I think that one specific benefit of activism within communities is the idea of seeing change on a practical and real level.  When individuals engage in activism on local levels, immediacy in terms of impact and relevance are evident.  I think that this is extremely important in terms of enabling individuals to understand that what they do has importance and power.  It is here where I think that another benefit is evident.  When individuals recognize the benefits of activism on a local level, empowerment results.  At the same time, I think that local social activism within communities brings out one of the basic tenets of the Constitution.  The framers understood that powerful change must start locally.  The Patriots were local community organizers first.  Sam Adams engaged in letter writing as well as a door to door campaign to get colonists moved over to his side.  In the same manner, local social activism in communities hearkens back to this idea that America is founded upon the premise of local communities seeking to bring about change in their own domains and then extrapolating that to a larger context.  The framers of the Constitution understood this and as long as America has been in existence, the idea of social activism within local communities has been a part of what it means to be "American."