What is the Meaning of Community?
The answer to this question is not a simple one. Every individual, group, or materials of reference will attribute different meanings to the word 'community'. Webster's dictionary gives the following definitions to the term:
1. the people with common interests living in a particular area
2. an interacting population of various kinds of individuals (as species) in a common location
3. a group of people with a common characteristic or interest living together within a larger society
4. a group linked by a common policy
5. body of persons or nations having a common history or common social, economic, and political interests OR
6. "society at large"
Why is it that a word which should mean so much, can be defined in such simplistic terms? Does the word 'community' truly just mean a group of people living in the same area, or a group of people with similarities?
The makers of this website vote: NO!
The term COMMUNITY means much more than that!
Firstly, like the image of the tree you see above, the term 'community' can be applied to many different areas of an individual's life. If we imagine that the individual is the tree trunk, and all the branches and leaves are a symbol of their 'communities', we get a much broader, deeper, understanding of the term.
Perhaps the individual has a 'work community' (that is, those people the individual works with and considers colleagues), maybe another branch represents their 'neighbourhood community', and another their 'sports-team community'. The point is, ''community" can be used on a small-scale basis, just like the definitions above say: "a group of people with common characteristics...linked together by a common policy".
However, this website aims to “define” through displaying its many different aspects, aspects which the definitions above do not give credit to. “Community” is more than people living together in close proximity, or having similarities, or at least it should be. “Community” is about safety, security, growth, passion, support and change. “Community” refers to a location filled not with people who are all similar, but with people who are all different and unique; differences should be embraced and seen as additions to the community, never as deficits. “Community” is a term used to describe a space where people work together to create an environment that supports and sustains healthy individuals, or at least it should be; and it is the goal of this website to display these ideas! Let’s think of the tree metaphor again, only this time, picture the tree in a forest surrounded by other trees supporting and nurturing its growth; let’s make Thunder Bay feel this way! To do this, we utilize ideas from two key sources: Peter Block, and the Social Determinants of Health.
The Fourteen Social Determinants, as defined by Juha Mikkonen and Dennis Raphael are:
1. Income and Income Distribution
2. Education
3. Unemployment and Job Security
4. Employment and Working Conditions
5. Early Childhood Development
6. Food Insecurity
7. Housing
8. Social Exclusion
9. Social Safety Network
10. Health Services
11. Aboriginal Status
12. Gender
13. Race
14. Disability
Peter Block's ideas also add to this determinants by emphasizing the importance of "building the social fabric and transforming the isolation within our communities into connectedness and caring for the whole" and "to commit to creating a future distinct from the past".
It is the aim of this website, through its creators as well as its contributing readers to display the Community of Thunder Bay, and its inclusion, or development of, the above mentioned principles!
