Stacy Gaston 10/22/14
Dr. Glose Community Organizing & Development

Assignment #2: Attendance at a community meeting

I attended a community church meeting on Sunday October 5, 2014 in Canarsie, Brooklyn NY. The meeting began after the 11:15 a.m. mass across the street in Holy Family Elementary School’s gymnasium. Everyone gathered around in a large circle because about 15-20 people had attended. The reason for the meeting was to recruit young church members into assembling a youth group. It was led by one of the church directors, Brendan Egonu. He felt that because of all the recent violence that had been occurring in the neighborhood, a good place for young members to be was in a safe environment. He wanted the youth group to be a place where teens discuss peer pressure, drugs, violence, school, and any other issues that affected them on a day to day basis. In addition, more of the youth would attend church masses because youth group was held directly after mass.
The group decision on whether or not they favored having a youth group was split. Half of the group did not like the idea of having a youth group. They felt it was a way to force them into attending mass. They also felt like if they didn’t go to mass, but still attended the youth group, they would be penalized. The other half of the group felt that the youth group was a great idea to meet new teens their age and discuss issues with one another.
Mr. Egonu tried to change the mind of those that did not favor the youth group. He proposed the benefits of having a youth group. He said a few things, such as going on group trips like Six Flags, having church bake sales, planning parties, and also meeting new faces. Mr. Egonu also said that no one would be penalized for not going to church, but it would help because they would briefly discuss the readings. The group would have an age range from 18-25. He stressed that it would be an exciting group that he would be held every Sunday. There would be a given topic and everyone would share their experiences with the topic. He would also recite verses from the Bible that related to the topic. If the overall group did not like the topic and wanted to discuss something different, that was also an option. Mr. Egonu was very flexible about deciding the group topics. He said he would encourage new ideas and voices to speak up about their issues.
Some of the members were persuaded and by the end of the meeting. However, others did not feel comfortable sharing personal experiences with one another, especially in what was a church-setting. Mr.Egonu was pleased that he had at least reached a majority of the youth members. Some of them even said they would bring their family members to the first meeting. At the end of the meeting, everyone helped themselves to refreshments on the table. Some people stayed and continued to discuss the youth group with Mr. Egonu. Overall it was a success and most of us left the meeting excited for what was to come next Sunday.
I was very impressed by the group dynamics. I thought everything was professional and it was a good idea to sit in a circle to hear everyone’s point of view. Mr.Egonu interrupted only when someone had cut someone off or was going off on another tangent unrelated to the youth group discussion. He made sure that everyone said at least something, even the quiet members. He tried to draw the quiet members in and cut off the ones that spoke frequently. When it was voting time, there was a lot of negativity from one girl. She tried to influence the group to be on her side because she did not want the youth group to happen at all. Mr. Egonu noticed this and told her that her negativity was affecting the group. He told her not to interject when someone else was speaking. We noticed by her body language that she was unhappy and wanted the meeting to end.