1 Community Analysis Part Two

Community Analysis Part Two

Macro Theory and Practice
SW 4020
12/4/2013
By: Heather J Warczinsky













2 Community Analysis Part Two

The problem that I have identified that my community is currently experiencing is that
the population is decreasing because there are no jobs in Deckerville. In my opinion, the
probable cause of the problem is due to all the factories and businesses that closed down resulted
in the town losing profit and having a decrease in population due to no employment. According
to City-Data, in 2012 Deckerville had a rural community population of 814 but when I grew up
in the town, the population had 1,015 people (According to a US Census Report that was
released in May 1996) which is a significant decrease since I resided there. When I was living
there, the factories, a few small businesses, and McDonalds were basically the only employment
opportunities that the community offered besides farming. Speaking of farming, even agriculture
has decreased; the local farmers are not producing as many crops to sell. You have to have an
income in order to be able to provide for yourself and/or family. In other words, to support their
families and have income, people need jobs, so they either move to another community or drive
far to get to work. Its really sad to see my old town where I grew up in when I was young
become such a ghost town and have nothing left but a gas station and a school.

The elements and characteristics of the community that make it vulnerable to the problem
is the manufacturing jobs have left the area which decline jobs for migrant and factory workers.
In other words, many factories have closed down; countless people dont have jobs; and because
of the factories closing, the small businesses were unable to sustain a profit, thus being forced to
close down. Many people who did not live in the town but were patrons of the local businesses
no longer spend their money in the town. Hence, those patrons have moved their spending
elsewhere. The strengths of the community that give the community resilience and the potential

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for overcoming the problem of the area is its agriculture that you need workers to work the
farmland. Most people in the agricultural community have farms handed down over generations.
The pattern is mostly patriarchal, meaning the farms are handed down from father to son(s). The
community has a strong religion background which makes some of the people in the community
honest, hardworking and have strong family values. The area has become more attractive for
people due to the recreation such as; camping and animal hunting, also located near Lake Huron,
where people can go fishing and boating. The state has a program which they have released a
variety of species of semen into Lake Huron. In the result of them doing that, this makes people
come into our area and fish, which helps businesses that rent boats and they buy gas and go to
the grocery store which helps keep the community going. Other than farmland, lakes, streams
and agriculture; they dont have a lot of natural resources, such as; coal and fuel in the area.
More of the high technology jobs are not in the rural communities, they stay in the city because
thats where they make a lot of money. The railroad system in the area has declined dramatically
due to the factories closing and moving to other states and countries to make more profit. Farm
land is the biggest strength in the community because they know how to take care of their things
and they believe in God, where they know that the land will provide for them.
In the Deckerville community one of the major institutions is the church. The church members
always try to get all the students, children and adults involve in the church. They provide youth
groups, Sunday school, adult bible study and many weekend retreats. The church provides to the
community guidance, financial support, food for the poor, clothing. They provide summer camps
for children to attend and they gather with other churches to run bible studies and many other
activates. If children cant find rides to come to church events, transportation is provided for the
community. Deckerville community schools provide education to all students and transportation

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to and from school. Each student get an opportunity to be a part of one of the athletic clubs,
Sporting events or any after school programs. Students are giving a chance to participate in
sporting events, clubs or any after school programs. They also have a program called Bucket
Brigade which is a program that adults help young children read. The children are also provided
with a breakfast in the morning before they start their classes. Deckerville Midwest rubber is a
factory that provides people with a chance to work in a factory on the line which gives them the
opportunity with employment. The people who dont care to work on the farm can turn to the
factory and have employment there.
The people who are affected by the problem the most are the people who have a small farm,
work in the factories, who are migrant workers, middle and lower class and other businesses that
were in the town that closed down or moved to different are, states and/or countries. According
to City-Data, in 2012 Deckerville had a rural community population of 814, which is a
significant decrease since I resided there. Again, according to City-Data, the political affiliation
is now 60% Republican, 39.3% democrat, and 1% otherwise affiliated. According to City-Data,
the racial groups are White alone - 742 (89.4%), Hispanic - 72 (8.7%), American Indian alone - 4
(0.5%), Black alone - 2 (0.2%), Asian alone - 1 (0.1%) and other race alone - 1 (0.1%).
According to City-Data, the majority that make up culture is Lutheran (Christian). According to
City-Data, the average household income in 2011 was $31,135. According to the City-Data,
25.7% of residents were under the age of 18; 10.1% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 20.1%
were from 25 to 44; 22.8% were from 45 to 64; and 21.3% were 65 years of age or older.
The three people who I have interviewed in the community to determine if they are in
agreement with my assessment of the problem are Brad Apsey who is the Mayor of Deckerville
and owner of the Funeral Parlor. Mr. Broghton who is the Superintendent for Deckerville Public

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Schools. Rick Ballantine who is a city councilmen and the owner of the drug store located in the
town on Main Street. Brad Apsey feels that the declining of the population has hurt many
businesses within the community and a lot of it is due to the large chain store (Walmart, Meijers
etc.) moving to the neighboring larger communities, taking business from the community. He
also had mentioned something very interesting, Deckerville is a village now because its a small
community of houses in a rural area and the population level is below or between 1000 and 1500,
and agriculture area is sufficient, which makes it a village instead of a town now. A lot of people
make trips to higher populated areas where they have stores, shopping malls, places that have a
lot more to offer to them for their needs which leaves the small businesses in the community go
out of business. Brad knows this from personal experience being a small business owner in the
community. He has seen many small businesses go out of business due to the population
decreasing in the community. In the result of student enrollment decline at the schools. Mr.
Broghton has seen the enrollment decline, not only does it affect the funds they get and the
struggle to keep the school open but the sports teams has also been affected greatly by the
enrollment decreasing. Especially football, which was an 11 man football team now with the
decreasing of student enrollment it has went to 8 man football team. The marching band in the
school use to have greater than 60 band members and now there are 30 or less band members.
Mr. Broughton has also seen the factories and businesses that were there when he was younger,
go out of business. Mr. Ballantine and his wife who are both pharmacist, owns the Ballantine
pharmacy drug store in town, the only drug store Deckerville had. Ballantine Pharmacy was
started by his late father and then he took over the business when he graduated from college. He
took over the business to follow in his fathers footsteps. As the years had passed, he had to close
the pharmacy due to the competition with Walmart Pharmacy which was located in one of the

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neighboring communities (Sandusky, MI). Walmart being a part of a cooperation, he could not
compete with the prices because it was a worldwide known company. He also had mentioned
that the village is decreasing in population so much that McDonalds ran out of business after a
year. I also had interviewed one other person I know who is not lay leaders but still reside in the
community, to see if he agreed with the problem that Im trying to assess. According to My
friend Brennen Armstrong a lot of jobs that we had 30 years ago were mainly big factories and
a lot of the factories are moving out of state or to other countries where they can pay people less
and make more money. Deckerville was known for their factory jobs and without the factories,
there is nothing here that will attract people to Deckerville or there are not a good paying job to
survive on so people have to move to where there are jobs. Plus, people who have a degree have
no reason to stay here because they are either getting underpaid or no job available or cant get
hired because its who you know, not what you know in small towns.
If the government would give tax write offs then they could bring the factories back to the
community to help people with jobs. If they would set up land and sell it cheaper to the factories
and give businesses a tax break with the state and local government that would enable them to
relocate back to the community. They also should be asking the state government to improve the
roads and bridges in the community to help bring jobs to the community and increase the sales
for businesses. They can also ask to increase the money for education. All of these plans are hard
to pass, especially in a community like Deckerville because of the number of population that the
village has. The representatives in the village doesnt care if the population is decreasing because
we wouldnt give them enough votes to vote them in office. Therefore, they dont care about the
people but the people who are in bigger communities that are bringing in money and where there
votes matter which would vote them into office, they will go above and beyond for them. .

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The possible action plan I would chose is to have a group of people come together and work
together to get the communities population to increase by contacting politicians and neighboring
communities. The community factors that would support this action plan would be the people
who are willing to keep the community together, want to remain living in Deckerville, the
farmers and the educators. The community factors that would discourage this action plan would
be possibly be some politicians, people who move away and/or people who dont want new
people moving in the village.
A community should assign a role to each group to better the community to help it grow. Each
group should have an assignment; some should write the state and local government and another
group should look into grant money to give and help the community to grow. Another group
could make phone calls to anyone who can help the community. Also, have another group to
research if they could get tax write off to bring back the industrials to open up employment.
Assign a group to plan events in the village to help get the community involved and raise money.
Have another group get in touch with the neighboring communities and communicate with them
and work together so we can better our community. Also, write different proposals to industrials
to try to get them in the area so farming isnt the only thing in the thumb is known for.






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Reference
Apsey, B. (2013, 12 7). Interview by H Warczinsky []. Community analysis.
Armstrong, B. (2013, 12 8). Interview by H Warczinsky []. Community analysis.
Ballentine, R. (2013, 12 7). Interview by H Warczinsky []. Community analysis.
Broghton. (2013, 12 6). Interview by H Warczinsky []. Community analysis.
City-data. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.city-data.com/city/Deckerville-Michigan.html
Kettner, M. P. , McMurtry, S. L. , Netting, E. F. , & Thomas, L. F. ( 2012). Connecting Core
Competencies Series: Social Work Macro Practice. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey:
Pearson Education, INC.
Nation master. (2003-2005). Retrieved from
http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Deckerville,-Michigan
Us census bureau. (1996, MAY). Retrieved from
http://www.census.gov/population/www/censusdata/files/places/26mi.txt