John McKnight

17 Neighborhood Activities That Lead to Building a Neighborhood Culture

The Stewards of the Asset-Based Community Development Institute indicated that the development of a neighborhood culture is the new frontier for asset-based community-driven work. The following list is a result of their understanding of culture building activities that reach...

Neighborhoods as Magical Places: The Connected Community Book Talk

The Common Good podcast is a conversation about the significance of place, eliminating economic isolation and the structure of belonging. For this episode, John McKnight & Cormac Russell discuss their new book, The Connected Community: Discovering the Health, Wealth & Power...

The Gifts of Strangers: Understanding the Benefits of Diversity

One argument for diversity is that is ensures participation and creates the power of being heard. It is expressed by the popular maxim, “Nothing about us without us.” Implicit in this idea is that those outside must come inside...

Losing by Playing the Blame Game

If you attend the meetings of many neighborhood organizations, their focus is mainly on local issues. These often include unruly youth, dangerous alleys, graffiti, lack of jobs, dangerous police, drug sales, belligerent local merchants, the incompetent teachers in the...

Transparency And Trust: From ‘Looking In’ To ‘Being In’

One explanation for the failings of our democracy is that government is not trusted. One aspect of the national dialogue on restoring trust in government suggests that a critical reform is government transparency. The proposition is that the work...

A Citizen-Centered Culture: A Tale Of Two Neighborhoods

The Dutch Association of Mayors invited me, as a representative of the Asset-Based Community Development Institute, to visit their 20 largest cities and share an asset-based approach with neighborhood leaders in each city. In one of the first cities I...

Creating Trust: The Unique Power of Associations

  It is not difficult to distinguish the functions of physical tools from each other. No one uses a saw to drive a nail into a piece of wood. Likewise, no one attempts to cut a piece of wood with a...

Learning 38: Waiting to Contribute: The Key to Maximizing Citizen Participation

One form of community organizing involves local citizens in collective action focused on issue.  Issues emerge from tensions and contentions. They reflect the dissatisfaction or anger felt by local residents.  Often, “citizen participation” is used to indicate the number of...

Effective Police Reform: The Transfer Of Authority

In order to respond to demands for police reform, local governments across the United States have created special committees to develop new policies to eliminate police abuse and misconduct. Usually composed of citizens and government members, their common goal...

Attributes, Roles and Culture within Neighborhoods

In a recent podcast by The Neighboring Movement, hosts Adam Barlow-Thompson and Matt Johnson were joined by John McKnight to discuss the six (possibly even seven) attributes of a culture of contribution, how these characteristics in a community could...

Learning 37: ABCD, Jazz and the Structure of Powerful Communities

During the first year of the Covid pandemic, many neighborhood organizations and block clubs stopped their traditional face-to-face meetings. Nonetheless, in many locations these groups spontaneously initiated innovative community activities. In many neighborhoods with no community groups, new and...

Peacemaking Powers and the Culture They Create

As we look to the abundance within neighborhoods waiting to come alive, one of the best starting places is to seek out those gifts, skills and talents are possessed by the people who live there. Our first instinct to...

The Neighborhood as a Sacred Place

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BprBr1XVxE In his keynote talk for the Parish Collective’s Inhabit 2020 At Home Conference, John draws on insights from Walter Brueggemann and Dave Chapelle to explain how participants can turn their neighborhoods into sacred places. When John asked him what makes...

The Neighborhood Is the Center

About every six weeks for the last six years, John and Peter have hosted conversations with community-building social innovators as their guests. Their August 4, 2020 guest was DeAmon Harges, named by the Kettering Foundation as one of eight...

Becoming Trustworthy

We hear that Americans are polarized. Nationally, there is not of enough trust to bridge the national chasm. Yet in our small towns and neighborhoods, it is often difficult to find strong community wide divisive polarity. Instead there is...

Ownership in a Future That Works for All

John and Peter in Conversation with David Korten In partnership with the Common Good Collective ~ June 16, 2020 About every six weeks for the last six years, John and Peter have hosted conversations with community-building social innovators as their guests....

The Base of Powerful Movements

At this time when the American crisis has become nationally visible, a movement has emerged. Its manifestation is visible on streets across the country. Suddenly, the discussion is about the future. What are the right demands? How should they...

A Conversation with John McKnight, Founder of the Asset-Based Community Development Institute

In his teachings and writings, John McKnight, founder and co-director of the Asset-Based Community Development Institute at DePaul University, has echoed Alexis de Tocqueville’s appreciation of the value of healthy civic associations. As coauthor of Building Communities from the...

The Power of Disability

John and Peter Conversation with Al Etmanski In partnership with the Common Good Collective ~ April 27, 2020 About every six weeks for the last six years, John and Peter have hosted conversations with community-building social innovators as their guests. For...

The Invisible Is Becoming Visible

At the start of any asset-based initiatives, the identification of local assets is the essential starting point. Nonetheless, in many neighborhoods, most of these local assets are not recognized. Even though they are present they are not visible. This...

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