Community Centers

Introduction

Community centers play an important role in the lives of many citizens in the modern world. These centers may have different functions, which often provide invaluable support to the society. However, despite this fact, these organizations are not popular in many countries of the world. This paper describes the history of community centers, the purpose of their establishment, and a variety of functions they perform.

History

The first community centers began to appear in the early 20^th century in the UK (Smith, 2002). The US society began organizing community centers a few years later. Community centers in the United States were established due to the efforts of activists who wanted to care about fellow citizens and the working part of the population. It is noteworthy that schools were the first buildings that were used for the introduction of these centers.

The first community center in the United States was opened in 1907 due to the actions of Minister Edward Ward. The establishment of the community center was one of the goals of his social and political activities. Ten years later, in the United States, community centers were present in more than a hundred cities, and after five more years, there were community centers in 240 US cities (Smith, 2002). There were more than five hundred centers in New York, and four million people visited them regularly. Since then, community centers have been evolving rapidly.

Aims

The first community centers were established in order to improve the adults’ education and provide entertainment. In addition, many politicians believed that those social centers helped to promote democracy. The founders of community centers believed that those institutions helped citizens to solve many of their problems. In their turn, citizens have used community centers to contact with ministers. They complained about the issues related to education, the problems in the social sphere, medicine, industry, and other fields.

In addition, community centers were established for the purpose of religious activities. The mains tasks of such centers were the elimination of general apathy, the prevention of depression, and the development of mutual understanding between groups of people. Moreover, community centers also catered for the needs of young people, since they provided the youth with the opportunity to share interests, find like-minded people, and organize parties (Smith, 2002). Many researchers argue that the first community centers were created exclusively to raise public awareness, so that every citizen had the opportunity to share his/her concerns or interests. Therefore, it is difficult to determine the specific goal of all of these organizations in the past.

Different Activities of Community Centers

Community centers perform diverse functions in the community, but each institution usually focuses on a certain type of activity. A community center is a place for different meetings where various communities may exercise their traditions or organize cultural or social events. Politicians and official authorities often attend these establishments to inform citizens about current problems, ask for support, or conduct election campaigns. It may be a place for local housing clubs or volunteer organizations. In addition, community members can rent rooms in these institutions at a low price for private parties or similar events. For instance, they may conduct weddings or funerals there. Sometimes, even indoor circuses entertain the public there. Thus, a community center is a place that helps local communities to interact with each other.

Conclusion

Community centers began to appear in the early 20^th century, mainly for political purposes. It is noteworthy that these organizations first used schools for meetings. With time, the number of community centers has rapidly increased. The goals of community centers, as well as their functions, have changed in the course of time. Each community center was established to improve the lives of citizens and provide them with the necessary information, entertainment, and place of gathering for various events.