Knowledgebase

Model Programs: Community Building


The Democracy Collaborative at the University of Maryland has a wonderful set of resources at http://www.community- wealth.org/strategies/index.html.

Here are a few ideas and models for Community Building and Co-op Projects:

* Vertigo and the Intentional Inhabitant: Leadership in a Connected World, the story of Lawrenceville Community Works

* Energy and the Environment

Home energy audits and home fix-up

Encourage neighbors to recycle. Here's a  fabulous story and video about what's being done in a New York housing complex.

Sharing lawnmowers, tools, etc.

Neighborhood and alley clean-ups

* Start or work on a community garden

* Although the social media -- Web 2.0, Twitter, Facebook, etc. -- are nice, there's plenty of evidence that face-to-face interaction remains the best way to connect with people. As John Gardner put it, "[W]e want to take each other's measure face-to-face. We're more primitive than we think…We want to hear the tone of voice and see the body language."

Town Halls by Invitation by James Fishkin (New York Times)

* BetterTogether's "150 things you can do to build social capital"

* Neighbor Circles, a concept developed by Lawrence Community Works, is thoroughly explained at http://www.typp.org/media/docs/0155_NeighborCircles.pdf .


Added 05/12/2010 by asblackwood, Modified 04/21/2014 by mpruce

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