Community Building Activism

Community Building Activism

Community building has come to refer to a variety of intentional efforts to (a) organize and strengthen social connections or (b) build common values that promote collective goals. Literally, community building means building more community (an interim goal) as a way of achieving some set of desired outcomes (safer neighborhoods, healthier children and families, better-preserved cultural traditions, more profitable businesses, and so forth). While specific meanings vary widely depending on context, community building emphasizes the beneficial aspects of key processes (actions) that shape relationships, values, psychological attachment, and other aspects of community. As such, community building bears important connections to community organizing and community development." (Xavier de Souza Briggs) This category is for groups which directly build community and for groups which enable community building and maintenance, through actions such as providing grants or feedback. It also includes sites which discuss, criticize, or study "community".

Top: Society: Activism: Community Building

Saul Alinsky

See Also:

Asset-Based Community Development Institute - ABCD spreads its findings on capacity-building community development through interactions with community builders, and by producing practical resources and tools for community builders to identify, nurture, and mobilize neighborhood assets.
Global Citizens Circle - Sponsors town meeting-style discussions led by a diverse community of world dignitaries, which focus on current global issues, with a goal of constructive change. Describes organizations history, with details of past program topics and leaders.
A Librarian At Every Table - A resource to demonstrate the value of librarianship in the community building movement.
Ontario Project for Inter-Clinic Community Organizing (OPICCO) - Provides community organizations and community legal clinics in Ontario with tools (information and guidance) for organizing.
Tom Wolff and Associates - US-based consultant offers services in collaboration-building and community planning. Provides overview of experience and philosophy, with client list, resource links, and description of areas of work.
Community Development Exchange (CDX) - The UK-wide community development membership organisation. Works to bring about social justice and equality by sharing information, experience and practice, and by representing the community development field in policy work.
The World Cafe - This process for leading collaborative dialogue and knowledge-sharing, particularly for larger groups, is described, with a bibliography and resources for implementation.
Streets Alive - Bristol, England-based group that promotes car-free street events. They provide a detailed guide for a successful neighborhood street party, with photos, anecdotes, and discussion of community development.
National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation - Organizations and individuals committed to strengthening and uniting the growing dialogue and deliberation field.
Common Focus - A nonprofit organization dedicated to providing resources for community building and creative citizen dialogue and engagement.
National Park Service - Civic Engagement - US agency offers resources and case studies for using historic sites as venues for civic dialogue on sensitive topics, along with calendar of events.
Community Organizing as Practiced in the United States - This academic-style article characterizes community organizing in the US, describes the author's work in Jacksonville, Florida, and offers some general instruction for organizers. [English/German]
The Citizen's Handbook - Community organizing handbook designed for use in urban settings. Created by Vancouver, B.C. group.
Berkana Institute - This US-based nonprofit promotes "leadership development" projects based on community conversations on issues of interest. They provide much high-level discussion of their methodology.
Community Building Institute (CBI) - Founded to help communities improve the way they conduct public business to be more inclusive, more collaborative, and more effective. Based in Annandale, Virginia.
Shelterforce Online - Online version the nation's oldest continually-published housing and community development magazine. A primary forum for organizers, activists, and advocates in the affordable housing and neighborhood revitalization movements.
National Community Development Institute - Provides customized capacity-building services to promote community-building and social transformation in diverse low-income communities.
The Association for the Study and Development of Community (ASDC) - A US-based research and development organization for community capacity building and social problem solving. They describe their methodologies, list recent clients, and provide research publications.
A Case Study of Electronic Community Building in a Freshman Dorm - Study of how Stanford college students living together use and perceive electronic communication as a tool for critical dialogue and community building.
Conversation Cafe - Includes the background of this structured form of conversation, with a list of existing cafe groups, and information and resources about how to start a new one.
The Community Organizing Toolbox - A guide to community organizing, with an explanation of the basics, issues, case studies, and resources.
Community Consultation: Best Practice - Annotated listing of best practice community consultation, consumer participation, community development and qualitative analysis tools, practices and theories.

Help build the largest human-edited directory on the web.
Submit a Site - Open Directory Project - Become an Editor
Click here to add, change or remove your listing

MySQL - Cache Direct sec.