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Stories

Stories

Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

Nancy Sleeth -
For five years, my family lived in Wilmore, Kentucky, home of Asbury University and Asbury Seminary. Living two blocks from the center of town, I could walk everywhere — to work, the post office, the gym, the hair cutter,...
Stories

The Neighbor Project

Raechel Dawson -
Very rarely do people open a book, become inspired and put a plan into action, but this is exactly what one Kirkland man did after reading “The Abundant Community” by John McKnight and Peter Block. Rodney Rutherford said the message...
Stories

Meet Mary Nelson

Mary Nelson -
Mary Nelson is on the faculty of the Northwestern University’s Asset Based Community Development Institute (ABCD) and consults, speaks and does workshops in the U.S. and internationally (South Africa, Australia, East Timor, Germany, Mexico). She is currently serving as interim Executive...
Stories

Growing Global Divisiveness Gets Disrupted

Michelle Strutzenberger -
Ian Edwards is nervous about the world he’s leaving his 14-year-old son, particularly the divisiveness he sees happening at an increasingly disturbing rate with all kinds of people. “It seems much greater than when I was younger,” the Boulder, Colorado...
Stories

Three Steps to Building a Better Block

Jason Roberts -
All you need to do to drive change in your community and move past stagnant committees and outdated regulation is to stop waiting around. Even if that means painting in your own crosswalks and blackmailing yourselves into action. In his...
Stories

The Neighborhood Effect

Prucia Buscell -
The character of a neighborhood—strongly expressed by how much people help and trust each other—may influence its collective health and economic survival even more than such obvious indicators as income levels and foreclosure rates, a long-term study suggests. Harvard sociologist...
Stories

A Gift from a Taxi Driver

Gerard Ee -
Gerard’s story says more than all the speaking, action steps and theory some of us spend our time on. On the professional question, we all speak for the citizen, but every place needs someone like Gerard, paid to create...
Stories

Building Government–Community Partnerships

Jim Diers -
Jim Diers has been called "the Albert Einstein of local government" and "the Pied Piper of the Seattle Neighborhood movement." Not without reason. Experience his energy and insights in video highlights from one of his 2012 Neighborhood Strengthening presentations...
Stories

Building Government–Community Partnerships

Jim Diers -
Jim Diers has been called "the Albert Einstein of local government" and "the Pied Piper of the Seattle Neighborhood movement." Not without reason. Experience his energy and insights in video highlights from one of his 2012 Neighborhood Strengthening presentations...
Stories

Lessons in Community from Chicago’s South Side

Benedict Carey -
Robert J. Sampson and his colleagues have devoted decades to studying the enduring impact of place.* They have found that two factors often predict whether a neighborhood is crime prone: Is there mutual trust and altruism among neighbors? and...
Stories

The Village Connectors Project

April Doner -
Anna D’Aste makes and teaches ceramic art on 12th Street in the ""Village of the Arts" in Bradenton, FL. She  was part of the original group of artists who moved into the neighborhood 13 years ago to start the Village. When...
Stories

A Community Creates Its Future

Bob Stilger -
Bob Stilger has a forty year relationship with Japan and, in the wake of the massive destruction since March 2011, has returned to work around the country as a witness and listener. In this recent post from his blog,...
Stories

Memphis Sets the Table for Its Gifts

Michelle Strutzenberger -
Typically, institutions committed to a community’s well-being begin by asking what’s wrong with a place. But the three thought leaders to join an upcoming Memphis conversation — John McKnight, Peter Block and Walter Brueggemann — choose not to take the...
Stories

When Helping Doesn’t Help

Leslie Stephen -
“I get the jitters asserting that helping can be harmful,” says Maurice Lim Miller, founder and CEO of the Family Independence Initiative, in his Huffington Post blog post When Helping Doesn’t Help. Lim Miller takes John McKnight’s well-known position that...
Stories

The Neighbor Challenge Segue

Valisha Reber -
Thank you for joining me on this journey.  The last several weeks have been eye-opening as we have intentionally set out to meet and know our neighbors.  Honestly assessing our fears and assumptions has led us to make changes...
Stories

The Neighbor Challenge # 5

Valisha Reber -
When asked to define the word "neighbor," one of my children replied, “A friend.”  This seemingly simple answer is powerful in its implications for communities. How does neighbor become synonymous with friend? Week 4′s challenge is the beginning.  Understanding the gifts...
Stories

The Neighbor Challenge # 4

Valisha Reber -
Last week′s challenge is known as “Head, Hands, Heart” among many who follow Asset-Based Community Development.  The idea is that every person has something to offer, to “gift” to those around him…to his neighbors.  I did this activity a few...
Stories

The Neighbor Challenge # 3

Valisha Reber -
After last week’s challenge to meet a neighbor, I’ve been a little nervous.  I was out-of-town all weekend, and that left only a few short days before my deadline.  What if I didn’t meet someone?  So, I’ve been waiting and watching...
Stories

A Kid’s Perspective on Community Building

Abundant Community -
It’s never too early to start learning about building community. In Sarasota County, FL babies joined teenagers and younger kids in a forum called Community Data 2.0: A NeighborKID Perspective, the fourth workshop in a year-long, county-wide series that...
Stories

Do You Know Your Neighbors?

Rachel Oscar -
At the close of my first day working for Grassroots Grantmakers I found myself staring at a stack of books my supervisor, Janis, had left for me to read.  I thumbed through a couple of short packets in the...
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The Biggest Question You Can Ask in Life

A Buddhist teacher once nudged me along the path by rephrasing a question my mind kept posing to itself....
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