Westland Community Analysis Reflection

Competency 2.1.11
The community analysis assignment for SW 4020 is a two-part
essay, and arguably the most difficult and time consuming assignment
I have ever had throughout my entire time in the program, due to the
broad range of information we are supposed to collect from first hand
sources such as surveys, interviews and personal experiences, and
second-hand knowledge from research and census data. For part one
presented here, we were required to choose a community that we grew
up in and compare its past and present state, assess the communitys
level of functioning during those two time periods, and explain what we
thought were the causes of these changes over the years. I chose the
city of Westland, which is a suburban community of Metro Detroit
where I spent the first half of my life Westland is not a very large city
compared to places like Detroit or Ann Arbor, so not surprisingly it was
difficult to gather in-depth information needed about the past and
present state of the city to complete a thorough assessment of the
communitys functioning.
Although this assignment did not necessarily focus on an urban
community per se, I still believe that it helped me to Analyze the
impact of urban context on a range of client systems, including
practice implications. Many of the changes that have occurred over
the years in Westland can be related to the decline of Detroit, such as
the increased number of African American residents and former Detroit

residents moving into Westland, as well as the communitys decreased

number of industry/manufacturing related jobs which can be attributed
to the decline of Detroits automotive industry. Westland and many
other communities that are microcosms of the greater Detroit
metropolitan area have all been affected in some way by the problems
occurring in Detroit, and understanding why these effects occur is
understanding the impact of urban context. In my essay, I also
discussed the implications that the problems occurring in Westland
have for its residents and its future livelihood. Part two of the
community analysis assignment, which Im currently working on, will
further explore possible community interventions that would be
applicable to Westlands situation and would effectively address the
problems present in the community.