Community Entrance Academic Institutions

COMMUNITY ENTRANCE

Community Entrance

From the onset, it would be prudent to note that community entrance refers to the techniques, principles, or the process of mobilizing a community. In this text, I would be making an entry in a community that I am not familiar with. To start with, I will describe the said community and explain the steps that I will have to follow to gain entrance into the said community. The community that I intend to gain an entrance into is the school/education community in my city – specifically the higher education school community. The purpose of gaining entry into the said community is to create awareness about the relevance of formulating and deploying strategies to reign in drug abuse in the said community (i.e. among learners).

Grant and Sleeter (2007) observe that before making an entry into a community, it would be prudent to first prepare for the said entry. The first step when preparing an entry into a community would be to identify and clearly define the community of interest as well as reason for proposed entry (Grant and Sleeter, 2007). In this case the community of interest has already been identified. In basic terms, the education community comprises of students who work with one or more instructors/teachers with the aim of achieving academic goals (LIUBrooklyn, n. d). It also comprises of teachers, parents and caregivers who provide support to the students. The said community connects systems, organizations, and people who are anxious to work beyond boundaries and learn for a common outcome. The overall objectives of the said community could, however, be hampered by drug abuse among students. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – CDC (2015), various surveys as well as studies conducted in the past demonstrate “negative association between alcohol and other drug use and academic achievement after controlling for sex, race/ethnicity, and grade level.” It therefore follows that this is an issue worth exploring in the context of the higher education community.

The next step in this this community entrance endeavor happens to be stakeholder engagement. Engaging key stakeholders could help ease or facilitate my entry into the community. On this front, the key stakeholders are inclusive of, but they are not limited to; the school management, teachers, supportive staff, parents, students, etc. In this case, I would seek to first engage those stakeholders who are instrumental for ease of entry. These are inclusive of the school management and teachers. It would be more comfortable to gain entry in a community if you were introduced to the said community by an individual that is trusted by the community (Fodor, 2018). Such parties could also offer credible information about the said community. It is also important to note that I could also opt to identify a person or a group of persons who would help facilitate contact persons. There may also be need to reach out to those who may be familiar with the workings and conduct of this community.