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48-630: A community centre , community center , or community hall is a public location where members of a community gather for group activities, social support, public information, and other purposes. They may be open for the whole community or for a specialized subgroup within the greater community. Community centres can be religious in nature, such as Christian churches , Islamic mosques , Jewish synagogues , Hindu temples , or Buddhist temples ; though they can also be secular and in some cases government-run, such as youth clubs or Leisure centres . The community centres are usually used for: Around

96-623: A Presbyterian minister, joined the Extension Department at the University of Wisconsin–Madison , organizing the Wisconsin Bureau of Civic and Social Development . By 1911 they organized a country-wide conference on schools as social centers. Despite concerns expressed by politicians and public officials that they might provide a focus for alternative political and social activity, the idea was successful. In 1916, with

144-440: A non-metropolitan county , adding the former county borough of Leicester, and the small county of Rutland to the area. On 1 April 1997 these were removed from the county council area again, to become unitary authorities . Leicestershire County Council provides county-level services. District-level services are provided by the area's seven district councils. Much of the county is also covered by civil parishes , which form

192-600: A taxonomy that maps community relations, and recognizes that actual communities can be characterized by different kinds of relations at the same time: In these terms, communities can be nested and/or intersecting; one community can contain another—for example a location-based community may contain a number of ethnic communities . Both lists above can be used in a cross-cutting matrix in relation to each other. In general, virtual communities value knowledge and information as currency or social resource. What differentiates virtual communities from their physical counterparts

240-528: A common agenda. Community development practitioners must understand both how to work with individuals and how to affect communities' positions within the context of larger social institutions. Public administrators, in contrast, need to understand community development in the context of rural and urban development, housing and economic development, and community, organizational and business development. Formal accredited programs conducted by universities, as part of degree granting institutions, are often used to build

288-680: A democratic election started to realign with community interests. In ecology , a community is an assemblage of populations—potentially of different species—interacting with one another. Community ecology is the branch of ecology that studies interactions between and among species. It considers how such interactions, along with interactions between species and the abiotic environment, affect social structure and species richness, diversity and patterns of abundance. Species interact in three ways: competition , predation and mutualism : The two main types of ecological communities are major communities, which are self-sustaining and self-regulating (such as

336-550: A forest or a lake), and minor communities, which rely on other communities (like fungi decomposing a log) and are the building blocks of major communities. Moreover, we can establish other non-taxonomic subdivisions of biocenosis, such as guilds . The concept of "community" often has a positive semantic connotation, exploited rhetorically by populist politicians and by advertisers to promote feelings and associations of mutual well-being, happiness and togetherness —veering towards an almost-achievable utopian community . In contrast,

384-646: A government/church or to the local subdivision of it. In addition to these models, community centres are also run by humanitarian organizations and the national societies of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement . These centres serve as hubs for providing humanitarian aid, offering services such as psychosocial support (MHPSS), socio-economic development programs, social cohesion activities, and protection services for vulnerable populations, including refugees and migrants. These community centres are vital in crisis contexts, facilitating recovery and resilience by addressing

432-942: A knowledge base to drive curricula in public administration , sociology and community studies . The General Social Survey from the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago and the Saguaro Seminar at the Harvard Kennedy School are examples of national community development in the United States. The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in New York State offers core courses in community and economic development, and in areas ranging from non-profit development to US budgeting (federal to local, community funds). In

480-583: A major part in her concept of community development and democracy seen through individuals organizing themselves into neighborhood groups, and attending to people's needs, desires and aspirations. This can also include parks. In the United Kingdom, the oldest community centre is possibly that which was established in 1901 in Thringstone , Leicestershire by the old age pensions pioneer, Charles Booth (1847-1916). Extended in 1911 and taken over by

528-497: A number of problems: (1) they tend to give the impression that a particular community can be defined as just this kind or another; (2) they tend to conflate modern and customary community relations; (3) they tend to take sociological categories such as ethnicity or race as given, forgetting that different ethnically defined persons live in different kinds of communities—grounded, interest-based, diasporic, etc. In response to these problems, Paul James and his colleagues have developed

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576-431: A social community and spatial subdivisions of cities and other large settlements may have formed communities. Archaeologists typically use similarities in material culture —from house types to styles of pottery—to reconstruct communities in the past. This classification method relies on the assumption that people or households will share more similarities in the types and styles of their material goods with other members of

624-419: A social community than they will with outsiders. Early sociological studies identified communities as fringe groups at the behest of local power elites. Such early academic studies include Who Governs? by Robert Dahl as well as the papers by Floyd Hunter on Atlanta . At the turn of the 21st century the concept of community was rediscovered by academics, politicians, and activists. Politicians hoping for

672-428: A third tier of local government. The seven district councils are: The county council has been under Conservative majority control since 2001. Political control of the council since the 1974 reforms has been as follows: The leaders of the council since 1999 have been: Following the 2021 election and subsequent by-elections up to May 2024, the composition of the council was as follows: The next election

720-515: A widely accessible power structure, often with the end goal of distributing power equally throughout the community. Community organizers generally seek to build groups that are open and democratic in governance. Such groups facilitate and encourage consensus decision-making with a focus on the general health of the community rather than a specific interest group. If communities are developed based on something they share in common, whether location or values, then one challenge for developing communities

768-407: Is faith-based community organizing , or Congregation-based Community Organizing ). Community building can use a wide variety of practices, ranging from simple events (e.g., potlucks , small book clubs ) to larger-scale efforts (e.g., mass festivals , construction projects that involve local participants rather than outside contractors). Community building that is geared toward citizen action

816-685: Is also another reason. Community In terms of sociological categories, a community can seem like a sub-set of a social collectivity . In developmental views, a community can emerge out of a collectivity. The English-language word "community" derives from the Old French comuneté ( Modern French : communauté ), which comes from the Latin communitas "community", "public spirit" (from Latin communis , "common"). Human communities may have intent , belief , resources , preferences , needs , and risks in common, affecting

864-774: Is controlled by the Conservative Party . The leader of the county council is currently Deborah Taylor, who has been serving as acting leader of the County Council since July 2024 in the place of Nick Rushton, who was elected to the post in September 2012 and is currently undergoing cancer treatment. The headquarters of the council is County Hall beside the A50 at Glenfield , just outside the city of Leicester in Blaby district. Elected county councils were created under

912-535: Is due in 2025. Since the last boundary changes in 2019 the council has comprised 55 councillors representing 53 electoral divisions . Most divisions elect one councillor, but two divisions elect two councillors. Elections are held every four years. The council is based at County Hall in Glenfield, on the outskirts of Leicester but just outside the city boundary in the Blaby district. Having held its first meeting in 1889 at Leicester Town Hall, later that year

960-423: Is how to incorporate individuality and differences. Rebekah Nathan suggests in her book, My Freshman Year , we are drawn to developing communities totally based on sameness, despite stated commitments to diversity, such as those found on university websites. A number of ways to categorize types of community have been proposed. One such breakdown is as follows: The usual categorizations of community relations have

1008-530: Is the extent and impact of "weak ties", which are the relationships acquaintances or strangers form to acquire information through online networks. Relationships among members in a virtual community tend to focus on information exchange about specific topics. A survey conducted by Pew Internet and The American Life Project in 2001 found those involved in entertainment, professional, and sports virtual-groups focused their activities on obtaining information. An epidemic of bullying and harassment has arisen from

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1056-470: Is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Leicestershire , England. The non-metropolitan county is smaller than the ceremonial county , which additionally includes Leicester . The county council was originally formed in 1889 by the Local Government Act 1888 . The county is divided into 53 electoral divisions , which return a total of 55 councillors. The council

1104-525: Is usually termed "community organizing". In these cases, organized community groups seek accountability from elected officials and increased direct representation within decision-making bodies. Where good-faith negotiations fail, these constituency-led organizations seek to pressure the decision-makers through a variety of means, including picketing, boycotting , sit-ins, petitioning, and electoral politics. Community organizing can focus on more than just resolving specific issues. Organizing often means building

1152-564: The Gemeinschaft – Gesellschaft dichotomy as a way to think about social ties. No group is exclusively one or the other. Gemeinschaft stress personal social interactions , and the roles, values, and beliefs based on such interactions. Gesellschaft stress indirect interactions, impersonal roles, formal values, and beliefs based on such interactions. In a seminal 1986 study, McMillan and Chavis identify four elements of "sense of community": A "sense of community index" (SCI)

1200-505: The Asset Based Community Development Institute of Northwestern University . The institute makes available downloadable tools to assess community assets and make connections between non-profit groups and other organizations that can help in community building. The Institute focuses on helping communities develop by "mobilizing neighborhood assets" – building from the inside out rather than

1248-690: The Leicestershire County Council in 1950, this centre still thrives as an educational, social and recreational community resource and was the inspiration for numerous others of its kind. There are also community centres for a specific purpose, but serving the whole community, such as an arts centre . Online community centres are defined as a web-based interactive, user-submitted network for groups, organizations, or businesses. Users create their own personal profiles, blogs, groups, photos, art, calendars, music, and videos to display on their own pages. Administrators provide oversight to

1296-451: The Local Government Act 1888 , taking over many administrative functions that had previously been performed by magistrates at the quarter sessions . From its establishment in 1889 to 1974, the county council covered the administrative county of Leicestershire. The administrative county differed from the geographic county in that it excluded Leicester itself, which was considered large enough to provide its own county-level services and so

1344-456: The epidemiological term " community transmission " can have negative implications, and instead of a "criminal community" one often speaks of a " criminal underworld " or of the "criminal fraternity". In Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft (1887), German sociologist Ferdinand Tönnies described two types of human association: Gemeinschaft (usually translated as "community") and Gesellschaft ("society" or "association"). Tönnies proposed

1392-433: The psychodynamic tradition, the most important period of socialization is between the ages of one and ten. But socialization also includes adults moving into a significantly different environment where they must learn a new set of behaviors. Socialization is influenced primarily by the family, through which children first learn community norms . Other important influences include schools, peer groups, people, mass media,

1440-588: The workplace , and government. The degree to which the norms of a particular society or community are adopted determines one's willingness to engage with others. The norms of tolerance , reciprocity , and trust are important "habits of the heart", as de Tocqueville put it, in an individual's involvement in community. Community development is often linked with community work or community planning, and may involve stakeholders, foundations, governments, or contracted entities including non-government organisations (NGOs), universities or government agencies to progress

1488-502: The UK many villages and towns have their own Community Centre, although nearby schools may offer their assembly or dining hall after school for Community Centre activities. For example, local schools near Ouston, County Durham may host dance or sporting activities provided by a local community centre. Parks are also considered community centers. Another pioneer of community centers was Mary Parker Follett , who saw community centers as playing

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1536-411: The United Kingdom, the University of Oxford has led in providing extensive research in the field through its Community Development Journal, used worldwide by sociologists and community development practitioners. At the intersection between community development and community building are a number of programs and organizations with community development tools. One example of this is the program of

1584-450: The content and approve membership of users. In Singapore , community centres are distinct buildings that are officially designated by the government of Singapore . They are meant to play an urban planning role especially as part of Housing Development Board projects. Enrichment and grassroots organization are their functions like most other community centres, but relieving traffic congestion concerns by placing community centres nearby

1632-517: The council moved its meetings to the County Rooms on Hotel Street in the centre of Leicester, which had been built in 1800. It continued to meet there until County Hall at Glenfield was completed in 1967. The council's cabinet has, as of May 2021, the following members, with the following portfolios: There are six departments: In the five years to 2015, the council's roles and responsibilities changed significantly, due to austerity savings,

1680-662: The exchange of information between strangers, especially among teenagers, in virtual communities. Despite attempts to implement anti-bullying policies, Sheri Bauman, professor of counselling at the University of Arizona, claims the "most effective strategies to prevent bullying" may cost companies revenue. Virtual Internet-mediated communities can interact with offline real-life activity, potentially forming strong and tight-knit groups such as QAnon . If you have trouble socializing here are 3 tips to help you: Leicestershire County Council Leicestershire County Council

1728-412: The feeling of love and belonging. The process of learning to adopt the behavior patterns of the community is called socialization . The most fertile time of socialization is usually the early stages of life, during which individuals develop the skills and knowledge and learn the roles necessary to function within their culture and social environment . For some psychologists, especially those in

1776-641: The foundation of the National Community Center Association, the term Community Center was generally used in the US. By 1918 there were community centers in 107 US cities, and in 240 cities by 1924. By 1930 there were nearly 500 centers with more than four million people regularly attending. The first of these was Public School 63, located in the Lower East Side . Clinton Child's , one of the organizers, described it as: In

1824-445: The identity of the participants and their degree of cohesiveness. Archaeological studies of social communities use the term "community" in two ways, mirroring usage in other areas. The first meaning is an informal definition of community as a place where people used to live. In this literal sense it is synonymous with the concept of an ancient settlement —whether a hamlet , village , town , or city . The second meaning resembles

1872-538: The knowledge and application of certain rules. He states that this process goes through four stages: In 1991, Peck remarked that building a sense of community is easy but maintaining this sense of community is difficult in the modern world. An interview with M. Scott Peck by Alan Atkisson. In Context #29, p. 26. The three basic types of community organizing are grassroots organizing, coalition building, and "institution-based community organizing", (also called "broad-based community organizing", an example of which

1920-425: The lowest-funded county council, yet one of the top three best performers, across a wide range of indicators. From 2010–2015, the council has had to save £100 million – two-thirds as efficiency savings and the remainder from services. The council has predicted it will have to save more from services as austerity continues, with a further £100 million-plus of savings required over the next four years. As of 2015/16,

1968-479: The outside in. In the disability field, community building was prevalent in the 1980s and 1990s with roots in John McKnight's approaches. In The Different Drum: Community-Making and Peace (1987) Scott Peck argues that the almost accidental sense of community that exists at times of crisis can be consciously built. Peck believes that conscious community building is a process of deliberate design based on

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2016-526: The social and emotional needs of affected individuals. The community centres typically have their own origin and history. There are some examples: Early forms of community centers in the United States were based in schools providing facilities to inner city communities out of school hours. An early celebrated example of this is to be found in Rochester , New York from 1907. Edward J. Ward ,

2064-406: The social well-being of local, regional and, sometimes, national communities. More grassroots efforts, called community building or community organizing , seek to empower individuals and groups of people by providing them with the skills they need to effect change in their own communities. These skills often assist in building political power through the formation of large social groups working for

2112-575: The transfer of public health from the NHS to the council and many schools becoming academies, independent of the council. However, that still left a number of key responsibilities. As of December 2015, these are: social care for adults and children; support for schools; highways and transport; public health; waste disposal; economic development; libraries and museums; strategic planning; trading standards; country parks; registration of births, marriages and deaths; and community leadership. The council claims to be

2160-436: The usage of the term in other social sciences : a community is a group of people living near one another who interact socially. Social interaction on a small scale can be difficult to identify with archaeological data. Most reconstructions of social communities by archaeologists rely on the principle that social interaction in the past was conditioned by physical distance. Therefore, a small village settlement likely constituted

2208-473: The world (and sometimes within single countries) there appear to be four common ways in which the operation of the kind of community centre are owned and organised. In the following description, " Government " may refer to the ordinary secular government or to a dominant religious organisation such as the Roman Catholic Church; and it may refer to the central, national, or international branch of

2256-519: Was developed by Chavis and colleagues, and revised and adapted by others. Although originally designed to assess sense of community in neighborhoods, the index has been adapted for use in schools, the workplace, and a variety of types of communities. Studies conducted by the APPA indicate that young adults who feel a sense of belonging in a community, particularly small communities, develop fewer psychiatric and depressive disorders than those who do not have

2304-466: Was made a county borough , independent from the county council. The first elections were held in January 1889, and the council formally came into being on 1 April 1889, on which day it held its first official meeting at Leicester Town Hall . Henry St John Halford was appointed the first chairman of the council. In 1974, the Local Government Act 1972 reconstituted Leicestershire County Council as

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