May 25, 2012 1 Comment
How will you spend your long weekend? Remembering, visiting, relaxing….? As you enjoy the unofficial start of summer, take time to consider how you will be intentional about connecting with neighbors over the next few months. September is just around the corner!
May 23, 2012 1 Comment
This post was originally published by John McKnight on January 11, 2011 at www.abundantcommunity.com. Click here to see the original post.
John McKnight is emeritus professor of education and social policy and codirector of the Asset-Based Community Development Institute at Northwestern University. He is the coauthor of Building Communities from the Inside Out and the author of The Careless Society. He has been a community organizer… read more »
Increasing numbers of Americans are neighborless. They are, in reality, little more than residents occupying a house in an anonymous place. They often admit that they really don’t know the people who live around them — except to say hello. It is a regretful admission, but in their view of no more consequence than failing to wash the windows of their house.
Failure to see the costs of not having real neighborhood relationships is the primary cause of our weak local communities. And it is this weakness that is eroding our ability to lead productive, satisfying lives in the 21st century.
In this century, we have entered an era when neighborhoods must take on significant new functions if our lives are to improve. These are the functions that our large institutions can no longer perform, because they have reached their limits. The medical system no longer has major consequence for our health. Most police leaders understand they have reached the limits of their ability to provide local security. An improved environment will be shaped less by laws than our own local decisions about how we heat, light, transport ourselves, and the amount of waste we create. The majority of our jobs are not going to be provided by large corporate systems. Small business will be the major job source in the future of new enterprise. Our mega-food systems provide high-cost, wastefully transported, chemically grown produce that is slowly being replaced by locally produced and healthful food.
Of even more importance is the obvious limit of trying to pay our institutions to raise our children. Even though we say, “It takes a village to raise a child,” we actually outsource most of our child raising. They have become the children of schools, counselors, athletics, youth workers, therapists, McDonald’s, the electronic industries and the mall. And we call these villageless children the “youth problem.”
For all these reasons, it is now clear that the good life in the 21st century will have to be grown in the local neighborhood. Once we see the need for a strong, connected, productive local community, our basic building blocks are the skills, gifts, passions and knowledge of all our neighbors. It is these neighborly capacities that are most often unknown to us. It is making these capacities visible and connected that is the basic task of a functioning 21st century.
There are many ways to uncover the productive capacities of a neighborhood. One innovative approach is illustrative of the possibilities.
In a working-class African-American neighborhood in Chicago, the neighborhood organization has initiated discussions at the block level with local residents regarding their gifts, skills, passions and special knowledge. An example of the information they are making visible is what has been found, for instance, about six randomly interviewed residents on one block.
The six people reported sixteen “gifts,” including being good with kids, a good listener, effective organizer and skilled communicator.
Asked about their skills, the six reported fourteen, including knitting, light repairs, real estate law, computers and cooking.
The twenty “passions” the neighbors reported included skating, correcting building problems, decorating, jazz, gardening and photography.
Of special significance for a “village that raises a child” are the fifteen topics the six neighbors said they were willing to teach youngsters or interested adults. They include reading comprehension, computer technology, sewing, first aid, mathematics, skating, cooking, real estate and self-esteem.
These six residents did not know of most of their neighbor’s capacities, though they have lived on the block for some time. And no one had ever asked them about their abilities or whether they would share them.
The neighborhood organization has made the capacities of the neighbors visible. With 30 households on the block, imagine the rich treasures that will be revealed when these “gift” discussions are held with the neighbors in the other 24 households.
It is this hidden treasure chest that can be opened in any neighborhood in North America. Using these treasures requires connecting the capacities of neighbors. And those local neighbors good at organizing are the perfect local connective tissue.
If you are a person who has discovered and connected the productive capacity of your neighbors, we would like to hear from you.— And if you are a neighbor interested in initiating the process of opening your neighborhood treasure chest, let us know, and we can share useful materials, and perhaps, connect you to other pioneering neighbors.
~ John ~
Re-posted with permission
May 18, 2012 Leave a comment
“Hope is the Holy Spirit-given capacity to see above, beyond, or through the immediate ruin and mess all around us, in order to see the final accomplishment of grace that lies ahead. Hope persists in seeing the world not only as it is, but as it can become.” p. 16, Communities First
“That’s because you leave today, not committed to the kingdom of any culture, class, or racial group, or the kingdom of America or any other nation state, or even to the kingdom of any church, …; but rather to the kingdom of God, which is meant to turn all the other kingdoms on the head, to break open the unpredictable, and bring new hope to lives, neighborhoods, nations, and even the world. So God bless you in that wholly unpredictable and so needed ministry of hope.” –Rev. Jim Wallis, CEO of Sojourners
Read the entire post here.
May 18, 2012 Leave a comment
Jay Van Groningen
May 9, 2012 – CFA Executive Director, Jay Van Groningen has been invited to participate in the first annual meeting of the Global Leadership Network in Atlanta, GA. The GLN was launched by the Chalmers Center and CEO Dr. Brian Fikkert, Professor of Economics and Community Development at Covenant College and author of When Helping Hurts. The focus of GLN’s inaugural event will center on unpacking the question: What are the implications of When Helping Hurts’ school of thought for Christian philanthropy?
The panel discussion is titled: “Reflect and Effect of the Implications” and is scheduled for May 19th. It will be moderated by Dr. Michael Abrahams, Founder and Portfolio Manager of New Markets Financial Fund & a Global Leadership Network Member. Panelists include:
Dr. Robert Lupton, author of Toxic Charity,
Jay Van Groningen of Communities First Association,
Steve Perry of Sacred Harvest Foundation,
Paul Park of First Fruit, Inc.,
Josh Kwan of David Weekley Family Foundation,
Norris Hill of Provision Foundation, &
Cole Costanzo of The Maclellan Foundation
The Global Leadership Network (GLN) is a community of resource partners committed to informed generosity in poverty alleviation and supporting and advocating for church-centered, gospel-focused, microeconomic development strategies. Members of the GLN empower the Chalmers Center’s mission through contributing a minimum of $5,000 annually. Members of the Director’s Council commit to giving $25,000 annually. More information about the Global Leadership Network can be found here.
May 17, 2012 2 Comments
Omaha, NE “What if poverty could be stopped before it started?” One of the thought provoking questions addressed in this short clip from inCOMMON. “The solution to poverty won’t be found in programs, but in people.” info@inCOMMONcd.org
May 16, 2012 Leave a comment
When I joined the Beautification Committee of Sauk Village this past Summer I saw it as a unique opportunity to be a part of something positive that the community was already doing. It would be a chance to use my head/heart/hand gift of landscaping, and to develop some relationships. Little did I know…
As a committee, we re-instated the Hootsie Awards. This is an annual award given to those nominated by their neighbors for the work they put into maintaining and improving their properties. As committee members, we were asked to judge the nominated properties in various categories. Unable to go out with the rest of the committee on a Saturday, I went by myself on a Monday afternoon. Almost through with the list I turned onto Peterson Ave.
What’s important to note is that Peterson Ave. is “that” street in the Village with the reputation. It is labeled and avoided. Comprised of a series of duplexes connected by mismatched siding, boarded windows, and uneven roof-lines people from outside of Sauk Village stereotype the rest of the community using Peterson Ave. as the standard. My greatest concern was that being parked on the side of the street taking pictures would be viewed by some of the neighbors as another bank photographing a foreclosed home or worse.
“What could anyone possibly do with this tiny piece of property in this neighborhood to be nominated for an award?” was my judgmental thought-of-the-day as I pulled up to Ms. Samuels’ house. I sat there, somewhat stunned, thinking to myself “THIS is what someone can do.” A couple of minutes into my note-taking the garage door opened and out walked a woman who is looked at me suspiciously. I rolled down my window and introduced myself. Immediately her demeanor changed. I told her that I loved her yard: her use of fountains, the pavers and planters, the various ornamental trees and shrubs…”It’s beautiful!” Ms. Samuels began to cry, looked to the sky and said, “Thank you, God. You have no idea what that means to me today.” She told me that she understood the reputation of the street she lives on, and that she felt called by God to bring some beauty and peace to this neighborhood. She shared that she is a breast-cancer survivor, and that she wants to live every day for God’s glory. This landscape, this simple act of creating beauty, is one of the ways she is connecting with her neighbors. We talked for a while that afternoon, and before leaving she blessed me with one of those hugs that makes you feel like you are a child being embraced by the Savior himself.
A month later, the winners were announced at the Village Board Meeting. When Ms. Samuels’ name was read for 2nd place, she jumped over her husband’s legs, danced her way to the front, hugged every person on the committee and the Mayor. She thanked God not for allowing her to score a touchdown, but for giving her the joy and ability to share his love in this way. Ms. Samuels’ joy was being 2nd place. In a room often filled with anger and arguments, this woman from Peterson Ave. filled it with love and peace.
We’re still learning about and developing trust within this community, and we probably always will be, but one of the greatest affirmations up to this point is that God is here in ways I hadn’t imagined. Despite the labels we are so quick to assign others and ourselves, the evidence of redemption at work is irrefutable.
May 11, 2012 Leave a comment
A recent post at abundantcommunity.com highlighted the often overlooked giftedness of teens within a community. We read in the local paper about “troubled youth” and the rising concern over teen apathy, but many teens have found ways to add to the neighborhood story in a positive way. (And, my guess is that many more would join in if given the opportunity).
The post, written by Laura Fulton, points out the value and energy that teenage youth and enthusiasm can bring to a neighborhood, and five ways to start the process of connecting with teens in your area. One commenter said that teens in her neighborhood are employed to do community listening and connecting. Imagine a part-time job where a teen’s voice and ideas are heard, creativity and socializing are viewed as gifts, and relationships and leadership skills are formed. Sounds like a perfect match!
Teens today are often typecast as surly, disinterested, and uninformed. I challenge you to talk to a teen in your neighborhood. Ask about their interests, about what they see that works and doesn’t work, and what they would do to change things. Listen. Listen. Listen for their gifts and passions, and begin to rewrite the character description of young people in your neighborhood’s story.
May 10, 2012 2 Comments
Brianna Menning, CFA Director of Community Based Learning
May 2012, Brianna Menning Community built online can be a false sense of community. This is not to say that it doesn’t have a role, but that it’s difficult to build authenticity in relationships with something like Facebook if there isn’t also an in-person relationship.
There are a number of new sites and tools coming out recently that are working to build community through online networking, some of which we have previously mentioned here (nextdoor.com, for example). There are more tools (which I will mention below) that I get excited about as a way to help build community, but cannot be the only attempt we make at community, or they will never lead to anything.
These are sites like Neighborland, which is now open in a few cities across the country (including Minneapolis, where I am), and allows neighborhood members to list things that they would like to see in their neighborhood, and allows other people to agree, creating movement around an idea that might not have previously connected these people together. But unless these people make their voices heard to neighborhood groups to get more people involved, or ask to speak to groups like the city council, these sites will only get so far. In person organizing and connecting must happen in order to create the change they wish to see. I am excited by the possibility for sites like this to partner with in-person connecting, and also as a way to connect people who care about issues that we might not otherwise be aware of.
How can we use these tools to connect people who primarily build community online through social media and websites to people who have little internet access, and might not be aware of movement around an issue that they too care about? What role can community connectors play in bridging this gap? This is what I care about– and these are the steps we must take in our efforts to move below the red line.
Other sites doing cool things:
NeighborGoods– where you can create a list of goods you have available to lend to others in your neighborhood, and can check their lists to borrow from them when you need to
Do you have any other ideas of sites worth checking out? Let us know in the comments!
Contact Brianna at: brianna.menning@gmail.com
May 7, 2012 Leave a comment
This post was originally published by John McKnight and Peter Block on April 26, 2012 at www.abundantcommunity.com. Click here to see the original post.
Abundant communities start with making visible the gifts of everyone in the neighborhood—the families, the young people, the old people, the vulnerable people, the troublesome people. Everyone. We do this not out of altruism, but to create the elements of a satisfying life.
When we and our neighbors know of each other’s gifts, new community possibilities emerge. For example, the community can play an important role in rearing children and helping them to learn about their own abilities and what it means to be a contributing member of society. . . . By naming and exchanging our individual gifts, capacities, and skills, we open new possibilities to the family and neighborhood.
When we choose to make visible the gifts of those around us, we discover several things.
First, working together we begin to take creative responsibility for our families and our lives. We begin to make our neighborhood safer, healthier, wiser, richer and a much better place to raise a family. Instead of feeling alone and overwhelmed by our family dilemmas, we begin to connect with other parents, children, youth and senior by extending our families. We feel the comfort, help, pleasure and tangible support from those surrounding us.
Second, as we share our gifts, all kinds of new connections and relationships are created. We cross lines once drawn between youth and adults, seniors and juniors, the frail and the able. We become a competent community, a group of specially related people.
Third, we begin to understand the limits of money. Our community inventions usually cost little to nothing, and yet they become treasures. We see that you can’t buy more safety, health, wisdom or wealth. But together we can create them. We feel less burdened financially and less dependent on outside institutions. We are finding the citizen way.
Fourth, as we create a future together, we find a new kind of trust emerging. Our neighbors become people we can count on. And they count on us. A profound sense of security begins to emerge.
Fifth, we feel powerful. We find our own way, and that sense of power leads us to hold celebrations, acclaiming our successes while recognizing our frailties and those among us who have passed away.
Finally, we begin to create a history together. We can tell our story. We know how to join in educating our children. We have learned how to engage our old people. We write our own story, and we would love to share it with your neighborhood because we also can learn from your way.
Gifts become useful when they are connected to the gifts of others. Connected gifts create associations. Connected citizens are in association and create associational life. This certain kind of connecting is the key to creating abundance in community.
In Democracy in America (1835, 1840), Alexis de Tocqueville was one of the first to recognize that our associations were central to our democracy. Voting, he observed, is vital, but it is the power to give your power away—that is, to delegate your will to a representative.
An association, on the other hand, is a means to make power rather than giving it away. This new associational tool involved using these community powers:
The association is the tool that allows us to produce the future we envision. A citizen is a person with the awesome power to determine and create a common future. And so it is that the association makes citizenship possible. It empowers us because neighbors can decide what needs to be done and how it can be done—and, of greatest importance, they are the people who can do it.
In associations we are not consumers. We are not clients. We are citizens with gifts and the power to make powerful communities.
~John and Peter
John McKnight is emeritus professor of education and social policy and codirector of the Asset-Based Community Development Institute at Northwestern University. He is the coauthor of Building Communities from the Inside Out and the author of The Careless Society. He has been a community organizer and serves on the boards of several national organizations that support neighborhood development.
In addition to The Abundant Community, co-authored with John McKnight, Peter Block is the author of Flawless Consulting, Community, Stewardship and The Answer to How Is Yes. He serves on the boards of Elementz, a hip hop center for urban youth; Cincinnati Public Radio; and LivePerson. With other volunteers, Peter began A Small Group, whose work is to create a new community narrative and to bring Peter’s work on civic engagement into being. Peter’s work is in the restoration of communities and creating systems that restore our humanity. He is a partner in Designed Learning, a training company that offers workshops he has designed to build the skills outlined in his books.
May 4, 2012 Leave a comment
p. 8-9
May 3, 2012 Leave a comment
“Body” was a term which the Apostle Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians used to describe the Body of Christ. This term, Body, was used by the Roman Empire to explain how diverse its empire was. It showed how each member of the Roman Empire had their proper place. So, if you are a hand of the “Body,” do not seek to serve other capacities within the empire.
May 2, 2012 Leave a comment
Jeff Bisgrove–Neighborhood Transformation, Phoenix, AZ
Fifty people painting a church, a simple event. One that on its surface doesn’t look all that important, and is not often something we associate with community transformation. Churches are generally not part of the community in our society, and besides isn’t painting somebody else’s property relief and not really development?
All these points are valid, but if you look deeper into this effort to paint a church, you see a bit more. The church that was painted has a small and aging congregation. Their ability to paint their own church was rapidly getting beyond them as the years flew by. However, the people at the church are involved in the community and are well-regarded by the community, and the community decided they would help paint the church. Further, they invited their friends from outside South Phoenix to come and help. So they did. Together.
Black, Brown, White…the colors mixed together as the paint flowed onto the walls. Young, old and in-between; people from 2 years to 75 contributed. Many of the people knew each other, since they had worked together on other things in this community over the years. Painting this community church was another thing they did together.
David Bennett moved into South Phoenix five years ago, with the intent to be in the community, walk with the community, and help the community reconcile and grow. This area of South Phoenix is riven with gangs, often divided along racial lines. Black people do not like Brown people and vice versa. White people avoid the whole thing and do not even drive through south Phoenix. Against this backdrop, David started to work. He helps mentor and teach the local kids; walking with them and their parent(s) to help catalyze them to be more involved in their community. He involves people from outside South Phoenix to help break down prejudice and further God’s reconciliation.
And this is where the effort is today. Brown people helping Black people helping White people to paint a community church because the church congregation cannot do it themselves and the community has compassion for them. This compassion has spread beyond the community to their friends around the city. No shooting. No slurs, or gang colors. No driving the long way around to avoid it. Simply working together.
This community in South Phoenix, seen by most people in Phoenix as ground zero for police calls, shootings, gang banging and drug activity, is showing more. More of what God placed there. It is showing respect, compassion and love for the things that make up the community. It is not the end. It is a step… a transformational step.
April 30, 2012 Leave a comment
Wendy McCaig–Embrace Richmond, Richmond, VA
One of my most challenging tasks as an Executive Director is answering the question, “What does Embrace Richmond do?” When people focus on the “what”, I find they miss the more important question of “who.” The “what” sounds like, “We helped the residents start a community center that includes a computer lab, a mom’s support group, a food pantry, monthly community fellowship events, a clothing closet, activities for seniors, an afterschool creative and performing arts program, gardening projects, GED tutoring, vocational mentoring and leadership development training.” While all these activities meet real needs within a community, the activities themselves are not as important as the residents from the neighborhood who are doing all this work.
When we entered the Hillside Court community more than three years ago, the recreation center had been closed down for several years. There was a sense of despair in the community. We heard stories like this one shared by a long-time resident, “Used to be that the recreation center was open to the community and they had all kind of activities for the residents. Different groups have been in that building over the years; they always leave. I don’t believe anything will ever change around here. I don’t think anyone really cares about this neighborhood.”
The recreation center is once again bustling with activity and over the past three years, we have seen dozens of residents step up and take on leadership roles. This coming fall, Embrace Richmond will be leading by stepping back. Our resident leadership team is now strong enough to lead the effort with Embrace Richmond simply contributing the financial and spiritual support they need to keep the center open to the community and thriving.
Above are the pictures of the key leaders who will assume control of the Hillside Recreation Center. If you ask me “What does Embrace Richmond do?” I will likely show you these pictures and say, “We support neighbors who build great neighborhoods.” This is what true community development success looks like, neighbors helping neighbors.
April 27, 2012 Leave a comment
from The Abundant Community: Awakening the Power of Families and Neighborhoods, written by Peter Block and John McKnight
“Our communities are abundant with the resources we need for the future. It is the awakening of families and neighborhoods to these resources that is needed. Consumer access to all that business professions, and government have to offer still leaves our lives half full. Community life fills the glass the rest of the way, and this is why a strong local community is not a luxury, it is a necessity.” (p. 30)
April 23, 2012 Leave a comment
Rick Droog–Siouxland Diaconal Conference
From Kurt & Emily Rietema’s stories of life and love in the Argentine neighborhood of Kansas City, Kansas published in the February 2012 edition of “the Minute”.
This past week a neighborhood teenager put a message on Twitter that said, “You know you’re living in a ghetto when the church vans come in for spring break.” I laughed immediately when I heard it. It was loaded with all the pithy irony of a political newspaper cartoon. I saw the van myself. In fact, it was a van of college students coming to serve alongside us. I cringed when I saw the windows, slathered in orange window paint with Jesus-y messages about what they were intending to do in Argentine. That teenager’s tweet was so poignant to me because it encrypted volumes of social angst, philosophical treatises on religious crusading, and cultural commentaries on the idiosyncratic vacationing habits of affluent, white adolescents–all in 140 characters or less. She was bringing to the surface tensions that I’ve only begun to have eyes to see by living here among people who, to state it bluntly, aren’t educated, middle-class, evangelical whites like myself. What I think that girl was getting at in her tweet is that no one likes to feel like someone else’s charity case. She was getting at the psychological damage that happens when you’re living in a ghetto–not simply the obvious dangers of knowing that kids in the neighborhood are packing concealed Glocks, but the more subtle dangers of knowing that some zealous kid is roaming about her neighborhood with Jesus in his quiver and there’s a target on her chest. The subtext to what she was saying was, “I don’t need to be reminded once again through the haloed glow emanating from your white vans that we’re poor and in need of a savior.”
Coincidentally, a week before, a coworker of mine shared an altogether different story about another church van. My friend grew up in a prototypical biker family if there ever was such a thing. Her parents would leave home with their biker friends, get smashed, come home, go back to low-wage jobs they detested, and do it all over again the next week while my friend and her brother found themselves mixed up in the chaos of it all. Her mom caught her dad cheating on her and did absolutely nothing about it. They’d often come home and find their parents smoking pot like it was as routine as making a pot of Folgers. There was only one escape for her–a church van that showed up at her house every Sunday. While her parents were still strung out, my friend and her brother would be whisked away into another world and into a new kind of normal that was anything but normal to them. When I asked how she didn’t follow the well-ridden tire marks of her parents and the culture they immersed themselves in she said that there was just nothing in it for her. When that church van picked her up every Sunday morning, she was transported into another world where church people, while mixed up with their own issues of vanity and vulnerability, lived in a way that was so much more compelling. The way of her parents was empty and she was never turning back. All because of a church van. The kind of church van that I’ve had mixed, missiological feelings about.
Two church vans, two entirely different responses by the people who live in those neighborhoods. One viewed indignantly, the other indispensable. For most of us, all we need to hear is the legitimately moving story of my friend in order to blow off the cultural critiques of the neighborhood teenager. So what if one girl, armed with a mobile phone and a Twitter account makes a witty, sarcastic comment about another’s efforts to live out their faith in sometimes clunky ways? Look at how those same efforts saved the life of your friend. Those church vans save souls. I don’t disagree. Yet the Twittering teen seems to suggest that the unintentional messages that accompany those same church vans about what who they are and who you are can slowly dissolve and destroy the dignity and soul of another.
In a broken world littered with unresolved cultural tensions how are we to live out our faith when our attempts at reconciliation can be interpreted so wildly different? This past week, we loaded up a group of local, Argentine teenagers on that church van for a retreat at Youthfront Camp West that showed the messiness and beauty of both.
The group of boys that we brought with us were the same ones that have come over to our house for dinner, plus a handful more. During one of our first gatherings, we did an exercise where we explored our own stories and how God has also invited us into a story filled with the same peaks and valleys, moments of brilliance and failure as our own. Finally, during our last session, I came to realize that the Argentine that I knew was not the Argentine that these kids in the public housing project knew. We were discussing how the gospel begins to take root, provide a story, hope and direction for our own lives and then spills out into the world around us. As we asked what they’d change about Argentine if they could, they overwhelmingly said they’d change the violence. While I’ve heard occasional gunshots, it’s far from a regular occurrence. But Antonio said a man was shot on his doorstep about a month ago. Nate said kids were shooting at one another on a main thoroughfare in broad daylight after school last week. When I asked what we could do to be agents of change in this, one of the toughest kids finally cracked. “We need more groups like this.” I pushed him on what he meant. Another kid piped in. “We need more youth to talk seriously like this. And then to be able to get away from it all, clear out our heads and relax like this and have fun”. For the next few minutes we talked about how more Argentine youth would be interested in being a part of a group like this and what we could do about it. Lester leaned over to Nate and said, “If I hadn’t come and experienced it myself, I would’ve made fun of it.”
And there it was. The complexity of the church van caught up in that one little statement. It’s easy to make fun of others’ efforts to live out the gospel from afar. But the college students that came with us embodied everything that we’ve been hoping to instill. They were honest about their own relatively healthy upbringings in the face of youth who’d experienced more brokenness than we can imagine. They didn’t deny their differences. They didn’t make them out into targets. They didn’t try to change the kids’ behaviors and make them quit dropping the f-bomb. They realized they were stewarding a much bigger story in Jesus than cleaning up our externals. They realized a subtle presence is more sustainable than one that shouts and screams for attention–even (and especially) for the sake of the gospel. It’s this that speaks louder than any tangerine tinted messages on any church van. The church van. Vindicated.
April 16, 2012 Leave a comment
Monika Grasley–Lifeline CDC of Merced County
LifeLine CDC has a saying: “Everyone no matter how rich has a need. Everyone no matter how poor has a gift. That is why we build and celebrate community.” ™ We were able to experience that again with one of our partners in Winton, California, a small rural community with over 30% unemployment. There four men have stepped forward, giving abundantly of their gifts despite hard times.
Two years ago David, a Winton community member, returned to Winton after finishing his 4 year college degree in Business. He returned hoping to find a job but was unable to do so. Instead he started volunteering at the Winton Community Center. Last year David assisted at the Community Center with the VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) program, and this year he headed up the program. The VITA program helped over 70 individuals and families get their taxes prepared for free and brought over $80,000 back into the community. These low-income families had no other way to get their taxes done during these difficult economic times, and were so thankful for the service.
Winton LifeLine Community Center is a site for the Work Experience Program for the County. These men and women work at the Winton Community Center for a few hours a day learning new skills and helping them with the community work. George and Francisco came to work with the center because they could not find employment. During the many conversations we found that both have amazing gifts in auto mechanics and are generally able to fix just about anything.
The first project they worked on was a passenger bus that belongs to LifeLine CDC and is being used in Winton. This bus is being used for transporting the youth to do the graffiti abatement, assist moving people, picking up and dropping off donations, and transporting senior citizens to special events.
After successfully fixing the bus they worked on several other projects. As the team talked about exchanging gifts they came up with the idea of having a car repair clinic. What if these men would help some of the seniors get some minor repairs done and teach some of the community members to do their own maintenance … that would be a blessing for everyone! So the plans are being made to have a community wide ‘car clinic’ and the contacts with the Vintage Car Club will make this an even bigger event!
At the same time Chico came to the center and starting volunteering his time. In his broken English he stated one day: “I will start cleaning your bathroom. You don’t have to worry about it anymore. I will do it for Jesus and I know how to do it good.” We thanked him and he said “No, thank you, you give me purpose again.”
All four men felt useless, unemployed, and under-used and yet in the context of community conversations all got to use their gifts and abilities to help others.
When we say that everyone has a gift, we mean it! So, not a day goes by when we don’t discover one more gift that makes the community richer, that brings the Shalom of God into the neighborhood. When David assists someone with taxes, he blesses the community, when George and Francisco fix the cars they bless the community, when Chico cleans the bathroom he blesses the community. We often hear about the ‘tipping point’ and we are looking forward to the time when the teams slogan “Putting Winton on the map for something good” becomes a reality!
April 11, 2012 Leave a comment
This post was originally published by John McKnight on March 1, 2011 at www.abundantcommunity.com. Click here to see the original post.
John McKnight is emeritus professor of education and social policy and codirector of the Asset-Based Community Development Institute at Northwestern University. He is the coauthor of Building Communities from the Inside Out and the author of The Careless Society. He has been a community organizer… read more »
In a neighborhood, people are empowered by the work they do together. Often, they use this power to confront institutions and advocate for the neighborhood’s self-interest. In this kind of action, power is understood as our ability to get someone else to do something for us. This is the consumer power of confrontation.
The other kind of neighborhood power results when we come together to create something for ourselves — from ourselves. This is the power of citizens engaged in community building.
Many of us think of power in terms of the confrontation approach. Power is about advocacy, demands, negotiation and control. On the other hand, community-building is often described as “nice and cooperative,” but not powerful.
In our book, The Abundant Community, we point out that there are at least six community-building characteristics of a neighborhood that empowers its residents: cooperation, hospitality, generosity, kindness, forgiveness and accepting fallibilities.
Each of these qualities is a power and creates powerful results.
Kindness is the power to care. A careless society is a weak society. It finally descends to callous practices and brutal disregard for its members.
Hospitality is the power to welcome. A fearful society is frightened of strangers and weakened by its exclusions of the talents of strangers inside and outside its community.
Generosity is the power to give. Powerlessness is greatest when we are denied the right to contribute and express ourselves. That is why prison is so terrible, even though food, clothing and shelter are provided. There is no stronger punishment than denying a person’s power to give.
Cooperation is the power to join with your neighbors to create a future. Every totalitarian system knows that the greatest threat is people working together in groups, small or large. In those societies, the power to associate is called a conspiracy.
Accepting fallibility creates the power to enjoy each other in spite of our failures, deficiencies and differences. It creates the glue that holds us together in spite of our nature.
Finally, forgiveness is the power to forget. Many communities have been weakened for centuries because of an event that happened in the distant past. Until a community or its members can overcome a pervasive sense of grievance, that community will atrophy in a spirit of retribution.
It is these qualities of community that are the basic source of a nation’s power:
These powers are abundant and available in every community. When they are manifested, they are more powerful than business or government. That is why America’s recovery as a powerful nation finally depends on what we do on our own block.
~ John ~
April 9, 2012 Leave a comment
Throughout the Spring and Summer of 2011, Street Church sought to develop relationships with the residents of Downtown Hampton, Virginia. Street Church is a community ministry led by Steve Edwards with numerous helpers from several area churches. OneChurch has been working with Steve to develop ABCD strategies for this community over the past year. Our major effort was in the Harbor Square apartments, a low-income housing development in the center of the city. During the Summer of 2011, Street Church provided Sunday evening worship services on the grounds, a Summer Vacation Bible School, several clothing and food drives, and conducted surveys in the community. These efforts resulted in good relationships being built with the members of this community, several city officials, and local helping agencies such as H.E.L.P. – a ministry to the homeless of the area, and area churches.
In the Fall of 2011 this effort ended as the weather changed and the city purchased the apartment complex and moved the residents out of the area. Street Church and OneChurch have been meeting to discern our Lords plans for us during this time. As a result, we recently formed a leadership team committed to applying ABCD methods of community development in a strategic manner in this neighborhood. 
This team came together as we sought to develop deeper relationships with those who participated in our Street Church events in 2011. We shared the book, “When Helping Hurts,” with key leaders (about 50 people) which has ignited an interest in our efforts. This team has committed to be trained in ABCD methods, to study “When Helping Hurts” in a small group setting, and to begin implementation of a consensus plan that will emerge through a Technology of Participation (ToP) consensus workshop in April. This group of loosely connected but caring people willing to get involved in some “to/for” ministry efforts in a needy community has transitioned into a team committed to learning and applying ABCD “with” methods in a specific downtown Hampton neighborhood for the foreseeable future.
