A Brief Reflection on Having a Privileged Voice and How to Use It

A Brief Reflection on Having a Privileged Voice and How to Use It

Creator: Peter Ganovsky

    My biggest concern going into the Nonprofit Sector, Philanthropy, and Social Change course at the beginning of the semester at Northeastern was that in the road leading up to selecting a funding priority, I thought that I would be bearing witness to a class full of privileged middle to upper-middle class students with very little knowledge of Boston fighting over which organization was to be granted $10,000. An issue with a lot of projects/organizations interested in making a positive impact in a certain location/community/etc. is that they are so frequently stepping into a place they know very little about and using their uninvited or uninformed voices to create a change they think would best benefit the people whom they are trying to serve. Through my course, we looked at various case studies in which I noted this as a problem, and it was addressed very head on in many of our class lectures and discussions. For 30 or so college students studying anywhere, especially a large city, the fears of inappropriately assuming things about neighborhoods, adopting a kind of savior complex, and erasing the community voice are all very real. In order to effectively avoid making any of these mistakes, one must recognize their own privilege, and use it to amplify voices at risk of not being heard, of not being listened to.

    All of this being said, I cannot be more proud of my class as a whole for choosing the funding priority that we did. By deciding on Community Organizing, we are ultimately providing the opportunity for Boston residents to further their own efforts to make their neighborhoods and communities a better place. This, to me, is the best case scenario and exactly showcases the efforts of all that this class has given to me. I cannot think of a better use of the money to be granted and I firmly believe that this is the best way to use our voices as college students learning about the nonprofit/social sector and philanthropy.

Determining that the amplification of voices not my own is the most important part of social change was partially discovered through learning what competencies, literacies, and attributes (CLA’s) I find most important in a social change practitioner and citizen-leader. These qualities I now know, to me personally, are being a good listener/collaborator, being empathetic, and having the ability to responsibly hold yourself accountable. The product of emphasizing each of these CLA’s is the realization that to be an effective social change actor, the key is allowing those who are being served to make the decisions for themselves. Our job to aid and listen along the way. There is a difference between sitting idle and working with others from somewhat of a more distant positon where you allow yourself to not be the most important variable in a problem.