Videos

“El Cambalache” Sparks Exchange of Goods, Skills and Expertise in Chiapas, Mexico

El Cambalache is a moneyless economy project located in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas and is made by and for women and everyone who we know. In El Cambalache everything has the same value. Here people exchange things...

Start with What You Have, Where You Are: The Kheprw Story

"Growing community is like growing food. It's a lot of work. You gotta till the soil. You gotta plant the seeds. You gotta have the right weather conditions. Community is just like that. You start with what you have...

This Could Be Why You’re Depressed or Anxious

More than ever, we have embraced mental health as a key component of a healthy, good life. But what are we missing when we follow the trail of causes for increasingly common conditions of anxiety and depression? In this...

Social Lessons from Transformation: Starfire Council

Sometime in 2007 or 2008, Tim Vogt, who directed an award-winning agency serving people with disabilities, had his journey interrupted years ago by a visit from three people who were unknown to him who got up and spoke at...

Securing Community Control of the American Rescue Plan Act

  With the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) in early 2021, the US federal government committed to the largest influx funding into local US governments since the New Deal of 1934. With the this bill comes a rare opportunity to...

Applying Asset-Based Community Development in an Urban Indigenous Context

  September 30, 2021 marked the first year that the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation was observed in Canada as a federal statutory holiday. This public commemoration of the continuing legacy of Canadian colonialism, while also honoring of children...

Rooted Solutions: Black farmers cultivating food sovereignty in Indianapolis

"200,000 Indianapolis residents live in food deserts. Low income communities of color are the most impacted by lack of access to fresh food. But communities are responding to these challenges by creating and controlling their own food destinies." So begins...

“Because I opened the door for a stranger”

In 2011, parents in the Richmond, VA community of Hillside Court locked their children inside to protect them from rampant gun violence. Today the neighborhood is bustling with activities for citizens of all ages because a group of concerned citizens...

COVID-19 Cannot Harm Your Gifts

Where do gifts come from? Whether you believe your gifts spring from your genetic makeup, a scientific phenomenon like a “big bang”, or as a gift from a spiritual source, what is undeniable is that you have come into...

Rewriting the Rules: the Ujima Boston Project

In Boston, communities of color are taking charge of their own economy in homegrown, innovative ways. After fighting to thrive despite generations of disinvestment, racist lending, banking and harmful development practices targeting their neighborhoods, individuals from across Boston are finding...

The Power of Story

Stories have always been our way of knowing ourselves... as individuals, as families, and as communities. Stories hold and reaffirm our past, our strengths and challenges, our hopes and dreams. With each re-telling, stories shape the world anew. How might...

Algerian Women “Start Somewhere” to Create their Own Destiny

"When women decide something, I think they can get to it," says Nadia Aïssaoui, of the Mediterranean Women’s Fund as she tells this story about a group of women living in the mountains of Algeria who chose to come...

The Role of Community in Reducing Crime and Securing Peace

In 2020, massive protests sparked by the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis forced the US and the world to confront longstanding racial disparities in violent policing within local communities. As a result, the very role and responsibility of...

Learning Tree: Building Capacity Their Way

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZvj_jfBpDE&t=155 In the heart of Indianapolis' Clifton-Radar neighborhood, known most often for statistics of violent crime, poverty or need, neighbors are gathering to tell, hear and sing a different story. In this video, enjoy taking in the fruits of 17...

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 Six Conversations

One. The Proposition https://youtu.be/gIj4o0ygwKk Two. The Possibility https://youtu.be/8OrOKhte7TI Three. The Promise https://youtu.be/SNn2uqyuZPU Four. The Point https://youtu.be/9rpDrJGPuW8 Copyright © 2020 Peter Block. All rights reserved. Re-posted by permission. Produced for designedlearning.com and peterblock.com by Panoptic Media, Jim Prues, Creative Director; Maggie Rogers, Executive Producer. Going Further Six Conversations That Matter: A Quick Review (Block) The Institutional...

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...

Strong Neighborhood Project

Neighbor to neighbor, block by block. That's the approach they're taking in connecting people to one another and other resources available to them in Central Louisiana. It's the asset-based work of the Strong Neighborhood Project, centered in Pineville, LA. They...

Gar Alperovitz and John McKnight in Conversation

John joins historian/political economist Gar Alperovitz to reflect on their original talks for the Schumacher Center for a New Economics and comment on each other’s work given current political, economic, and social realities. Moderated by Jodie Evans, this event is part of...

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....

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“Nuestra Casa” – from Connection to Community Center

Sometimes, building community can be as straightforward as bringing neighbors together to define a dream they hold in common. Check...