community leader essay

Public Administration, MPA

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What Makes a Good Community Leader?

Community leaders have many different temperaments and styles. Some leaders are more demonstrative while others lead quietly but command respect. Yet there are a few common threads among successful leaders.

They must possess empathy, the ability to inspire, strong communication skills and pride in their community. Effective leaders are problem solvers who involve all members of their teams. They get people to work together toward a common goal. They focus on building effectiveness – the ability to get things done. 1

Mobilizing a group to develop community support for, say, a neighborhood clean-up or a school improvement campaign can be a complex undertaking. Leaders must often persuade others to work with them and address a range of opinions and personalities.

Organizational models are evolving. Administrators are streamlining traditionally rigid bureaucracies as they’ve come to understand that such systems often serve not constituents but the bureaucracies themselves. Effective community leaders are a key to success in this new environment.

New Public Management

The one-size-fits-all solutions of entrenched organizational structures are giving way to the more goal-oriented models of the “new public management.” Performance goals are taking the place of blindly adhering to rules and regulations.

Additionally, public systems are adapting to the new ethos and becoming more decentralized, with more outsourcing to private contractors for goods and services. Public entities are increasingly using market mechanisms to improve performance.

These changes have had an impact on the job of the public administrator: Community leaders now have more discretion to manage. At the same time, leaders must still learn and adhere to the old core values, like transparency, accountability, and professionalism. Community leaders must be models of rectitude, without cutting ethical corners, and they must set an example of confident leadership. 1

A New Transparency

The public has learned to expect openness and honesty from their public leaders; the old secret ways, typified by smoke-filled-room decision making, are widely condemned nowadays (to say nothing of being in violation of open meetings laws). At the same time, public leaders are openly acknowledging that their salaries are paid for by the citizenry, which has placed its faith in accountable leadership.

Professionalism means doing a job respectfully, competently, and straightforwardly. It also means showing proven leadership capabilities.

Many men and women who aspire to public administration positions are enrolling in Master of Public Administration programs, which teach candidates about how theory applies to the real world.

One such program is offered by Anna Maria College, where students learn, among other things, how to effectively provide community leadership; how to work with governing bodies; the fundamentals of managing people, money, and information; and how to raise productivity.

Learn more about Anna Maria College’s Online Master of Public Administration degree program or speak to an admissions advisor at 877-265-3201 .

• https://drsaraheaton.wordpress.com/2012/08/21/10-characteristics-of-community-leaders/ .

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Community leadership is the courage, creativity and capacity to inspire participation, development and sustainability for strong communities

– Gustav Nossal

Some of the most influential members of our society don’t have an official title that designates them as a “community leader.” In any given neighborhood or municipality, it’s quite likely that individuals who hold certain roles, such as elected officials, are de facto community leaders.

But it’s equally true that many of the most prominent leaders in a given community get their influence not on the basis of any official position of authority, but rather because they possess certain traits that enable them to represent their locality and drive progressive social change.

Studies indicate that the emergence of effective leaders in a community is one of the key elements of strengthening the overall well-being of the people in that locality.

A true community leader can come in many shapes and sizes, but there are particular characteristics that are innate in almost all great leaders.  Wake Forest University's Department of Counseling has illustrated many of these key character traits in this infographic.

The various qualities of great community leaders can be summarized in three over-arching categories: desire, competency and intangibles. Let’s take a closer look at these:

Leaders can be built, but in many ways some of the prerequisites to being a great leader are things that cannot simply be learned.

A great leader has an innate desire to lead; in fact, a great leader is someone that is going to blaze trails in almost any situation, as if they don’t even have a choice in the matter.

A great community leader not only has the motivation to affect positive change in the community, but they also want to be at the forefront of that transformation.  They inherently possess the dedication and drive that is a paramount necessity in being an effective leader and they are willing to put in the time and effort towards service, selflessly providing their time and effort for the greater good.

Finally, a great leader is not only able to evolve and grow throughout the course of their leadership tenure, they have a fierce eagerness to learn and adapt. It’s not enough to just be willing to pay lip service to other people’s thoughts and ideas; an effective leader needs to be open-minded enough to “listen, learn and change course” when new perspectives on a given situation are obtained.

A potential leader can have all the desire and motivation to bolster the greater good, but without some core competencies their ability to get other people to follow their lead will fail.

Leadership is above all about influence , and it is difficult to persuade and enthuse a community if you don’t possess the requisite intelligence that inspires confidence from others.  This is more than just being “ book smart ” but also possessing the emotional intelligence it takes to work effectively with others.

It’s those interpersonal skills that are just as important as native intelligence.  Being able to negotiate and mediate effectively is crucial to anyone that hopes to win “buy-in” from their community.

Intangibles

Finally, there are some factors that are difficult to measure, but still of the utmost necessity for effective community leaders. 

These qualities tie the aforementioned characteristics together, and enable people with desire and ability to truly emerge as a leader.  Chief among these are the ability to be self-aware , to be able to take a critical look at oneself and know when to ask for help to fill a gap that may exist in one’s repertoire.

The other side of that same coin is the ability to put oneself in the shoes of other people. The quality of empathy is important for leaders because they must be able to sense how they are being perceived at any given moment and be able to adjust their approach if they are not being recognized in the most effective manner.

Finally, an effective community leader needs to be a dreamer, a big picture person who is able to see beyond the fog of day-to activities.  This forward-thinking characteristic and ability is especially crucial when trying to affect lasting social change, which is often a gradual and laborious process in which the ultimate objective might not even be achieved in this generation.

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Chapter 14 Sections

• Section 2. Developing and Communicating a Vision
• Section 3. Discovering and Creating Possibilities
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• Main Section

What is a community leader? Are you one?

Community leaders take responsibility for the well-being and improvement of their communities. Are you a community leader? Are you interested in becoming one? Try answering the questions in this leadership quiz. Are you someone who:

• Wants to improve your community?
• Has something to contribute?
• Doesn't wait around for someone else to get the job done?

If you have answered "yes" to any of the above questions, you are most likely a community leader already, or on your way to becoming one. You don't have to run for office or be given a title to be a leader. All you need to do is decide to take responsibility for some corner (or bigger chunk) of your community.

Community leaders are often self-appointed. Even people who run for office first make a decision that they want to be a leader. You can probably take as much responsibility for your community as you are willing to.

Many community leaders learn by trial and error. That's not a bad way to go; people mostly learn from experience. Nonetheless, flying by the seat of your pants can be a bumpy ride. So why not get some help along the way?

Why should you be a community leader?

Why should you be a community leader? Leadership can be good for you. In fact, many people enjoy leading. You don't have to lead out of obligation. You can choose to lead and participate in ways that energize you and help you grow, instead of leading in ways that drain you. You can choose to work on issues that you care about. You can take on challenges that are fun, rewarding, or interesting. It's up to you.

Let's take a closer look at what you can gain from being a leader:

You can make a difference

Do you ever daydream that you are the one to save the day? Perhaps you are the passerby who dives into the water to rescue a drowning child. Maybe you are the person who deftly persuades the terrorist to put down the gun, just in the nick of time. It is human to want to make a significant difference in the world. And you can.

The day-to-day acts of community leadership are usually not as dramatic as described above, and they usually don't inspire a chorus of recognition. Still, as a community leader, you can make a profound contribution. Establishing a day care center, increasing job opportunities in your community, getting rid of a toxic waste dump, or empowering others to lead are all activities that are heroic in their own way.

When Isis Johnson of New Orleans was four years old she saw a news report about starving children in Ethiopia which made her feel the need to act. At five, with her grandmother at her side, she went knocking on doors asking for food donations for poor people in her community. When she was six she collected 1,600 items to give to people in need. The next year, she collected 4,000 items. When Hurricane Andrew hit she collected 1,648 pieces of clothing to send to people affected by the storm. Shortly after the hurricane, Isis's grandmother suggested she start a foundation. With the help of her grandmother and a lawyer she established the Isis Johnson Foundation. Isis was then eight years old. (from Karnes and Bean, Girls and Young Women Leading the Way , 1993.)

We may not all establish our own foundations by the time we are eight, but we can make a significant difference if we put our minds to it. Doing so can be infinitely satisfying.

You can grow

Often, people lead because it helps them grow and expand their lives. There is almost nothing as challenging as leading groups of people. As a leader, you may need to communicate to large numbers of people, negotiate, and handle dicey situations. You will become more confident in yourself and in your world if you take action to lead others around you.

Many successful leaders started without confidence or skills. Some people that are leaders today once had a hard time saying anything in a small group. If you are a shy person, take heart. You're not alone. You can figure out how to make your voice heard. It just takes some practice.

Leadership skills are built step-by-step. No matter what your skills are right now, you can become a better leader if you work at it. You may find yourself doing things you never imagined you would!

We need many community leaders

There is room in this world for more community leaders. The model of one leader at the top with everyone else at the bottom just doesn't work for communities. One or two leaders can't possibly solve all the complex problems that our communities face. With more community leaders, our communities will do better.

The more people become leaders, the more problems we will solve. We need community leaders to think about and organize around many issues: youth development, economic growth, substance use, crime, the environment, health care -- the list goes on and on. Each issue will require a troop of skilled leaders to handle them. We need leaders who are women, young people (we were all young once), people of color, low -income people, immigrants, people with disabilities and many others that have been told that they should follow others, not lead. We need leadership from all walks of life in order for ours to be a truly democratic society.

How will all those leaders work together? That is a skill that community leaders need to learn. We all have to learn to cooperate. We all need to put aside longings for turf, status, and power in order to achieve goals that benefit everyone.

Here are some community leadership examples:

• A citizen speaks up at the city council open meeting. Her words reveal the key issue regarding a local problem; the resulting discussion leads to a workable solution
• A few people in the neighborhood successfully organize to protest the cutting down of trees by the city
• A family member generates a plan to help a loved one to stop smoking, enlisting the support of other family members
• A young person organizes a kick-the-can game after dinner on the block

Of course, having a title can be useful, at times. The following are some examples of community leadership carried out by leaders who have formal positions or titles.

• A group of ministers creates an anti-drug initiative in the community
• A teacher periodically invites his students' parents to a potluck dinner to talk about school issues
• A member of the city council proposes a task force to provide services for homeless people
• The president of the high school drama club organizes students to do a play that addresses racial conflict among teens

What is true about all of the examples above is simply this: One or more people took responsibility for their communities.

When should you lead?

You can always lead. As we've said earlier, you can "lead" whether you are the designated leader or not. You can always think and act like a leader.

For example, while you are sitting in a committee meeting you can think about what will help move the group forward. Does the designated leader need some encouragement? Do people need a nudge to follow through? Do you need to take an unpopular stand on an issue?

People are hungry for others to help. If you take initiative to improve a situation, you will almost always delight, relieve, and surprise people.

You don't have to take over someone's leadership role in order to help things go well. In fact, one way of helping a group function better is by supporting the official leader. You can do this by organizing others to help with the work, by listening to the leader, and by encouraging the leader when she or he feels discouraged.

How do people learn how to lead?

Do you have to be a "born leader" in order to lead.

No. People learn how to lead. Even the people who seem to do it naturally had to learn the skills of leadership. They might have learned by watching their parents, teachers, or clergy. They might have been given a lot of responsibility when they were young and might have been expected to take charge. They might even have taken classes in "leadership development."

The point is this: If you don't feel that you are a "born" leader, don't let that stop you. You can become a leader by:

• Jumping in and practicing
• Observing others lead
• Finding a mentor
• Taking a class or workshop
• Reading books about leaders and leadership
• Remembering that people who are now successful leaders, once weren't leaders at all

Below is a list of what community leaders do. You don't have to be able to do all of these things right now. But most likely you are already doing some of them. You can pick up other skills as you go.

Dream big to create your personal vision

Maybe you didn't think that day dreaming was part of being a leader. Well, it is ! In fact, day dreaming is one of the first things you need to do as a leader.

If you are going to be a leader, it is necessary to dream big for yourself and for what you want to accomplish.

Lili Fini Zanuck, a film director and producer, said, "Nothing happens without a dream. The daydreaming mind will wander to something greater than the conscious mind could ever have imagined. The more you visualize your dream, the more you understand it. That's how you begin. Soon you're on the road to realizing your dream."

Young people often have big hopes and dreams for what they can do to improve their worlds. If each one of us could remember our dreams as children, we might recall that we had some ideas too.

Try these exercises: Interview a young person. Ask him or her what they would do to change the world if they could. Ask them what they wish were different. Try to remember when you were a teenager. What did you want to change in the world? Put aside practical considerations and fears. Brainstorm a list of dreams you would like to see come true.

So how do you take your dream and make it a reality?

You can start by creating your own personal vision statement. You put your dream into words that communicate to others a picture of what you want to do. Organizations have vision statements; and you, as a leader, can have your own vision statement, too.

Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." Now that's a vision statement!

Now it's your turn. Write out a few sentences of how you want some part of your world to be. Your vision statement will remind you of where you want to be going. As you wade through the day-to-day tasks of community organizing, sometimes without recognition or encouragement, remember to, "keep your eyes on the prize."

Listen to people

Listen to what people have to say. You need their thoughts and input. They will grow in confidence and become more engaged if they know their opinions are valued.

Even the most difficult people have some important things to say. We just have to learn to listen well enough to find the kernels of truth among all the chaff.

Decide that you are the person to take responsibility for your community

You have to make a decision to lead and view yourself as a community leader. No one else can contribute what you can. You have a point of view that no one else has. You have a set of skills that is unique. Your corner of the world will be different if you decide to act on its behalf.

Give your vision a sharper image. Turn up the focus . Set some long-term and short term goals. That is how you carve a real path to your vision.

For example, if your vision is: "To create a community where every person can enjoy city parks in safety," then you might set goals like these:

Long-term goals:

• Create more city parks
• Reduce crime in city parks

Short-term goals:

• Find out where the city parks are, who uses them, and what the crime levels are
• Establish good working relationships with community police officers and park officials
• Identify what actions might reduce park-related crime
• Decide whether it will be preferable to start a new organization or work through existing organizations

Think about the individuals in the group

As a leader, you need to think about how each individual is affecting the group. Are there individuals whose talents are not being well used? Is someone acting in a way that is divisive or is draining the group of its energy? Is there a person who needs some help learning how to work in a team?

Think about the group as a whole

Someone has to think about the group as a whole. Is the group cohesive? Do people in the group have a shared vision? Is there trust and a sense of mutual support? Does the group need some training to help it function better? Are there some policies the group needs to strengthen it?

Propose programs and policies

Groups need direction and policies to keep them moving towards their goals. You don't have to be a dictator to make proposals. You can make proposals, then listen to people's responses and then make appropriate changes. Someone needs to take responsibility for moving the whole group forward.

Get the work done

Someone has to wade through the mud and do whatever it takes. This includes getting others to help, and making sure that all the bases are covered so that the job gets done right; when need be, it also means printing out labels, cleaning up the kitchen, making those extra phone calls, staying up late, or getting up very early.

Recruit and teach others to become leaders

Last, but not least: One of the central and long-term jobs of a community leader is to develop other leaders. Developing leaders is how we build a strong community of individuals that can work together to achieve goals. It is the basis for how a democracy works.

Developing leadership is a way you can have a legacy behind you – people who will continue to advance your cause and your goals after you have left the scene.

Community leaders should spend a good chunk of their time recruiting, encouraging, training, mentoring, and supporting others to become leaders.

Here are some steps you can take:

• Find people who have leadership potential. There are people all around you who would love to be invited to lead something.
• Help people view themselves as leaders. You can do this by helping them notice the informal leadership they have already taken in their lives. Are they parents? – that is certainly a leadership position.
• Help people identify the reasons they want to lead. Listen to people talk about what is important to them and what they wish they could change.
• Assist people to choose leadership goals that are attainable and that will help them build their confidence. Nothing succeeds like success.
• Support people while they work to reach their goals. Listen to them talk about their successes and their feelings of discouragement; appreciate them and encourage them to keep going.
• Support people when they make mistakes. Everybody needs help when they make mistakes. Help them get on the right track and encourage them to stick with it.
• Challenge people to take the next step.

Leadership development is a long-term investment. Often community leaders have to put the development of other leaders ahead of achieving short-term goals. For example, it may be more important to take the risk of letting a relatively inexperienced person chair a small meeting and acquire new skills. If the meeting gets messy, perhaps that is not so bad. Leadership development is not a tidy endeavor.

So now we have a preliminary job description for a community leader. Does it seem overwhelming? Remember: You don't have to know how to do all these things when you start. You have the rest of your life to master them.

What are some qualities of successful community leaders?

You don't have to be a perfect human being to be a community leader, either. That's good, since none of us are. But it might be helpful for you to know a few of the characteristics that successful community leaders often have:

• Integrity: To trust you, people have to know that you say what you believe and act accordingly. If people trust you, they may follow you to the ends of the earth.
• Courage : It's okay to shake in your boots, but someone has to go slay that dragon, and it might as well be you. Leadership means that you show others the way through the dark, scary, forest. Go ahead and speak the truth--even when it's not popular.
• Commitment : You have to stick with a task through the good times and the bad. Your commitment will serve as a model.
• Ability to care about others : People will follow you if they know you care about them and about others. The greater your ability to care about all types of people, the more confidence they will have in you.
• Creativity and flexibility : Every situation will call for a different response. Be ready to change and come up with new solutions.

Those are a few qualities of successful leaders. What are other leadership characteristics that you think are important?

Getting and giving support as a leader

All leaders need support from others to help them keep growing and get through the fears and discouragement they face. Also, leaders sometimes feel isolated in their jobs; they need others to listen to their thinking, and they need to listen to others' ideas.

You can develop relationships with people for sharing your leadership successes, discouragement, and for processing the pile of information you are exposed to in your leadership role. You can set up a regular time where you and another person or group of people can talk about being a leader.

This process can be informal and unstructured. However, sometimes a little structure in a leadership group can be helpful.

Here are some suggestions for leadership groups:

• Start the meeting with each person having a chance to talk about what is going well – this starts you out with a positive tone.
• Give each person a chance to talk about their leadership without being interrupted and without being given advice. Five to ten minutes works well. (This provides people a period of time to follow their own train of thought from beginning to end.)
• What have you accomplished in the last period of time? (week, month)
• What is the state of your group or organization?
• Where do you have difficulties as the leader?
• What are your goals during the next period of time?

A word on emotions

All humans that live in the modern age get stressed out now and then. And the demands of leadership can pile on even more stress.

Leaders have to figure out how to handle emotions due to the stress of their jobs. You might feel crabby after a day of dealing with a myriad of problems. In fact, the more challenges you take on as a leader, the more emotional fallout you may experience, and it isn't surprising that it becomes harder to think straight.

Under stress, we may all become frozen or confused in our fears, worries, and discouragement. When that happens it is easy to react without thinking. Sometimes our feelings cause us to avoid taking actions when actions are called for. Sometimes our fears drive us to act in ways that are unworkable.

It is not unusual for people in leadership positions to deal with built-up emotions by hurting themselves. We all are familiar with people who take drugs or alcohol, overeat, smoke, get sick, etc., when stresses get too overwhelming. Most of us have struggled with these issues ourselves.

But you are too important to let bad feelings damage you. Your own well-being is at least as important as the causes and people you are fighting for. Don't wait until you are in trouble before you deal with your emotions.

So, what do you do when stresses build-up? One thing you can do is unload them. Find someone you can talk to about what is going on. Tell someone what gets hard for you. If you get some good attention, then you can cast off some of the weight that hangs on you. You may feel renewed in your commitment and more able to think afresh about those difficult problems.

Talking helps. So does crying and laughing. A good cry or hearty laugh with a coworker or friend can clear a space in your brain to sort out some of those knotty problems.

And chances are, if you can tell someone else what is going on for you, they will be more than happy to come to you when they need some help. In fact, when you ask for help you are modeling effective leadership.

Here is a more formal version of the listening exercise described above: Find a friend or coworker you trust. Ask your friend to listen to you without giving advice or interrupting. Ask them to not judge you for your feelings. Ask them to keep your conversation confidential. Take a specific amount of time to talk. Ask the listener if they would like a turn to talk when you are finished. Setting up listening exchanges may feel awkward and embarrassing at first. Listening well to what people have to say is different from everyday conversation. The exercise above will take some practice, but it will definitely help you to think more clearly and feel more positive about the work you are doing.

It's just possible that community leadership is a job that is made for you. Remember, you are the one, and the only one, who can decide what kind of responsibility you would like to take to make sure things go well in your corner of the world.

Go ahead and dare to take hold of your dreams and do the work that is meaningful to you. You have the ability to make significant changes in the lives of the people with whom you work, live, and play. Don't deny the universe your unique contribution.

Online Resources

Am I a Transformative Leader? prompts 10 “yes” or “no” questions to determine if the respondent is a transformational coalition leader.

Biography of John Gardner  and  John W. Gardner Center  provide information and links related to a great teacher of leadership.

10 Concise Qualities of Great Community Leaders  is an Infographic by Mother Nature Network.

Four Types of Community Leaders  contains short descriptions of each type and what they have to offer, by Covering Communities.

A thorough  Guide for Conducting Community Leader Interviews , compiled by New Jersey Library Trustee Institute.

The Greenleaf Center for Servant-Leadership  provides resources for understanding the principles and practices of servant leadership.

The Leadership Challenge  is a learning community with discussion forums that incorporate activities to analyze your own leadership experiences and style.

The Leadership Learning Community  is a national organization of people who run, fund, study and provide service to leadership development programs. "Knowledge Pools" and Learning Circles are offered in addition to resources.

CIO Magazine has a helpful article on " Total Leadership ."

Print Resources

Axner, M. (1993).  The community leadership project curriculum . Pomfret: CT. The Topsfield Foundation.

Gardner, J. (1990).  On leadership . New York, NY. The Free Press.

Jackins, H. (1987). The enjoyment of leadership . Seattle: Rational Island Publishers.

Kahn, S.  (1991). Organizing: A guide for grassroots leaders . Anapolis JCT, MD. NASW Press.

Karnes, F., &  Bean, S.(1993). Girls and young women leading the way: 20 true stories about leadership . Minneapolis, MN. Free Spirit Publishing, Inc.

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How to Become a Community Leader

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Community members can improve their livelihood in meaningful ways through community development. (Syme & Ritterman, 2009). Community leadership helps develop and nurture grassroots innovations that improve the quality of life of the community members through active engagement toward common goals (Martiskainen, 2017). Evidence shows that community leaders effectively support, foster, and enable community development (Kirk & Shutte, 2004). The following questions are key to uncover the need of a community and lead changes.

• Are you interested in your community improving?
• What should improve in your community?
• In what way can you contribute to these changes or improvements in your community?
• Is there someone already leading these changes?

What does community leadership mean?

Community leadership is different from the traditional understanding of leadership because community leaders are representatives who ask, persuade, and influence followers (Sullivan, 2007). Community leadership is less hierarchical (Onyx and Leonard, 2011) and often based on volunteer action (Zanbar and Itzhaky, 2013), involving the creation of social capital (Riley, 2012) and improving community members' lives.

Community leaders are usually informal, local, non-elected, and non-exclusive leaders (Bénit-Gbaffou and Katsaura, 2014).  Usually, more than one leader in the community takes voluntary responsibility toward common goals or leading changes. Community leaders must be part of the community in which their leadership operates. Community leadership can exist in various sectors, including health, education, security, and community member emotional support.

How can you start a community care network?

The AARP organization developed a guidebook to help community members to initiate a local care network. The essential seven initial steps are summarized below:

• Learn about your community and its needs. Meet and talk with your neighbors every chance you have to learn about their current situations.  You might collect ideas to improve your community. Also, ask whether people would like to meet and discuss developing caring community teams. A survey might be a helpful option to collect ideas and opinions.
• Find collaborative team leaders. Recognize the main things people want and decide on a few teams to cover those things. Organize those who want to help into those teams and identify someone who can be the team leader.
• Engage team leaders and the whole community . Once you have identified teams, hold a get-together to discuss how the teams might implement some easy ideas generated from the survey results. Please encourage them to find an effective communication method to keep connected and keep the community informed.
• Offer help and invite your neighbors to join various projects. Be sure to tell them whom to contact if they need a hand. Even if specific needs are not apparent, you can start planning a community project like establishing a safety or emergency protocol.
• Start helping. Organize a team to cover specific community needs; if the project exceeds the capacity of your teams, ask additional community members to lend a hand. Usually, people are willing to help for special causes. Be sure to make all those requests in a way that is comfortable for the person you are helping.
• Build on what you started. Reflect with your teams and community about how you reached the goal or fulfilled the need. Ask for honest and constructive feedback. Keep your community constantly connected through social meetings and events.
• Inspire others to create more caring communities. You can also be a mentor to others on their leadership pathways.

Becoming a community leader.

Few people are born leaders. Usually, individuals learn how to lead over time. Some of the ways a person can learn to lead are by:

• Immersion into practice
• Observing other leaders
• Having a mentor
• Reading, taking leadership classes, or training.

Common Qualities Displayed by Good Community Leaders.

The role of a community leader is not to fix all the community's problems but rather to work together with the community members. Community leaders mobilize and guide others, facilitate the problem-solving and decision-making processes, and innovate to benefit the community itself.

The following qualities are the most common qualities displayed by successful community leaders. These qualities were summarized from the community toolbox (2021):

Integrity: To trust you, people need to know that you act according to what you say and are reliable.  If people trust you, they will likely follow and collaborate with you on your initiatives and projects.

Courage: Leadership constantly involves challenges, where taking risks and showing others the appropriate path is crucial. Challenge yourself to speak the truth - even when it is not popular.

Commitment: Commit to a task when you sign up for it, no matter how hard it could be. If you need to, find help to complete it or find strategies to make it more doable. Your commitment can be a positive model for your community members.

Care about others: People will follow and respect you when you care and raise your concerns about community members and local issues. The greater your ability to care about others, the more confidence and collaboration you will receive from community members.

Creativity and flexibility: Be prepared for change, develop alternative plans and new solutions.

Bénit‐Gbaffou, C., & Katsaura, O. (2014). Community Leadership and the Construction of Political Legitimacy: Unpacking Bourdieu's 'Political Capital' in Post‐Apartheid Johannesburg.  International Journal of Urban and Regional Research ,  38 (5), 1807-1832.

Kirk, P., & Shutte, A. M. (2004). Community leadership development.  Community Development Journal ,  39 (3), 234-251.

Martiskainen, M. (2017). The role of community leadership in the development of grassroots innovations.  Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions ,  22 , 78-89.

Onyx, J., & Leonard, R. J. (2011). Complex systems leadership in emergent community projects.  Community Development Journal ,  46 (4), 493-510.

Syme, S. L., & Ritterman, M. L. (2009). The importance of community development for health and well-being.  Community Development Investment Review ,  5 (3), 1-13.

Sullivan, H. (2007). 'Interpreting' community 'leadership' in English local government.  Policy & Politics ,  35 (1), 141-161.

Zanbar, L., & Itzhaky, H. (2013). Community activists' competence: The contributing factors.  Journal of Community Psychology ,  41 (2), 249-263.

AARP- How to Build A Caring Community Network

The community toolbox - Section 1. Learning How to Be a Community Leader

Guide for Conducting Community Leader Interviews

• Adult leadership
• Volunteerism
• Volunteer management

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How to Write the Community Essay – Guide with Examples (2023-24)

September 6, 2023

Students applying to college this year will inevitably confront the community essay. In fact, most students will end up responding to several community essay prompts for different schools. For this reason, you should know more than simply how to approach the community essay as a genre. Rather, you will want to learn how to decipher the nuances of each particular prompt, in order to adapt your response appropriately. In this article, we’ll show you how to do just that, through several community essay examples. These examples will also demonstrate how to avoid cliché and make the community essay authentically and convincingly your own.

Emphasis on Community

Do keep in mind that inherent in the word “community” is the idea of multiple people. The personal statement already provides you with a chance to tell the college admissions committee about yourself as an individual. The community essay, however, suggests that you depict yourself among others. You can use this opportunity to your advantage by showing off interpersonal skills, for example. Or, perhaps you wish to relate a moment that forged important relationships. This in turn will indicate what kind of connections you’ll make in the classroom with college peers and professors.

Apart from comprising numerous people, a community can appear in many shapes and sizes. It could be as small as a volleyball team, or as large as a diaspora. It could fill a town soup kitchen, or spread across five boroughs. In fact, due to the internet, certain communities today don’t even require a physical place to congregate. Communities can form around a shared identity, shared place, shared hobby, shared ideology, or shared call to action. They can even arise due to a shared yet unforeseen circumstance.

What is the Community Essay All About?             

In a nutshell, the community essay should exhibit three things:

• An aspect of yourself, 2. in the context of a community you belonged to, and 3. how this experience may shape your contribution to the community you’ll join in college.

It may look like a fairly simple equation: 1 + 2 = 3. However, each college will word their community essay prompt differently, so it’s important to look out for additional variables. One college may use the community essay as a way to glimpse your core values. Another may use the essay to understand how you would add to diversity on campus. Some may let you decide in which direction to take it—and there are many ways to go!

To get a better idea of how the prompts differ, let’s take a look at some real community essay prompts from the current admission cycle.

Sample 2023-2024 Community Essay Prompts

1) brown university.

“Students entering Brown often find that making their home on College Hill naturally invites reflection on where they came from. Share how an aspect of your growing up has inspired or challenged you, and what unique contributions this might allow you to make to the Brown community. (200-250 words)”

A close reading of this prompt shows that Brown puts particular emphasis on place. They do this by using the words “home,” “College Hill,” and “where they came from.” Thus, Brown invites writers to think about community through the prism of place. They also emphasize the idea of personal growth or change, through the words “inspired or challenged you.” Therefore, Brown wishes to see how the place you grew up in has affected you. And, they want to know how you in turn will affect their college community.

“NYU was founded on the belief that a student’s identity should not dictate the ability for them to access higher education. That sense of opportunity for all students, of all backgrounds, remains a part of who we are today and a critical part of what makes us a world-class university. Our community embraces diversity, in all its forms, as a cornerstone of the NYU experience.

We would like to better understand how your experiences would help us to shape and grow our diverse community. Please respond in 250 words or less.”

Here, NYU places an emphasis on students’ “identity,” “backgrounds,” and “diversity,” rather than any physical place. (For some students, place may be tied up in those ideas.) Furthermore, while NYU doesn’t ask specifically how identity has changed the essay writer, they do ask about your “experience.” Take this to mean that you can still recount a specific moment, or several moments, that work to portray your particular background. You should also try to link your story with NYU’s values of inclusivity and opportunity.

3) University of Washington

“Our families and communities often define us and our individual worlds. Community might refer to your cultural group, extended family, religious group, neighborhood or school, sports team or club, co-workers, etc. Describe the world you come from and how you, as a product of it, might add to the diversity of the UW. (300 words max) Tip: Keep in mind that the UW strives to create a community of students richly diverse in cultural backgrounds, experiences, values and viewpoints.”

UW ’s community essay prompt may look the most approachable, for they help define the idea of community. You’ll notice that most of their examples (“families,” “cultural group, extended family, religious group, neighborhood”…) place an emphasis on people. This may clue you in on their desire to see the relationships you’ve made. At the same time, UW uses the words “individual” and “richly diverse.” They, like NYU, wish to see how you fit in and stand out, in order to boost campus diversity.

Writing Your First Community Essay

Begin by picking which community essay you’ll write first. (For practical reasons, you’ll probably want to go with whichever one is due earliest.) Spend time doing a close reading of the prompt, as we’ve done above. Underline key words. Try to interpret exactly what the prompt is asking through these keywords.

Next, brainstorm. I recommend doing this on a blank piece of paper with a pencil. Across the top, make a row of headings. These might be the communities you’re a part of, or the components that make up your identity. Then, jot down descriptive words underneath in each column—whatever comes to you. These words may invoke people and experiences you had with them, feelings, moments of growth, lessons learned, values developed, etc. Now, narrow in on the idea that offers the richest material and that corresponds fully with the prompt.

Lastly, write! You’ll definitely want to describe real moments, in vivid detail. This will keep your essay original, and help you avoid cliché. However, you’ll need to summarize the experience and answer the prompt succinctly, so don’t stray too far into storytelling mode.

How To Adapt Your Community Essay

Once your first essay is complete, you’ll need to adapt it to the other colleges involving community essays on your list. Again, you’ll want to turn to the prompt for a close reading, and recognize what makes this prompt different from the last. For example, let’s say you’ve written your essay for UW about belonging to your swim team, and how the sports dynamics shaped you. Adapting that essay to Brown’s prompt could involve more of a focus on place. You may ask yourself, how was my swim team in Alaska different than the swim teams we competed against in other states?

Once you’ve adapted the content, you’ll also want to adapt the wording to mimic the prompt. For example, let’s say your UW essay states, “Thinking back to my years in the pool…” As you adapt this essay to Brown’s prompt, you may notice that Brown uses the word “reflection.” Therefore, you might change this sentence to “Reflecting back on my years in the pool…” While this change is minute, it cleverly signals to the reader that you’ve paid attention to the prompt, and are giving that school your full attention.

What to Avoid When Writing the Community Essay  

• Avoid cliché. Some students worry that their idea is cliché, or worse, that their background or identity is cliché. However, what makes an essay cliché is not the content, but the way the content is conveyed. This is where your voice and your descriptions become essential.
• Avoid giving too many examples. Stick to one community, and one or two anecdotes arising from that community that allow you to answer the prompt fully.
• Don’t exaggerate or twist facts. Sometimes students feel they must make themselves sound more “diverse” than they feel they are. Luckily, diversity is not a feeling. Likewise, diversity does not simply refer to one’s heritage. If the prompt is asking about your identity or background, you can show the originality of your experiences through your actions and your thinking.

Community Essay Examples and Analysis

Brown university community essay example.

I used to hate the NYC subway. I’ve taken it since I was six, going up and down Manhattan, to and from school. By high school, it was a daily nightmare. Spending so much time underground, underneath fluorescent lighting, squashed inside a rickety, rocking train car among strangers, some of whom wanted to talk about conspiracy theories, others who had bedbugs or B.O., or who manspread across two seats, or bickered—it wore me out. The challenge of going anywhere seemed absurd. I dreaded the claustrophobia and disgruntlement.

Yet the subway also inspired my understanding of community. I will never forget the morning I saw a man, several seats away, slide out of his seat and hit the floor. The thump shocked everyone to attention. What we noticed: he appeared drunk, possibly homeless. I was digesting this when a second man got up and, through a sort of awkward embrace, heaved the first man back into his seat. The rest of us had stuck to subway social codes: don’t step out of line. Yet this second man’s silent actions spoke loudly. They said, “I care.”

That day I realized I belong to a group of strangers. What holds us together is our transience, our vulnerabilities, and a willingness to assist. This community is not perfect but one in motion, a perpetual work-in-progress. Now I make it my aim to hold others up. I plan to contribute to the Brown community by helping fellow students and strangers in moments of precariousness.    

Brown University Community Essay Example Analysis

Here the student finds an original way to write about where they come from. The subway is not their home, yet it remains integral to ideas of belonging. The student shows how a community can be built between strangers, in their responsibility toward each other. The student succeeds at incorporating key words from the prompt (“challenge,” “inspired” “Brown community,” “contribute”) into their community essay.

UW Community Essay Example

I grew up in Hawaii, a world bound by water and rich in diversity. In school we learned that this sacred land was invaded, first by Captain Cook, then by missionaries, whalers, traders, plantation owners, and the U.S. government. My parents became part of this problematic takeover when they moved here in the 90s. The first community we knew was our church congregation. At the beginning of mass, we shook hands with our neighbors. We held hands again when we sang the Lord’s Prayer. I didn’t realize our church wasn’t “normal” until our diocese was informed that we had to stop dancing hula and singing Hawaiian hymns. The order came from the Pope himself.

Eventually, I lost faith in God and organized institutions. I thought the banning of hula—an ancient and pure form of expression—seemed medieval, ignorant, and unfair, given that the Hawaiian religion had already been stamped out. I felt a lack of community and a distrust for any place in which I might find one. As a postcolonial inhabitant, I could never belong to the Hawaiian culture, no matter how much I valued it. Then, I was shocked to learn that Queen Ka’ahumanu herself had eliminated the Kapu system, a strict code of conduct in which women were inferior to men. Next went the Hawaiian religion. Queen Ka’ahumanu burned all the temples before turning to Christianity, hoping this religion would offer better opportunities for her people.

Community Essay (Continued)

I’m not sure what to make of this history. Should I view Queen Ka’ahumanu as a feminist hero, or another failure in her islands’ tragedy? Nothing is black and white about her story, but she did what she thought was beneficial to her people, regardless of tradition. From her story, I’ve learned to accept complexity. I can disagree with institutionalized religion while still believing in my neighbors. I am a product of this place and their presence. At UW, I plan to add to campus diversity through my experience, knowing that diversity comes with contradictions and complications, all of which should be approached with an open and informed mind.

UW Community Essay Example Analysis

This student also manages to weave in words from the prompt (“family,” “community,” “world,” “product of it,” “add to the diversity,” etc.). Moreover, the student picks one of the examples of community mentioned in the prompt, (namely, a religious group,) and deepens their answer by addressing the complexity inherent in the community they’ve been involved in. While the student displays an inner turmoil about their identity and participation, they find a way to show how they’d contribute to an open-minded campus through their values and intellectual rigor.

What’s Next

For more on supplemental essays and essay writing guides, check out the following articles:

• How to Write the Why This Major Essay + Example
• How to Write the Overcoming Challenges Essay + Example
• How to Start a College Essay – 12 Techniques and Tips
• College Essay

Kaylen Baker

With a BA in Literary Studies from Middlebury College, an MFA in Fiction from Columbia University, and a Master’s in Translation from Université Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis, Kaylen has been working with students on their writing for over five years. Previously, Kaylen taught a fiction course for high school students as part of Columbia Artists/Teachers, and served as an English Language Assistant for the French National Department of Education. Kaylen is an experienced writer/translator whose work has been featured in Los Angeles Review, Hybrid, San Francisco Bay Guardian, France Today, and Honolulu Weekly, among others.

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The importance of community to leadership practice.

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An integral part of a leader’s identity is the community (or communities) they surround themselves with. A community is a space where one can learn social skills, culture, values, and sense of identity. It would make sense that suitable leaders for a certain community would have to either come from that community or be well adjusted within it in order to properly make positive changes in it. However, it’s hard for a leader to be an effective role model when they don’t have an understanding of the skills and attitudes valued within the specific community of people they are tasked to lead. How do we remedy this? 

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First, the leader must consider what makes the gears turn within said community. What commonalities are the people of the community bonded over? What skills, attitudes, and ideals do they embody? Being an effective leader consists of empathizing with one’s community and recognizing the dignity within the people of said community. Be open-minded, realize that your character is not to be idolized as a “leader” but instead should be a resource to the people or an embodiment of what’s most important to your community. 

Second, the leader must encourage the community to be successful in its own way. Trying to emulate the success of an entirely different community with differing values won’t get you anywhere. Everybody brings different skills and knowledge to the table. An effective leader uses what each community member has to offer to help build and push the community towards the success of their own making. 

Finally, the leader must inspire an environment within the community to ensure their success is sustainable. Leaders can do this by expressing how much each community member is appreciated and vital to their team. They can create a space where each community member feels safe and understood in their position. Sustainable success within a community is entirely dependent on the safe space it provides for the community members, upheld by the leader. 

When leaders immerse themselves in deep understandings of a community’s values, skills, and ideals, they’ll be better equipped to guide the community towards the type of success that’s best suited for them—a success of their own that they can take pride in and effectively sustain through whatever obstacle is in their way.

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Sat / act prep online guides and tips, how to write a great community service essay.

College Admissions , Extracurriculars

Are you applying to a college or a scholarship that requires a community service essay? Do you know how to write an essay that will impress readers and clearly show the impact your work had on yourself and others?

Read on to learn step-by-step instructions for writing a great community service essay that will help you stand out and be memorable.

What Is a Community Service Essay? Why Do You Need One?

A community service essay is an essay that describes the volunteer work you did and the impact it had on you and your community. Community service essays can vary widely depending on specific requirements listed in the application, but, in general, they describe the work you did, why you found the work important, and how it benefited people around you.

Community service essays are typically needed for two reasons:

#1: To Apply to College

• Some colleges require students to write community service essays as part of their application or to be eligible for certain scholarships.
• You may also choose to highlight your community service work in your personal statement.

#2: To Apply for Scholarships

• Some scholarships are specifically awarded to students with exceptional community service experiences, and many use community service essays to help choose scholarship recipients.
• Green Mountain College offers one of the most famous of these scholarships. Their "Make a Difference Scholarship" offers full tuition, room, and board to students who have demonstrated a significant, positive impact through their community service

Getting Started With Your Essay

In the following sections, I'll go over each step of how to plan and write your essay. I'll also include sample excerpts for you to look through so you can get a better idea of what readers are looking for when they review your essay.

Step 1: Know the Essay Requirements

Before your start writing a single word, you should be familiar with the essay prompt. Each college or scholarship will have different requirements for their essay, so make sure you read these carefully and understand them.

Specific things to pay attention to include:

• Length requirement
• Application deadline
• The main purpose or focus of the essay
• If the essay should follow a specific structure

Below are three real community service essay prompts. Read through them and notice how much they vary in terms of length, detail, and what information the writer should include.

From the Equitable Excellence Scholarship:

"Describe your outstanding achievement in depth and provide the specific planning, training, goals, and steps taken to make the accomplishment successful. Include details about your role and highlight leadership you provided. Your essay must be a minimum of 350 words but not more than 600 words."

From the Laura W. Bush Traveling Scholarship:

"Essay (up to 500 words, double spaced) explaining your interest in being considered for the award and how your proposed project reflects or is related to both UNESCO's mandate and U.S. interests in promoting peace by sharing advances in education, science, culture, and communications."

From the LULAC National Scholarship Fund:

"Please type or print an essay of 300 words (maximum) on how your academic studies will contribute to your personal & professional goals. In addition, please discuss any community service or extracurricular activities you have been involved in that relate to your goals."

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Step 2: Brainstorm Ideas

Even after you understand what the essay should be about, it can still be difficult to begin writing. Answer the following questions to help brainstorm essay ideas. You may be able to incorporate your answers into your essay.

• What community service activity that you've participated in has meant the most to you?
• What is your favorite memory from performing community service?
• Why did you decide to begin community service?
• What made you decide to volunteer where you did?
• How has your community service changed you?
• How has your community service helped others?
• How has your community service affected your plans for the future?

You don't need to answer all the questions, but if you find you have a lot of ideas for one of two of them, those may be things you want to include in your essay.

Writing Your Essay

How you structure your essay will depend on the requirements of the scholarship or school you are applying to. You may give an overview of all the work you did as a volunteer, or highlight a particularly memorable experience. You may focus on your personal growth or how your community benefited.

Regardless of the specific structure requested, follow the guidelines below to make sure your community service essay is memorable and clearly shows the impact of your work.

Samples of mediocre and excellent essays are included below to give you a better idea of how you should draft your own essay.

Step 1: Hook Your Reader In

You want the person reading your essay to be interested, so your first sentence should hook them in and entice them to read more. A good way to do this is to start in the middle of the action. Your first sentence could describe you helping build a house, releasing a rescued animal back to the wild, watching a student you tutored read a book on their own, or something else that quickly gets the reader interested. This will help set your essay apart and make it more memorable.

Compare these two opening sentences:

"I have volunteered at the Wishbone Pet Shelter for three years."

"The moment I saw the starving, mud-splattered puppy brought into the shelter with its tail between its legs, I knew I'd do whatever I could to save it."

The first sentence is a very general, bland statement. The majority of community service essays probably begin a lot like it, but it gives the reader little information and does nothing to draw them in. On the other hand, the second sentence begins immediately with action and helps persuade the reader to keep reading so they can learn what happened to the dog.

Step 2: Discuss the Work You Did

Once you've hooked your reader in with your first sentence, tell them about your community service experiences. State where you work, when you began working, how much time you've spent there, and what your main duties include. This will help the reader quickly put the rest of the essay in context and understand the basics of your community service work.

Not including basic details about your community service could leave your reader confused.

Step 3: Include Specific Details

It's the details of your community service that make your experience unique and memorable, so go into the specifics of what you did.

For example, don't just say you volunteered at a nursing home; talk about reading Mrs. Johnson her favorite book, watching Mr. Scott win at bingo, and seeing the residents play games with their grandchildren at the family day you organized. Try to include specific activities, moments, and people in your essay. Having details like these let the readers really understand what work you did and how it differs from other volunteer experiences.

Compare these two passages:

"For my volunteer work, I tutored children at a local elementary school. I helped them improve their math skills and become more confident students."

"As a volunteer at York Elementary School, I worked one-on-one with second and third graders who struggled with their math skills, particularly addition, subtraction, and fractions. As part of my work, I would create practice problems and quizzes and try to connect math to the students' interests. One of my favorite memories was when Sara, a student I had been working with for several weeks, told me that she enjoyed the math problems I had created about a girl buying and selling horses so much that she asked to help me create math problems for other students."

The first passage only gives basic information about the work done by the volunteer; there is very little detail included, and no evidence is given to support her claims. How did she help students improve their math skills? How did she know they were becoming more confident?

The second passage is much more detailed. It recounts a specific story and explains more fully what kind of work the volunteer did, as well as a specific instance of a student becoming more confident with her math skills. Providing more detail in your essay helps support your claims as well as make your essay more memorable and unique.

Step 4: Show Your Personality

It would be very hard to get a scholarship or place at a school if none of your readers felt like they knew much about you after finishing your essay, so make sure that your essay shows your personality. The way to do this is to state your personal strengths, then provide examples to support your claims. Take some time to think about which parts of your personality you would like your essay to highlight, then write about specific examples to show this.

• If you want to show that you're a motivated leader, describe a time when you organized an event or supervised other volunteers.
• If you want to show your teamwork skills, write about a time you helped a group of people work together better.
• If you want to show that you're a compassionate animal lover, write about taking care of neglected shelter animals and helping each of them find homes.

Step 5: State What You Accomplished

After you have described your community service and given specific examples of your work, you want to begin to wrap your essay up by stating your accomplishments. What was the impact of your community service? Did you build a house for a family to move into? Help students improve their reading skills? Clean up a local park? Make sure the impact of your work is clear; don't be worried about bragging here.

If you can include specific numbers, that will also strengthen your essay. Saying "I delivered meals to 24 home-bound senior citizens" is a stronger example than just saying "I delivered meals to lots of senior citizens."

Also be sure to explain why your work matters. Why is what you did important? Did it provide more parks for kids to play in? Help students get better grades? Give people medical care who would otherwise not have gotten it? This is an important part of your essay, so make sure to go into enough detail that your readers will know exactly what you accomplished and how it helped your community.

"My biggest accomplishment during my community service was helping to organize a family event at the retirement home. The children and grandchildren of many residents attended, and they all enjoyed playing games and watching movies together."

"The community service accomplishment that I'm most proud of is the work I did to help organize the First Annual Family Fun Day at the retirement home. My job was to design and organize fun activities that senior citizens and their younger relatives could enjoy. The event lasted eight hours and included ten different games, two performances, and a movie screening with popcorn. Almost 200 residents and family members attended throughout the day. This event was important because it provided an opportunity for senior citizens to connect with their family members in a way they aren't often able to. It also made the retirement home seem more fun and enjoyable to children, and we have seen an increase in the number of kids coming to visit their grandparents since the event."

The second passage is stronger for a variety of reasons. First, it goes into much more detail about the work the volunteer did. The first passage only states that she helped "organize a family event." That really doesn't tell readers much about her work or what her responsibilities were. The second passage is much clearer; her job was to "design and organize fun activities."

The second passage also explains the event in more depth. A family day can be many things; remember that your readers are likely not familiar with what you're talking about, so details help them get a clearer picture.

Lastly, the second passage makes the importance of the event clear: it helped residents connect with younger family members, and it helped retirement homes seem less intimidating to children, so now some residents see their grand kids more often.

Step 6: Discuss What You Learned

One of the final things to include in your essay should be the impact that your community service had on you. You can discuss skills you learned, such as carpentry, public speaking, animal care, or another skill.

You can also talk about how you changed personally. Are you more patient now? More understanding of others? Do you have a better idea of the type of career you want? Go into depth about this, but be honest. Don't say your community service changed your life if it didn't because trite statements won't impress readers.

In order to support your statements, provide more examples. If you say you're more patient now, how do you know this? Do you get less frustrated while playing with your younger siblings? Are you more willing to help group partners who are struggling with their part of the work? You've probably noticed by now that including specific examples and details is one of the best ways to create a strong and believable essay .

"As a result of my community service, I learned a lot about building houses and became a more mature person."

"As a result of my community service, I gained hands-on experience in construction. I learned how to read blueprints, use a hammer and nails, and begin constructing the foundation of a two-bedroom house. Working on the house could be challenging at times, but it taught me to appreciate the value of hard work and be more willing to pitch in when I see someone needs help. My dad has just started building a shed in our backyard, and I offered to help him with it because I know from my community service how much work it is. I also appreciate my own house more, and I know how lucky I am to have a roof over my head."

The second passage is more impressive and memorable because it describes the skills the writer learned in more detail and recounts a specific story that supports her claim that her community service changed her and made her more helpful.

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Step 7: Finish Strong

Just as you started your essay in a way that would grab readers' attention, you want to finish your essay on a strong note as well. A good way to end your essay is to state again the impact your work had on you, your community, or both. Reiterate how you changed as a result of your community service, why you found the work important, or how it helped others.

Compare these two concluding statements:

"In conclusion, I learned a lot from my community service at my local museum, and I hope to keep volunteering and learning more about history."

"To conclude, volunteering at my city's American History Museum has been a great experience. By leading tours and participating in special events, I became better at public speaking and am now more comfortable starting conversations with people. In return, I was able to get more community members interested in history and our local museum. My interest in history has deepened, and I look forward to studying the subject in college and hopefully continuing my volunteer work at my university's own museum."

The second passage takes each point made in the first passage and expands upon it. In a few sentences, the second passage is able to clearly convey what work the volunteer did, how she changed, and how her volunteer work benefited her community.

The author of the second passage also ends her essay discussing her future and how she'd like to continue her community service, which is a good way to wrap things up because it shows your readers that you are committed to community service for the long-term.

What's Next?

Are you applying to a community service scholarship or thinking about it? We have a complete list of all the community service scholarships available to help get your search started!

Do you need a community service letter as well? We have a step-by-step guide that will tell you how to get a great reference letter from your community service supervisor.

Thinking about doing community service abroad? Before you sign up, read our guide on some of the hazards of international volunteer trips and how to know if it's the right choice for you.

Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points? We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Christine graduated from Michigan State University with degrees in Environmental Biology and Geography and received her Master's from Duke University. In high school she scored in the 99th percentile on the SAT and was named a National Merit Finalist. She has taught English and biology in several countries.

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Contribution to Community and Leadership, Essay Example

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I have always wanted to give back to the community by using my time, knowledge and skills to participate in community projects that bring about positive transformation to the lives of those around me. Some of the community projects I have been involved in include participating in an alphabetization campaign while still in middle school back in Puerto Rico. The main aim of this campaign was to teach people how to read and write. One aspect of this that gives me great satisfaction is that I was able to teach my aunt how to read and write despite her being 70 years old.  Now she can be able to sign her own name and read newspapers; things she couldn’t do back then. I became a better person by learning how to share the knowledge I had with others and also by being patient in whatever I was trying to achieve.  Other community activities that I engaged in include working at an old people’s home during the summer of 2008. I assisted them by taking them out to the patio, reading to them and also playing games like table tennis with them. I gained a lot in terms of the wisdom they imparted in me. Moreover, I participated in an after school programme where I participated in helping young kids with their assignments. I believe that through the assistance, I made a positive contribution in shaping the future of those kids.

I have been in various leadership positions which I believe have contributed significantly in building my character as a person. I have always been inspired by great leaders like Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King who shaped the destiny of a nation. I have volunteered in various leadership positions in the church where I was in charge of organizing events like yard sales to generate extra revenue to fund church activities. Other leadership positions include leading the chorus. These positions have enabled me acquire valuable traits including being a team player, better listening skills, patience and a problem solver. Being in the leadership positions has enabled me to approach issues with confidence in a more calm and relaxed manner. I therefore aspire to continue giving back to the community and being a leader who influences positive change in society by being a source of inspiration and as a positive motivator to those who will be under me. That is my ultimate goal.

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How to Write the “Community” and “Issue” Yale Essays

This article was written based on the information and opinions presented by Hale Jaeger in a CollegeVine livestream. You can watch the full livestream for more info. 

What’s Covered

The “community” essay: choosing a community, structuring the “community” essay, the “issue” essay: choosing your issue, issues to avoid, structuring the “issue” essay.

In this article, we discuss strategies for writing Yale University ’s “Community” and “Issue” supplemental essays. Applicants using the Common App or Coalition Application to apply to Yale are required to choose one of these two prompts and respond to it in 400 words or fewer. The first prompt is the “Issue” essay prompt, which reads:

Yale carries out its mission “through the free exchange of ideas in an ethical, interdependent, and diverse community.” Reflect on a time when you exchanged ideas about an important issue with someone holding an opposing view. How did the experience lead you either to change your opinion or to sharpen your reasons for holding onto it? (400 words)

The second prompt is the “Community” essay prompt:

Reflect on a time when you have worked to enhance a community to which you feel connected. Why have these efforts been meaningful to you? You may define community however you like. (400 words)

In this article, we discuss choosing topics for each of these essays and strategies to structure them.

The Yale “Community” essay prompt clearly states that you can define community however you wish, which means you can choose to write about any kind of community that you feel you are a member of. When considering potential communities, start by brainstorming any groups you are part of that have defined boundaries, such as your town, school, team, or religious organization.

There are also informal communities that you could choose from, such as your friend group, family, coworkers, or neighborhood. Even though these groups have less of a formal definition, they are still communities. What matters most is that the community that you choose is important to you, that you have contributed to it, and that you have learned something from it.

When structuring this essay, think about it in three sections. The first introduces the community, the second demonstrates your contributions to the community, and the third explains what the community has given and taught you. As you write, keep in mind that this essay is a two-way street; you want to show what you have given to your community and what it has given you.

Introduce the Community

The first step in writing this essay is to introduce the community. Explain who is part of the community and what the community is like. Highlight the community’s structure by demonstrating how you are part of it and how you interact with your peers, superiors, or inferiors within the group. It is also important to depict the community’s dynamic in this part of the essay. For example, is it fun, relaxed, and loving, or is it rigorous, challenging, and thought provoking? 

Show What You’ve Contributed

The next section of this essay should discuss your engagement with this community and what you’ve contributed to it. Consider what you’ve done, what initiatives you’ve brought to the community, and what your role is within it. You can also highlight anything that you had to give up to be part of the community.

Show What You’ve Learned

The last part of this essay should discuss what you have gained and learned from this community. For this portion, consider things that the community has given and taught you, as well as ways that it has helped you grow. Think about how this community has shaped who you are and who you are becoming.

The other prompt option is the “Issue” essay. The first step for this one is to define what your issue is. It doesn’t matter what you choose, as long as it’s something that has enough nuance for you to talk about it in a complex and intelligent way.

Make sure it’s an issue of some relevance to you; otherwise, it will come across as dispassionate. As you write this essay, you should show that you are somebody who cares about an issue that they think is significant. 

Grand Issues

When selecting an issue, you can either choose a grand one or a local one. Grand issues are big, unsolved problems that are common in society, such as cancer, homelessness, or food insecurity. If you do choose a grand issue, remind yourself of its personal importance. While grand issues are full of nuance, they may lack personal meaning. Examples of personal connections to grand issues could be if you have encountered homelessness, lived with food insecurity, or have lost someone to cancer.

Local Issues

Another topic option is to write about an issue that is local. For example, maybe your high school has a teaching staff that doesn’t represent the diversity of the student body. While this is not a global issue, it’s something that strongly affects you and your community. 

Perhaps you live in a town that is directly suffering from the opioid crisis, or you have divorced parents and have started an activist group for children of divorced parents. Both of these examples of local issues also have personal importance. 

When choosing a topic to write about, avoid issues that you don’t have any connection to and that aren’t personally important. These are often problems that are too grand and can’t be made personal, such as world peace. 

Another category of issues to avoid is anything that doesn’t align with Yale’s values. Yale, like most universities in the United States, generally has a liberal lean. As such, it is likely not in your best interest to write a strong defense of socially conservative values. While there are values that you are free to hold and express—and Yale welcomes people of all backgrounds and ideologies—this essay is not necessarily the best place to express them.

You are most likely applying to Yale because it’s a place that you want to be and have something in common with. This essay is a great opportunity to emphasize the values that you share with the university rather than the things that divide you. Since a reader only has five to seven minutes to go over your entire application, you don’t want them to come away with the sense that you are somebody who won’t thrive at Yale.

Define the Issue and Highlight Past Experiences

When writing the “Issue” essay, start by identifying the issue and sharing how you came across it. Then, provide insight into why it is meaningful to you and your relationship with it.

Next, show the reader how you have already engaged with the problem by detailing your past with the issue. 

Discuss Future Plans to Approach the Issue

After this, you can look forward and discuss your future with this issue. A great strategy is to write about how your Yale education will address the problem and how your field of study relates to it. You can also highlight any Yale-specific programs or opportunities that will give you insight or context for tackling the issue. 

Alternatively, if there is something about this issue that Yale’s academic flexibility will enable you to explore, you can share that in this part of the essay. For example, maybe you are interested in health policy and plan to take classes in the sciences. You also want to take classes in the history of health, science, and medicine, as well as political science and economics courses, which you plan to utilize to write new healthcare policies.

Another option is to focus on an aspect of Yale’s community, such as peers, professors, or mentors who will help develop your ability to navigate the issue. Ultimately, you want to demonstrate in this essay that what (and how) you learn at Yale will prepare you to take action and move forward with confronting your issue in the future.

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• The Role of a Man

The Role of a Man - Essay Example

• Subject: Psychology
• Type: Essay
• Level: College
• Pages: 3 (750 words)
• Downloads: 14
• Author: schroederalfonz

Extract of sample "The Role of a Man"

For the purpose of this essay, I chose to interview Bruce Howard the chairperson of the Welfare Association of Golden Bridge Residents. Howard has demonstrated outstanding leadership skills as evidenced by highly satisfied residents of Golden Bridge and his overall performance. He is a father of three daughters and married to a doctor who works at the community clinic.

What role does this person play in their community?

My responsibilities include meetings being run effectively, ensuring security within the area, and ensuring proper functioning of utilities,  that is, street lights, sewer systems, and water. The community is a residential estate comprising of a clinic, children’s playground, grocery store, cafe, and a mini-mall. Therefore, part of his responsibilities includes proprietors of these businesses are satisfied with the working environment and that residents are satisfied with the services and products offered.

What are the characteristics of an effective community leader?

I believe an effective community leader should place the interests of the people he serves before his/her own. In order to cater to the community’s needs properly, he/she must also interact and listen to views from the community members frequently. This will enable him/her to address their needs more effectively. At the same time, a community leader should be careful not to spend too much interacting with community members such that it distracts him/her from the duties. When solving conflicts among members, a community leader should be impartial; listen to both sides equally, and arrive at a justifiable decision. When it comes to allocating resources for community projects, a community leader should exercise prudence to ensure resources are not wasted. In addition, a community leader should communicate regularly with members before, during, and after a project. This allows members to give their opinion, offer their expertise, and generally be informed (Eaton, 2012).

What are the most important issues/concerns facing their community? 

In Golden Bridge, the major issues of concern include security, where cases of petty theft have been reported to Howard, conflicting community projects, repair of streetlights, and garbage collection services. There are three community projects meant to begin before the first quarter of the year. These projects will cost the residents an enormous amount of money although the benefits to be accrued are also huge. Howard is faced with the challenge of identifying criteria for appointing a leader for every one of these projects. There are members that have volunteered to oversee the projects; however, Howard and two other members of the board are concerned that they are not qualified for the position. Qualification in this case is concerning having “people skills” necessary when supervising and communicating with persons participating in the projects.

What should the community do to address these concerns/issues?

Howard, the secretary and vice-chair lady is concerned that the three members volunteering for the leadership positions will put off the other members who have also volunteered in helping out with the projects. Howard strongly values the members volunteering to help with the project, as having to hire workers will deplete the community’s funds. In addition, he views the projects as an opportunity for members to bond and get to know each other better. On the other hand, rejecting the three people volunteering to oversee the projects may discourage them and prevent them from participating in the future. To sort this out, Howard has decided to appoint assistants that are sociable to the three people.

In addition, another issue of concern is finding a garbage collection company, which will come into the estate at least once a week to collect garbage from people’s houses and will provide garbage bins. It has been noted that there is a lot of litter within the area, and the members feel that having garbage bins strategically located would curb the problem. At the same time, residents want a reliable garbage collection company as the current one fails to come consistently. Howard is also trying to identify an electrician who can fix the streetlights, as residents feel safer when they are functioning properly.

What strengths does this community have?

This community is located in a prime area that investors could be attracted to easily. This serves as an advantageous point for it. Notably also, Golden Bridge has a stream running through it and this acts as a source of water for the community. The water is used by residents to water their gardens, which keeps the estate looking lush and beautiful. Moreover, there is a water fountain in the middle of the children’s playground that everyone uses to cool off during the summer. Howard likes to think that the residents of Golden Bridge are also a strong point, as they are professionals who are constantly looking to develop the area and help each other out.

How might a community social worker work in this community?

Since the community has quite a number of teenage children, a social worker may come in to provide counsel to them; steering them away from drug and alcohol abuse, advising them on university choices, and encouraging them to explore their potential and discover their talents. One of the community projects expected to start before the end of the first quarter is a community center meant to provide the children of the area with a healthy place for socializing. A social worker may work there as the manager to ensure that the children are occupied with beneficial activities and that they have someone to approach with their problems. The social worker could suggest recreational activities for the children.

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