Running Head: ANAYLSIS PAPER

Community Analysis Paper

Aaliyah Holiday
University of North Texas

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In 1995, the Eureka playground at South Lakes Park was built by the community
volunteers to provide a fun area for families and children. When the park was built, it was
projected to last about 20 years. During that time, many children have enjoyed the Eureka Park
and have many fond memories to look back on. Unfortunately, trying to maintain the park for
future has become impossible due to the new safety standards of the Consumer Product safety
Commission and the American society for Testing and Materials (eureka2denton.com/mazeadventure). Instead of throwing money to fix the park, the Denton Park and Recreation team
along with the Denton community have decided to come together to build a new playground in
the same location of South Lakes Park.
In order to understand the community and the organizational structure, there were three
tasks that had to be established. First task was gathering information from key informants in the
community or organization. Play by Design met with elementary schools students in Denton ISD
to ask for their ideas. With the help of the eager and happy students, they were able to have a
great design. The second task was to explore the professional knowledge based on the condition,
problem, need, and opportunity. The designs shows that the playground will be split into two
spaces to accommodate different age groups. They will feature all the expected items such as
swings, slides, and plenty of climbing space as well as some special add-ons like tunnels, a fake
monster truck and a zip line (Scott, 2015). The last task was to select factors that help explain the
underlying causes of the problem. The new park, formally named Eureka 2, was constructed of
recycled materials making it more durable, earth friendly, and long lasting for over 20 years.
Eureka 2 is designed to be handicapped accessible so all children can have fun without worries.
Like the first playground, Eureka 2 was built with community participation at every level, and
will be approximately 2,500 square feet (Denton Parks Admin).

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Once the community project was introduced to us, the social work practice 3 class
formed into different committees that could cover almost every aspect of the Eureka 2 park
build. I joined the Child Care committee with Ebony, Anabel, Donnie, and Lyndsey. In our first
meeting, we were given the Child Care coordinator email, DLee Covey. It was agreed that the
Lyndsey Reed would be the Childcare group primary email contact for the remainder of the
project. The childcare groups develop three broad goals to keep ourselves established as we
patiently waited for our Eureka 2 email person to contact us. The goals were looking up safety
and protection procedures, child care activities, and recruit child care volunteers.
In the middle of the community project, the Childcare hit a big bump in the road. After
almost two weeks of no communication, DLee Convey emailed Lyndsey back. She says that
they are waiting for a phone call from the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services
(TDFPS). They regulate childcare services for the states. Since the Eureka 2 project is doing a
short-term child care, they are hoping to file a regulation exception so they can operate without a
license from TDFPS. The childcare volunteer group had to officially disband due to the
difficulties of communication between the Parks and Recreation Administrative and trying to
achieve a temporary license from the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.
Molly came to our class and confirmed that the childcare situation has been the most difficult to
figure out. It is a sad occasion that we will no longer be a group, but I believe we all still feel
proud about contributing to childcare. Since the childcare group is disbanded, I have joined the
Food group for the remainder of this community build project.
For the remainder of the community project, I joined the food group which included
Meighan, Sarah V., Donnie, Fernando, and myself. Our food group contact person for the Eureka
2 project is Nancy Willis. She was able to meet with Meighan, Fernando, and myself at Beth

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Maries. We were able to meet up with Nancy to discuss our involvement and help we could
provide for the project. She updated us about the open dates that needed to be filled. Nancy
wants us to find food places in Denton that will be able to donate food for the volunteers. Trying
to secure food donations was very difficult. We were not adequately prepared because most
mangers wanted a letterhead that was proof of our project.
In our food group meeting, we talked about the Social Work Practice 3 class helping us
make a food donation for the Eureka 2 Project build. The class decided on hot dogs. It is
confirmed that we will have access to electricity at the build. Some people in the class
volunteered to find the prices hot dogs, buns, and condiments from Costco, Sams Club, and
Walmart. Anabel and I decided to visit Sonic and Wendys to ask if the food corporations could
donate hot dogs and chili for our project. Unfortunately, both declined and stated that a letterhead
was needed.
Molly and Nancy eventually gave us the necessary forms. They both have busy
schedules, so the food group understood the lateness. Later on during the semesters, Molly
emailed Meighan an official letter head with a description of the project that many of the food
establishments were asking for. Now that we have this, it will be much easier to ask for
donations. Molly also gave us a tax exemption number for the Chicken Express donation form. I
finished filling it out and turned it into Chicken Express.
The food group opened up the option of providing our own food donation for the park
volunteers to the class. At first, we decided hot dogs and did research on the expenses.
Fortunately, with the help from Robert Ashford from the Public Relations committee, Chicken

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Express reached out to us and said that they would provide about 200 meal packs. They will be
our food donation for the November 15th food slot.
The food group meet up to discuss the final phrases of our activities. Nancy, our food
contact for the Eureka 2 project, informed the group that every food slot is officially filled for the
park build. This is wonderful news for us and everyone else. We have to follow up with Chicken
Express about when to pick the food for the classs November 15th lunch slot. For now, were all
set for the park build next week.
The week of the construction build finally arrived. All of the social work classes and
department came and volunteered to work. I didnt know what to expect for the first day. I
helped move long wood pieces across the park with my other Social Work Practice 3 classmates.
It was a long shift, but still definitely fun being around a lot of social work students. There were
green shirts everywhere! During the rest of the playground build, the class has to sign up for at
least one other shift to volunteer. We are required to come on Sunday, November 15 to set our
lunch for the workers. I am really excited to see how the Eureka 2 park will look like once it is
fully completed.
The intervention model used for this project is called the Community Capacity
Development-Capacity Centered Development. This model states that change is best
accomplished when the people affected by problems are empowered with the knowledge and
skills needed to understand their problems, and then work cooperatively together to overcome
them. This approach focuses on building social competency. It also requires the empowerment of
people and communities energizing them to act competently on their own behalf in determining
goals and taking civic action (Rothman, 22). In order to provide a change, the community had to
be aware of the minor dangers of the Eureka Park. As stated in the introduction, if the Denton

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were to keep providing money for the park it would be pointless. Also the concern of arsenic
being exposed to the children was involved. The Denton community was made aware of the
plans since last year. Since the community was informed, lots of people began to share their own
memories of the twenty year Eureka Park. Many parents would grew up and played on the park
wanted to have something better for their future children and grandchildren. Due to the good
memories, a lot of people eagerly signed up to volunteer to build the new park. When the
community comes to together for a good cause for the future, it brings them together and makes
everyone stronger.
It is important to engage in community development because it breaks down barriers in
the community. It encourages and improves communication among all individuals and groups in
the population. Residents reflect with each other over memories. It brings together people who
normally have no contact, and defines the community. The foundation for community support
includes activism around the issue of importance which is the Eureka Playground. Throughout
this process, the volunteering brings out natural leaders, gives a voice to everyone in the
community decision making, and helps everyone recognize their own resources and strengths in
contributing to this project.
Within the locality development, there often isnt a main staff. The Eureka 2 park build
was based on community volunteers in Denton, Texas. The power is shared among everyone.
There were, however, experienced construction workers that helped facilitate directions for all of
the volunteer handy men and women building the castle that was provided by the power structure
of the Denton County government and Denton Parks and Rec. The organization strategy is based
on the community building. In order to confidently develop the Eureka 2 park, the executive
director had to develop legitimacy and build on the assets of the community. The fundraising

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goal was $500,000 that to be collected since last year when the project began. Many donations
have been collected from banks, small and big businesses, families and students that have all
received recognition on the Eureka 2 website.
While participating in this community project, I have learned a lot about Macro Social
Work. The macro level of social work involves professionally guided invention(s) designed to
bring about change in organizational, community, and/or policy arenas. Social Justice was
achieved through this community project. Even though the social justice is normally used on an
individual level, it can also be applied to the macro social work level. The equality of basic
resources and opportunity for advancement is promoted throughout the community project. The
Eureka Park needed to be rebuilt in order for future children to play happily in the area and be
worry-free of safety concerns. The most important aspect of the Eureka 2 park was the decision
to add handicap-accessible playground parts. It is a very big thought that promotes positive
discrimination for the underprivileged to ensure equality.
Playing a small part in a big project still involves a lot of work. Molly, as the only
executive director that is in charge of the project, has admitted to having some stress out
moments. She is the leader and main contact person for every committee whenever questions
come up. She must oversee everything and make sure it is on schedule.
Communication was very difficult in the beginning. As the childcare group tried to
occupy ourselves with self-made objectives and activities, it soon become reparative with no
success of being able to contribute to the community project. No one was updating us on the
childcare process and conversations. We put as much effort as possible, but in the end
disbandment for the childcare groups was the ultimate ending.

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Within the food group, on the other hand, communication was moderately effective most
of the time. Nancy was able to directly tell us what see suggested we would do as a group for the
project. The group made many plans to meet up and discuss ideas through text and in class. One
of our group had to take a breath because she had a baby, but we made sure she had a job/activity
to do every week to keep her up-to-date. One misunderstanding was getting the letterhead. Many
restaurants needed physical proof of the social work class involvement in the park built. Many
had heard about it through social media or word of mouth. Nancy redirected us to Molly for the
form. Since Molly has a lot on her plate, we didnt receive the letterhead until two or three weeks
before the construction week. Once we received the important document, the food group had to
re-contact the many restaurants that we visited before. Luckily, most of them quickly agreed to
provide a food donation.
Within this macro social work practice, I learned that resources and connections are an
important element in the project. Every committee helped each other in many ways. Some
classmates held jobs on campus and at fast-food restaurants. I provided transportation for my
food group so that we could talk to food places around Denton. Sarah and Meighan picked up the
Chicken Express lunch in their vans on the class service day. People that were actively involved
on campus was able to spread the word about the Eureka 2 Project to their organizations such as
the Social Work Student Association, the NT Daily, and many of the fraternizes and sororities at
UNT.
The overall outcome of the community project, I believe, was a big success. Every group
was accomplished so much within the semester. It was also a big help from the Social Work
department, professors, and students that were able to join the social work practice three class on
this amazing assignment.

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9
References

Eureka 2 Playground Project - Denton Parks Foundation. (2014, August 28). Retrieved
November 24, 2015, from http://dentonparksfoundation.com/eureka-2-playground/
Eureka2 Denton. (2015). Retrieved November 24, 2015, from http://eureka2denton.com/
Netting, F., & Kettner, P. (2012). Social work macro practice (5th ed.). New York: Longman.
Rothman, J. (2007). Multi Modes of Intervention At The Macro Level. Journal of Community
Practice, 15(4), 11-40. Retrieved November 24, 2015, from
http://com.haworthpress.com/
Scott, B. (2015, March 3). Plans Revealed to Rebuild Denton's Eureka Playground. Retrieved
November 24, 2015, from http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Plans-Revealed-to
-Rebuild-Dentons-Eureka-Playground-294930241.html