Friends and Neighbors - Abundant Community

Beyond Skate Parks: Transforming Communities with Teens

by Laura Fulton on May 2, 2012 ()

Five ways to harness the energy of teens in our communities.… read more »

Time Banking: An Idea Whose Time Has Come

by Edgar Cahn on March 27, 2012 ()

Why let the availability of money determine the range of the possible? Time banks are taking off, in ways you never expected.… read more »

Join Us for Connecting4Community in Cincinnati in May

by Louise van Rhyn, Charles Holmes on March 26, 2012 ()

A special invitation to the Connecting4Community gathering with John and Peter from two members of the event team.… read more »

Vollmer’s List: The Increasing Burden Placed on America’s Public Schools

by Jamie Vollmer on March 16, 2012 ()

Public education champion Jamie Vollmer catalogs all the academic, social, and health responsibilities that have been turned over to our schools. He says, "No generation of teachers and administrators in the history of the world has been told to fulfill this mandate: do not just teach children, but raise them!"… read more »

Breathing Life In by Stepping Away

by Laura Fulton on March 6, 2012 ()

Stepping away from our communities from time to time gives us a way to refresh our thoughts, gain perspective and return with renewed vision and purpose.… read more »

Change the Story to Change the World

by Duane Elgin on February 27, 2012 ()

The most difficult challenge facing humanity is bringing stories of the human journey into our collective awareness that empower us to see a future of great opportunity.… read more »

The Meaning of Citizenship

February 24, 2012 ()

What citizenship in action means to South African Mike Fraser.… read more »

When I Grow Up: A Six-Year-Old’s Vision of a Gift Community

by Bill Kauth and Zoe Alowan on February 23, 2012 ()

Six-year-old Sabina shares her vision of a community she will have when she grows up.… read more »

A Love Letter to My Neighborhood

by April Doner on February 21, 2012 ()

When April Doner started to map the assets of her Sarasota, FL neighborhood, she took a unique tack. She wrote a love letter.… read more »

Building Competent Communities: A Matter of Survival in the 21st Century

by Jimmy Toyama on February 14, 2012 ()

The erosion of community life can be reversed with a strong and positive upward trend in consciousness and action that says belongingness, connectedness, cohesion, and service to communal purposes.… read more »

Occupying a Different Community Space

by John McKnight and Peter Block on February 7, 2012 ()

UCLA professor and environmental health sciences department chair Richard J. Jackson's concern for the physical attributes of neighborhood and city spaces matches our thoughts on building the relationships that lead to community abundance.… read more »

The Key to Disaster Survival? Friends and Neighbors

by Shankar Vedantam on February 1, 2012 ()

Political scientist Daniel Aldrich went halfway around the world to discover that the people who will help you survive a natural disaster are usually neighbors.… read more »

Gambling on Community in Las Vegas, NV

by Richard C. Harwood on January 26, 2012 ()

It’s not a mere roll of the dice that’s bringing Vegas back, but intentional actions to create real change and community.… read more »

Leadership Is a Process of Community

by Dave Soleil on January 13, 2012 ()

When we deconstruct leadership, we will not find a hero at the heart of leadership. We will find community.… read more »

About Time

by Clare Goff on December 19, 2011 ()

More than 30 years after he first created the concept, Edgar Cahn believes that in midst of economic crisis the world is finally waking up to the possibilities offered by timebanking.… read more »

Christmas 2011 -- Birth of a New Tradition

December 14, 2011 ()

An anonymous email making its way around the Web and into inboxes these last few weeks echoes many of John and Peter’s thoughts on finding a life of abundance “within walking distance.”… read more »

A Waiting Posture, or an Active Ownership Posture?

by Louise van Rhyn on October 19, 2011 ()

In a recent email to her South African colleagues, Louise van Rhyn shared a thought-provoking video of South African physician, anthropologist and activist Mamphela Ramphele. Louise asks, what are the parallels between Ramphele's thinking about the meaning of "citizen" and John and Peter's?… read more »

A Message from Occupy Wall Street

October 14, 2011 ()

Even if the protesters were able to narrow their concerns to one, easily defined goal, some organizers say that would miss the point.… read more »

Interview with Peter Block

by Laura Fulton on September 27, 2011 ()

In this interview with Laura Fulton of CommunitiesKnow, Peter talks about the role of youth in community building and what placed-based and institutional communities can learn from each other.… read more »

Interview with John McKnight

by Laura Fulton on September 15, 2011 ()

In this interview with Laura Fulton of CommunitiesKnow, John talks about how we understand and enact place-based community in our lives.… read more »

The Value of Public Service

by Randall Reid on August 19, 2011 ()

The collaboration and work of many people makes community abundance possible. The role of public employees and the value of public service is vital to the health and success of our communities.… read more »

Rekindling Responsibility for Our Elders

by April Doner on August 10, 2011 ()

A personal reflection on how one family is blazing its own path of real, not paid, care and re-integration of the ages into their community.… read more »

Thriving in a Post-Consumerist Society

by Duane Elgin on August 3, 2011 ()

What does a thriving way of life look like in a post-consumerist society? Think community.… read more »

Post Debt Crisis: How to Bring Out the Best in Ourselves

by Richard C. Harwood on August 2, 2011 ()

Five questions for bringing out the best in ourselves and our communities… read more »

A Decentralist Reading List

by John McClaughry on August 1, 2011 ()

Recommendations from John McClaughry, founder of The Ethan Allen Institute, Vermont's free-market public policy research and education organization; widely published commentator on Vermont issues; co-author of The Vermont Papers and editor of the Institute’s monthly Ethan Allen Letter.… read more »

Three Ways to Restore Your Belief

by Richard C. Harwood on July 29, 2011 ()

The restoration of belief in ourselves and in one another is pivotal to all our efforts to make a difference in communities. Without it, we may hold back from doing what we know is required to bring about change.… read more »

When Charity Counts, But Change Is Called For

by Richard C. Harwood on July 15, 2011 ()

The problem with charity is that we believe that it means change. For real change to happen, we must get at laws, policies, norms and relationships, says public policy/citizen engagement authority Richard C. Harwood.… read more »

We All Belong

by Bruce Anderson on July 11, 2011 ()

How the vision of "Welcome Vashon" transformed from possibility to reality, with more than 20 action projects working to make Vashon Island, WA a more welcoming community… read more »

Open Letter to Journalists

by Peggy Holman on June 13, 2011 ()

It's time for a new compact between journalists and the public says a self-styled “one of many formerly known as the audience” in her classic piece on the contribution journalism can make to bring our communities together.… read more »

Jill J. Jensen Review: The Answer to How Is Yes

by Jill J. Jensen on May 27, 2011 ()

"Getting the question right may be the most important thing we can do," Peter says in the opening to Part One of The Answer to How is Yes: Acting on What Matters. Jill's review of the book summarizes why it's critical for building healthy communities and organizations.… read more »

Social Innovation - Doing More With More

by Al Etmanski on May 26, 2011 ()

Is "social innovation" a way to off-load responsibilities to communities without additional resources? Or is it about doing more with more?… read more »

Notes on Peter Block and "Art Calling Out Empire"

by Ferrell Foster on May 19, 2011 ()

Highlights from Peter's session at Our Abundant Communities, a conversation with John, Walter Brueggemann, the world’s leading interpreter of the Old Testament, and some 200 community-minded people at Trinity University April 27 and 28, 2011… read more »

Is Square Dancing on Its Last Legs?

by Steve Schmidt on May 18, 2011 ()

Some may dismiss square dancing as being old-fashioned, and yet it survives. Could it be a form of community building and possibly symbolize the re-emergence of more participative forms of connecting?… read more »

Rediscovering the Neighborhood

by Alan Roxburgh on May 17, 2011 ()

Missional leader and educator Alan Roxburgh urges the faith community to ask new questions to link its work to neighborhood and community.… read more »

Away From Help and Towards Community

by Ray Thompson on May 16, 2011 ()

Community consultant Ray Thompson writes on how he began to see how helping was a way to block community building.… read more »

Notes on John McKnight and "The Gift of Fallibility"

by Ferrell Foster on May 11, 2011 ()

John and Peter joined Walter Brueggemann, the world’s leading interpreter of the Old Testament, for a two-day conversation with some 200 community-minded people at Trinity University April 27 and 28, 2011. In this post Ferrell shares highlights from John's session.… read more »

Notes on Walter Brueggemann and “The Food Fight: Accumulation and Abundance”

by Ferrell Foster on May 3, 2011 ()

John and Peter joined Walter Brueggemann, the world’s leading interpreter of the Old Testament, for a two-day conversation with some 200 community-minded people at Trinity University April 27 and 28, 2011. This is the first of a series of highlights we will post from that wonderful gathering.… read more »

Thoughts on John's Recommended Reading

by Leslie Osborn on April 13, 2011 ()

Leslie Osborn asked me what basic books she should read to understand my viewpoint. I gave her this list and she wrote the descriptions that are better than I could do. ~ John ~… read more »

A Conversation with Peter Block

by Seth Resler on January 12, 2011 ()

In an interview with Seth Resler, Peter reflects on abundance, time, relatedness, possibility, ownership and more.… read more »

Choices

by Shawn Gavin on November 9, 2010 ()

After Shawn ran for city council and won, Peter asked him to write about his journey through his Abundant Community… read more »

You're Invited

by Shawn Gavin on November 1, 2010 ()

Extending the invitation to the community's first civic engagement… read more »

The Community Center

by Shawn Gavin on October 18, 2010 ()

The Community Center is a place where we can create The Abundant Community.… read more »

Days in the Park

by Shawn Gavin on August 16, 2010 ()

Never have so many gathered in our community for one event.… read more »

Sunday Sermon: The Abundant Community

by Shawn Gavin on August 2, 2010 ()

What started as a simple conversation over a cup of coffee has turned into a three-day community gathering.… read more »

Summer Break Is upon Us

by Ray Thompson on July 29, 2010 ()

As schools throughout the country cut back, there are new possibilities for neighbors to become a "village that teaches a child."… read more »

Judith Snow's Gifts List

by Judith Snow on July 1, 2010 ()

One day, my old friend Judith Snow told me that what we call disabilities are often gifts miscast as part of the empty half of the glass half full. When I asked her to help me understand her point, she shared her Gift's List with me. ~ John ~… read more »

A Million Souls

by Kevin "Doc" Klein on June 28, 2010 ()

We struggle and suffer / Just like a million other souls / Who, for lack of connection / See themselves separate from each other’s story . . .… read more »

Nurturing Our Taro Patches

by Jimmy Toyama on June 26, 2010 ()

In their new book, The Abundant Community, Peter and John make it clear that our drive to find “satisfaction through consumption” has profound implications that we do not realize.… read more »

Journey through My Abundant Community

by Shawn Gavin on June 4, 2010 ()

After Shawn ran for city council and won, Peter asked him to write about his journey through his Abundant Community.… read more »

Building Communities One Room at a Time

by Ian Macdonald on June 3, 2010 ()

This week I learnt that building a community is difficult. And I learnt that it is so very easy.… read more »

Can Building Strong Communities Combat Crime?

by Julie Cunningham on June 3, 2010 ()

What is the secret to combating crime? . . . As I've asked people in the police force, politics and business this question, no one has had a certain answer.… read more »

Weaving Community

by Cathy Park on June 3, 2010 ()

I recently relocated to Cape Town and some days I feel like I’m the only one who is alone . . .… read more »

You Really Can Get Something for Nothing

by Margot Adler on June 3, 2010 ()

Free food at the Really, Really Free Market in New York City… read more »