What Community Really Means

Community is one of those words we use often and define rarely.

We talk about serving the community or giving back to the community—but too often, when we say “community,” we mean everyone except those living on the margins. Especially people experiencing homelessness.

This misunderstanding shapes outreach more than we realize. It affects how programs are designed, how success is measured, and how people are treated.

Real community is not a place or a program.
Community is relationship.
Community is presence.
Community is mutual recognition.

Community begins when we stop asking, “How do we help them?”
and start asking, “How do we belong to one another?”

Community Is More Than Services

Programs matter. Services save lives. Resources are essential.

But programs alone do not build community.

A program can feed someone without knowing their name.
A system can house someone without knowing their story.
A service can meet requirements without ever building trust.

Many people experiencing homelessness are surrounded by services and still profoundly isolated—seen daily, yet rarely known. Helped repeatedly, yet seldom included.

That is not a failure of compassion.
It is a failure of connection.

Presence Builds Belonging

In outreach, presence matters more than almost anything else.

Not loud or performative presence—but quiet, consistent presence.

Showing up when progress is slow.
Returning when trust takes time.
Staying when stories repeat.

For people who have experienced abandonment and broken promises, consistency becomes a language of care. Community is not built in a single interaction—it is built through accumulated moments of reliability.

Mutuality, Not Charity

Community is not a one-way exchange.

When outreach only flows from helper to helped, it creates distance instead of relationship. True community recognizes that everyone brings something with them—wisdom, resilience, insight shaped by survival.

When we allow ourselves to be human rather than heroic, we stop being saviors and start being neighbors. And trust begins to grow.

Why This Matters

If we misunderstand community, we will misunderstand outreach.

We will measure success by numbers instead of relationships.
We will prioritize speed over trust.
We will confuse activity with impact.

But when we recognize that people experiencing homelessness are not outside of community, but part of it, our work changes.

Outreach stops being about fixing people
and starts being about walking with them.

And that is where real change begins.

Written by
Marchand Vorderstrasse