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 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
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.
February 27, 2012 Leave a comment
Kimi Zimmerman–Community enCompass
What is ABCD?
It’s simple really. At its best, Asset Based Community Development comes out in life stories.
Take Linda for example. I honestly don’t know much about her. She’s a retired nurse and new to the McLaughlin neighborhood. Judging by her kind disposition, I’d venture to say she was the kind of nurse that people remembered and wanted to thank because she made an unpleasant doctor or hospital visit more bearable.
I met Linda one day at Sacred Suds. She wasn’t doing laundry or showering. Instead, she was taking blood pressure for neighbors that were using the facility. She wasn’t doing it for money or in any official capacity. She was doing it because she cares about her community. She was doing it because she has a passion for people and for nursing. It’s in her DNA. She has a God-given gift and she can’t help but use it.
This is ABCD - neighbors using their gifts and talents to enrich, change, help, care for, and love the community they are a part of. Neighbors like Linda. But the story doesn’t end there. Linda used her own blood pressure equipment, but found she didn’t have the right size cuff for some of the neighbors. Another neighbor heard about it and contacted a local agency to see how they could go about getting a larger cuff. When the agency heard about the volunteer work Linda was doing at Sacred, they couldn’t help but support the cause and donate the equipment. ABCD is contagious!
This is a simple story about one person doing good by sharing her gifts with her neighbors.
What is ABCD? It’s neighbors sharing the best parts of themselves to help build a stronger community.
February 20, 2012 Leave a comment
Rebecca Lujan Loveless–POLIS Institute
The Community Center at The Palms Trailer Park bustled with life on a recent cool Saturday morning. This was unusual because up until that week the trailer that housed the Community Center was only open Monday through Friday. This Saturday, the neighborhood residents came in and out, using the computers, sitting to chat with a neighbor over a cup of coffee and I felt a deep sense of gratitude for the spirit of “togetherness” that was in this overlooked but much under-rated community.
The Palms Trailer Park is located between two highways on Orange Blossom Trail – “OBT” as it is affectionately referred to. OBT is notorious for the business of buying and selling women. So whenever I tell people where my office is located – in a trailer park on OBT- I am generally met with some kind of a joke about “working the Trail.” And while my work involves befriending women who do, in fact, “work the Trail,” it involves listening to the hopes and concerns of other people too: the former inmate who is unemployable because of his past, the older woman who has never worked a day in her life because of her crippling disabilities, and the young single mom who is passionate about her children having a chance to succeed in ways she never was given.
Recently, I have become friends with a young, single mom who has taught me so much about determination and a quiet patience. LaDeitra is curious and funny. She is hopeful yet cautious. She leads people with ease and yet is hesitant about being called a “leader.” She cares about her neighborhood and wants to be a part of creating a place where her kids can play safely, where she knows her neighbors well enough to understand their needs.
When I first met her at the Community Center she was shy and quiet. She would come in to use the computers and then leave as quietly as she came in. But over time she began to pick up on some of the conversations that were happening around her. As people would come in to the Community Center we would talk about their ideas about how to improve the neighborhood. She began to be curious. Eventually LaDeitra started contributing to these informal conversations. Finally, after several months of listening and observing she asked if she could come to the weekly meeting for our volunteer Hosts of the Community Center. Once LaDeitra was trained as a Community Center Host there was no stopping her. She began talking to her neighbors and listening to them dream about “what could be” in the neighborhood. She convenes people for Neighborhood Meetings and it was her organization and determination that allowed the center to start opening on Saturdays. 
The work of Asset Based Community Development can be very lonely. Am I the only one that thinks this neighborhood is great? Does everyone [including the residents that live here] think this place is a joke? These are admittedly my dismal thoughts on days when I feel heavy-laden with the reality of generational poverty. But LaDeitra reminds me, “Things take time.” She reminds me that there are others that care about this forgotten part of our city. She confirms my deep suspicion that when the talents of the poor are properly engaged, well-being improves. She engages my talents of leadership and organization and in turn allows me, even invites me, to engage her talents to influence her neighbors towards change.
Each Saturday, if you stop by The Palms Trailer Park, you will see LaDeitra with her notebook open, listening to the dreams of her neighbors. She writes them down, showing that what her neighbors have to say is important. She talks to others about these ideas and invites people to find ways to empower them. LaDeitra is hesitant to be called a “leader” and yet, each week she leads me to believe that change –even in the most unlikely place- is possible.
December 20, 2011 Leave a comment
Wedgewood Neighborhood, Seattle Washington
Lacking an outdoor green space, the community members of Wedgewood want to create a gathering space for all ages that reflects the vibrant character of NE Seattle. With the generous donation of space by the Hunter Family of Hunter Tree Farm, this already much loved space can now be enjoyed year round. Figuring out how to make a movable gathering place so the Hunters can sell their wonderful trees during the holidays has been the catalyst for ingenuity and one of a kind design.
In April of 2011, the Wedgwood Community Council partnered with the Hunter Family to submit an application for a Gathering Places Grant from Tully’s Coffee and the Pomegranate Center. We were 1 of 17 communities to apply and 1 of 3 communities in the greater Seattle area to be awarded the grant. The Hunter Farm site is located in the heart of Wedgwood, between the two commercial nodes at NE 75th Street and NE 85th Street. It’s location is an ideal and intuitive place for many NE Seattle community gatherings. The primary goal of the gathering place project was to improve the ability of the site to accommodate greater public gatherings while allowing the Hunter Family to maintain their thriving Christmas tree business.
After winning the grant, the Wedgwood Community Council reached out to several civic groups, school PTAs, and adjacent community organizations that are all stakeholders of the site to form a steering committee. This steering committee was intended to be a representative group of the greater NE Seattle community to provide logistics support throughout the project and a sounding board on behalf of the community during design iterations.
As part of the project design development, there were 2 community meetings. The first community meeting was held on June 11th at Messiah Lutheran Church. This was a full day workshop to solicit ideas and develop concept-level plans from those ideas based around realistic site and budget limitations. From this workshop, 68 unique ideas were proposed by the community and 4 concept plans were developed.
Following this kick-off community meeting, volunteer design professionals from the Pomegranate Center and NE Seattle community (Public Space Rangers) built upon the community’s ideas and refined them further using material availability, estimated construction costs, and further considerations/input provided from the Hunter Family. The result was presented at the final community meeting, on July 13th at Wedgwood Presbyterian Church, to unveil the project design.
Between August 18th to 21st, the NE Seattle community came together to build the project. Through tireless work by hundreds of volunteers, the project was largely completed by the last community build day. You can read more about Day 1 (August 18th), Day 2 (August 19th), Day 3 (August 20th), and Day 4 (August 21st).
Additional links telling the story linked with pictures and videos:
The Hunter Farm Gathering Place Grand Opening Bash
Tully’s & the Pomegranate Center – Hunter Farms build in Wedgwood
Overwhelming Turn Out for the Hunter Farm Community Build
Day 3 of the Hunter Farm Community Build
Emergency HUB planned for Hunter Farms Gathering Place Makes National News
Even More Progress Being Made on the Hunter Farm Gathering Place Project
Progress Already Being Made on the Hunter Farm Gathering Place Project
Brian Turnbull serves as president of the WCC. Brian, his wife, and their two boys have called Wedgwood home for the last five years. Brian is a missional pastor of a house church movement in Northeast Seattle, and owns a landscape company called Green House Landscaping. Brian enjoys people and the outdoors, which are two great assets we have here in Wedgwood. As the chairperson of Events Committee, Brian enjoys coordinating our annual Outdoor Cinema and Business Trick or Treat.
December 12, 2011 Leave a comment
Al Santino – Northeast Community Transformation
This is an older story from AmeriCorps Member, Pam Ramos, Ayuda Community Center.
Today was another good day in Hunting Park, Philadelphia. On Saturday, July 16, 2011, Hunting Park United, an organized neighborhood civic-association group made up of community individuals and partnering organizations, launched their first annual Family Day in the Park 2011. It was organized by our very own AmeriCorps member Pam Ramos. She is in her 8th month of service and has had the privilege of working alongside great community leaders and invested organizations. In the process of organizing this huge event in the park, she has had community meetings and has gathered community leaders for the purpose of input to what it was the community wanted at this event. With much work and collaboration of all, there were 25 non-profit organizations represented and over 75 volunteers recruited and more importantly over 500 plus community people that participated.
With all the resource tables available for the adults, from health screens put on by Esperanza Health Center’s Summer Medical Institute which is a program that allows medical students from around the country the unique opportunity to serve in an urban setting, engaging neighbors and performing various health screenings. Esperanza Health Center’s own Community Health Promoters graduates were on hand to answer questions. This is a lay-health class offered to community people who wish to be educated on various health issues; given 50 hours of training are then certified to promote health topics in varies ways. There was donated food BBQ’d & served by Richard & Friends United in the Community and finally Zumba aerobics instruction given by our local friend Cindy Ortiz from the Philadelphia group.
There was also plenty for the kids to do like face painting provided by a local congregation (One Hope Community Church) to plenty of crafts and games put on by a brand new coalition established in Hunting Park by four existing organizations to create S.E.A.C. Its mission is to work with engaging families to prevent drug-usage & abuse. It includes Spirit & Truth Fellowship, Esperanza Health Center, Ayuda Community Center, and Casa De Consejeria translates into “House of Counseling. As you can see that Hunting Park United understands the power of community development and organizing– partnering for the greater good of the community. I’d say this community event was a success people went away full of resources and food…another fine day in Hunting Park, where it takes community to build a community.
May 29, 2011 Leave a comment
Wendy McCaig – Embrace Richmond
The community of Hillside Court witnessed three shootings and three murders in the first three weeks of this year. While Hillside has always been a rough community, this was over the top even for them. As you can imagine, the community was gripped by fear of their neighbors and equally paralyzed by their distrust of the police. As we did a community interest survey and asked the residents, “If you had a magic wand and could do anything for your community, what would you do?”, the unanimous response was “Make the neighborhood safer.”
We heard this cry and thought that the right answer was to have greater collaboration between the community and the police so we invited the police to come and share information about a neighborhood watch program. It became clear very quickly that this was not the right answer at this time for this community. We heard things like “I am no snitch”, “I don’t ever want to be seen with the police”, and “The only way to stay alive in this place is if you see nothing and say nothing.”
I was baffled. In my neighborhood, if there is a safety issue, you call the police. I quickly learned that Hillside Court has its own culture and it is a culture driven by fear. We heard stories of police brutality and harassment and I quickly learned why there was such a high level of distrust by the community. Most everyone I know in the community has a family member or close friend who is in jail and many have had their own run in with the law.
I thought I had the answer but I clearly heard God saying, “Shut up and listen!” at every turn.
I am thankful to Jay Van Groningen of Communities First Association for his skill and experience in doing community development work. We decided to use Jay’s approach to hear the community’s answer to this perplexing issue and I was astonished at what I learned.
Two weeks ago we conducted our first public “listening session” in which we gathered concerned citizens together and asked them these questions in this order. We then recorded their responses on a flip chart. More than 30 residents showed up to participate.
1.) What do you like best about your neighborhood? This solicited responses like affordability, senior residents who care for the neighborhood, outside groups like Embrace and local churches that help the community.
2.) If you could wave a magic wand and make your community safer what would you do? This is where it got really interesting. It was apparent within a few minutes that the majority of the citizens were concerned not for their own safety but for the safety of the children who are often playing in the streets with no adult supervision. As we listened, it became obvious that many of the older residents blamed the younger single mothers for not supervising the children. Thankfully there were several younger single moms in the room who voiced their need for a break and the fact that they had babies and could not possibly care for the babies and watch the older children at the same time.
3.) What are you willing to do to help make the streets safer for the children? We had individuals volunteer to monitor the bus stops, others said they would help build more playgrounds so it would be easier for the moms to see the areas where the children were playing, but the most exciting outcome was a group of older moms and grandmothers who offered to support the young single moms, to help them with their children and to mentor and encourage them. In total we had 10 people volunteered for specific tasks.
4.) Who is willing to take a leadership role and ensure this all happens? I think I shocked everyone when I said that Embrace would support the community but that we had no intention of leading the initiative. This community is so used to having outside groups come in and “do it for them” that though we never indicated that we would, that was the assumption. There was a moment of tension as everyone looked around the room and then thankfully Patrice boldly raised her hand. Joe and Debra soon followed and we had our leadership team.
5.) Will the rest of you commit to support and pray for this team and these leaders? Throughout our time together the issue of prayer and the need for spiritual renewal had come up. Everyone in that room knew that this small band of people had a momentous task ahead of them if they hoped to make the streets of Hillside safer for the children. It was during this time of prayer that I heard God clearly say to us all, “Be still and know that I am God, psalm 43:10” Or, my translation, “Shut up, listen, and trust.”
I don’t know if this newly formed Community Action Team will succeed. I honestly don’t think that is as important as the fact that we gave the power back to the community. Walking into that meeting, they felt powerless over the criminal element that was terrorizing them and powerless over their own fear of the police. They heard everyone telling them what to do and no one taking the time to listen to them. They felt dependent on outsiders who come and go as funding streams come and go. However, at the end of that meeting, I could feel a sense of ownership and pride in that room and it was a glorious thing to witness!
Long ago someone told me that if we do things for people that they can do for themselves, that we are “dis-empowering” them and creating dependency. This community can do all the things they noted were important. The key is to get out of the way and let them. I honestly was shocked that a meeting about safety led to a support group for single moms, bus monitors and playgrounds. However, the more I have reflected upon this conversation, the more I see the wisdom and Devine hand in it all. I think we would all be better ministers if we learned to “shut up, listen, and trust” a bit more.
Please pray for our community leaders, the children of Hillside court and those who have historically terrorized our residents. Pray for safety especially as we move into the summer months, which historically have high crime rates. Also pray for our Embrace team and I as we seek to “shut up, listen, and trust” more in the future.
March 1, 2011 Leave a comment
Pictured above are Ivan, Jose, Rosalba, Barbara, Jim and Mario
One of the goals of community development is to secure the future of the community. This desire has been reflected in the association between Teens in Action, Gangs for Jesus, Sunshine Community Church and Valley Ridge Community Church. As this association has become more mature, this cooperation is developing a joint venture to tend to the health of the local youth. We look forward to this joint cooperation and the benefits that it will bring to the community as it becomes involved in the community development process.
