualities, knowledge, or interests that people have that they are willing to share with others.

GRASSROOTS – Refers to initiatives, efforts, and/or community organizations run by volunteer citizens who may or may not have any directly related professional expertise but who do have a passion and interest in their community and/or a specific cause, along with the motivation to help facilitate change.

HEALTH PROMOTION – Setting better health as a goal and then managing the process of developing homes, places of work, and communities to be healthier places. Health promotion strategies usually focus on prevention activities.

HISTORICAL PRESERVATION – The protection, care, and redevelopment of buildings, public places, and artifacts of everyday life that are important to understanding the history and culture of a people, place, or region.

HOMELESSNESS – A social condition referring to the people who have no secure long-term home. Describes people who live on the street or stay in emergency shelters

INTERDEPENDENT – Two-way sharing where each party brings something to the table. This is usually the method of community capacity building.

LEARNING COMMUNITY – Learning Communities value the collective process of discovery and people within them value living with their questions.

MULTICULTURALISM – An understanding and appreciation for various differences between people, including race, gender, ethnicity, culture, socioeconomic status, age, sexual orientation, and physical and mental abilities.

NEEDS ASSESSMENT – Determining the needs of individuals and communities. Sometimes called a “deficit index”, such items as adolescent pregnancy, drug abuse, poverty, suicidal behavior, depressions etc will indicate the need for new programs.

NEEDS BASED INITIATIVE – An initiative created to address the needs and deficits in a community.

NEGOTIATION – The process of conferring with another in order to settle a disagreement, argument, or dispute.

NON-PROFIT SECTOR – Refers to groups, organizations, and associations that are neither private (businesses) nor public (government); they are often called the independent or voluntary sector.

OUTREACH – The intentional delivery or extension of information, services, or activities into new communities, networks, or audiences.

PARTNERSHIP – Two or more groups or individuals joining together in a shared and mutually beneficial relationship working toward a common goal.

POLITICS – The art or science of government; political actions, practices, or policies; competition between competing interest groups or individuals for power and leadership.

PUBLIC GOOD – Promotion of the overall well-being of citizens.

PUBLIC HEALTH – Preventing disease, prolonging life, and promoting health through organized community effort

PUBLIC POLICY – The basic policy or set of policies forming the foundation of public laws.

QUALITY OF LIFE - The degree of well-being felt by an individual or group of people. Unlike standard of living, it is not a tangible concept, and so cannot be measured directly. It consists of two components: physical and psychological.

RELATIONSHIPS – The basis of community asset building where community work is accomplished through the mutual sharing of skills, gifts, assets, and talents of neighborhood residents and organizations.

RESILIENCY – Refers to the capacity for successful adaptation, positive functioning or competence despite high risk, chronic stress, or following prolonged or severe trauma (Egeland, Carlson and Sroufe, 1993; Cowen, 1991). Resiliency is a concept that has traditionally been applied to individuals. More recently, it has been expanded to include families (McCubbin and McCubbin, 1993). In addition to families, resiliency can be applied to systems such as groups and communities.

RESOURCES – Tangible and intangible assets available to an organization, individual, or community that can be used to achieve goals, including money, supplies, people, etc.

RESTORATIVE JUSTICE - The principles of Restorative Justice (restitution to the victim, building a safe community, and holding the offender accountable) guide how criminal acts are handled by the justice system and the community,

RESULTS MAPPING – This form of planning and evaluation includes collecting stories that demonstrate different levels of community and individual change.

RISK-TAKING – Knowingly taking action where a potential loss or danger is involved, in order to receive some larger gain or benefit.

SELF-HELP PEER GROUP – Refers to a group of people that have experienced adversity and use their experiences to provide help and support to one another. Examples include: Alcoholics Anonymous, Study Circles, Parents Anonymous, Foster Parents Groups, etc.

SELF-SUFFICIENCY – An organization’s ability to finance its future through earned income alone, without government or philanthropic support.

SERVICE LEARNING - A teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities

SERVICE PROVIDERS – Individuals and organizations that supply professional expertise and assistance to others.

SOCIAL COHESION – Trust, mutual obligations, and respect in communities or the wider society that helps to protect people and their health.

SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR – Leaders who have identified and applied sustainable solutions to social problems with innovation and resourcefulness while focusing on social value creation. One who is driven by a social mission, a desire to find innovative ways to solve social problems not addressed and/or inadequately addressed by either the market or the public sector.

SOCIAL PURPOSE ENTERPRISE – A revenue-generating enterprise founded by non-profit organizations or charities to create jobs or training opportunities for low-income individuals, or to provide earned income to support the social mission of the organization.

SOCIAL RETURN ON INVESTMENT (SROI) – The improved quality of life that social purpose enterprise can bring, such as positive community changes like reduced services and social assistance.

STRATEGIC PLANNING – A systematic approach to planning for future development and allocating needed resources for anticipated changes. Ordinary planning and goal setting usually looks at the past and bases the future on historic trends. Strategic planning considers possible future events and trends, and then bases planning and resource allocation on anticipated changes. The crux of strategic planning is being able to anticipate and plan for change. http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/library/agec2/L830.pdf

SUSTAINABILITY – An organization’s ability to fund its activities through a combination of earned income, philanthropic support, and/or government support.

SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES – Communities that are (1) Environmentally Sound (Decision-making focuses on reducing the impacts of population growth and development on natural resources and the environment); (2) Economically Productive (Community members make local capital investments that will sustain local human and natural resources and yield adequate financial returns to those investments); and Socially Just (Equitable access to resources and decision-making processes foster the distribution of foods and benefits across all sectors to the community) University of Florida Extension http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/CD021

TALENTS – Skills and abilities that people are comfortable sharing.

TEAM – A group of people working together to solve one or more common goals; originally a term from sports but now used to describe a group of people involved in problem-solving in workplaces and within nongovernmental organizations

TEAM BUILDING – Refers to fostering cohesion, clarifying structure, and reducing conflict among a group of people working on a common task or activity.

VENTURE PHILANTHROPY – An approach used by grant makers to build the capacity of the non-profit sector by developing social purpose businesses or social programs. Key elements include: a long-term relationship (3-6 years); the development of business plans; the provision of cash and expertise to augment abilities and knowledge in specialized technical areas; and an exit strategy

VOLUNTEERISM - Use of or reliance on people who donate their time, especially to perform social or educational work in communities.

WIN-WIN STRATEGIES – Specific approaches designed to allow participants in a negotiation to share benefits; an approach that is opposed to schemes that emphasize competition and expect that one team must win, the other lose.

YOUTH AS PARTNERS – Youth form a partnership with adults where both youth and adults are responsible for the design, implementation, and outcomes achieved.

YOUTH AS RECIPIENTS – Youth that receive the services that adults have designed for them

YOUTH AS RESOURCES – Youth are utilized as people who help adults design and implement programs, but adults are still in control of the outcomes.

ZONING – A system of planning used in American cities to determine uses of land within a particular geographical area e.g. industrial, residential, and commercial.