Finding my niche in the third sector

A running theme in my past entries has been the question— how do we best serve people in the areas we care about? Is it through large or small non-profits or like in art, is it also through for-profits? Is it local or national? public or private? with government funding or without? or is it a combination?

Though every exploration (health, education, art...) brought new arguments to weigh out and left me with just as many proposed solutions, one underlying feeling has been growing with every entry. I am continuously excited about community development and non-profits that take a positive approach to solve some of the nations most negatively discussed and seemingly hopeless problems. Instead of coming in with standardized services to "help" a community, many non-profits are inspiring neighborhoods to find their unique cultural assets to build strong communities of leaders and not dependent clients. Non-profits create what are called "culturally specific" programs so that people will feel that they are walking into an environment that will understand and value their individual experiences as well as their strengths.

For my final paper in this class I've decided to explore the question: How are non-profits using culturally specific and strength-based approaches for community development? I'll be exploring the work of various non-profit advocacy organizations and CDCs including:

- Hacienda CDC (focused on Latino neighborhood development in the Portland area)

- Bradley Angle's "Healing Roots" Center (Oregon's only culturally specific domestic violence program for African Americans)

- NAYA (Native American Youth and Family Center)

- NARA (Native American Rehabilitation Association)

- Q Center (Portland's LGBTQ Community Center)