Community Engagement and Power

COMMUNITY CAMPUS PARTNERSHIPS FOR HEALTH

COLECTIVO FLATLANDER

HOUSTON, TX – APRIL 2012

Pancho Argüelles/Colectivo Flatlander/CCHE – Maria Jiménez/UT School of Public Health – CCPH 2012

What does community engagement means to me?

1.Please choose one word that comes to you today when thinking about community engagement?

Pancho Argüelles/Colectivo Flatlander/CCHE – Maria Jiménez/UT School of Public Health – CCPH 2012

Nested Diagram

Pancho Argüelles/Colectivo Flatlander/CCHE – Maria Jiménez/UT School of Public Health – CCPH 2012

Nested Diagram II

Pancho Argüelles/Colectivo Flatlander/CCHE – Maria Jiménez/UT School of Public Health – CCPH 2012

Elements of a Learning Experience “Banking” Model

Pancho Argüelles/Colectivo Flatlander/CCHE – Maria Jiménez/UT School of Public Health – CCPH 2012

Elements of a Learning Experience Popular Education Model

Pancho Argüelles/Colectivo Flatlander/CCHE – Maria Jiménez/UT School of Public Health – CCPH 2012

Elements of a participatory approach (PICOSO)

Participassion

IC

OS

O

ntegration

ritical creativity

rganizing

ymbolic

peration

Popular Education:

Popular Education is about putting information and experiences in context through dialogue for actionInformation in context is knowledge , our experiences in dialogue produce collective knowledge that leads to collective actionIn order to have hope we need not only a vision of a better future but also a collective memory of endurance and past victoriesPancho Argüelles/Colectivo Flatlander/CCHE – Maria Jiménez/UT School of Public

Health – CCPH 2012

The historical process of our communities resisting oppression and fighting for liberation is based not just on knowledge and information but on a wisdom that comes from the human experience of walking through suffering and hope

Walking through suffering and hope

Pancho Argüelles/Colectivo Flatlander/CCHE – Maria Jiménez/UT School of Public Health – CCPH 2012

Pancho Argüelles/Colectivo Flatlander/CCHE – Maria Jiménez/UT School of Public Health – CCPH 2012

Community Engagement requires a commitment to listen and honor the stories (information, knowledge and wisdom) from the people in the communities we are working with.

A better understanding of the social determinants of community engagement in a particular context opens the door for genuine collaboration

Colectivo Flatlander – HKHC Community Engagement Follow Up – September 2011

Some “issues” become visible when you change your background… and you still need to look closely to see them!

To be effective in our work wee need to find ways for us to connect to our deeper sources of personal and collective power

Paradoxically, it is not just about “educating” the uneducated or engaging the disengaged; it is more about accompanying a process of collective transformation, “concientización” and organizing

Our hope is based upon our collective memory…

Pancho Argüelles/Colectivo Flatlander/CCHE – Maria Jiménez/UT School of Public Health – CCPH 2012