Community Resources from Community-Support Organizations

See also: Community Co-Intelligence

The International Healthy Cities Foundation covers a surprising range of of issues in empowering, democratic ways by simply asking what it takes to make a healthy community.

Tyler Norris has some great articles and links, as well as offering their own resources and services to communties. His old Community Initiatives site is under new management and is not currently (5/08) operational -- but stay tuned...

Civic Practices Network -- "a learning collaborative for civic renewal" -- offers many co-intelligent articles and resources.

Creating Communities of Opportunity - the online manuscript of an excellent book, THE BASKETMAKER: HELPING PEOPLE CREATE COMMUNITIES OF OPPORTUNITY: A guide for Services & Family Self-Sufficiency Coordinators, and leaders working to strengthen their communities

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation's Community Partnership Toolkit for building and maintaining partnerships to strengthen communities describes ten partnership building tools and highlights how these tools were used in ten communities.

The National Civic League offers a changing selection of good online publications currently including the Community Visioning and Strategic Planning Handbook. (pdf)

Center for Community Support and Research - Wichita State University - many know-how resources for communities

Study Circle on building strong neighborhoods

Community-Building Organizations

Self-organizing community networks - a variety of novel neighborhood organizing methods that grew out of Y2K community preparation work.

There are ways in which telecommunications technology can enhance democracy, an approach called teledemocracy. One experiment in a small town is described in E-Democracy Thrives in Winona, Minnesota.

Holistic Management Allan Savory's step by step process for holistic decision-making. See also Natural Capitalism ... and New Rules -- THE site for local economics.

Consensus organizing builds relationships to make real progress on increasingly contentious community issues, replacing stereotyped us-vs-them stories with a belief in the possibility of shared exploration and shared benefits.

Principles of Public Participation - Lists of guidelines from The International Association for Public Participation, The Community Development Society and the Co-Intelligence Institute.

Multi-Stakeholder Resource Portal
Building Capacity to Facilitate Multi-Stakeholder Processes and Social Learning -- including 14 methodologies, 34 process tools, and facilitation manuals.

Resources for community Sustainability, Self-Reliance and Resilience

Books

• Creating Community Anywhere by Carolyn Shaffer and Kristin Anundsen (Tarcher/Perigree, 1993). "The most comprehensive book I know of about the community movement." -- M. Scott Peck. Building community with friends, family, support groups, neighborhoods, co-workers, cyber-companions, shared households and visionary communities. Excellent guidance on conflict, decision-making, celebrations, communication and dealing with community evolution and "shadow side."
• The Basketmaker: Helping People Create Communities of Opportunity, ed. by Michael Patterson, et. al. (available online). A fascinating mix of vision, inspiration, how-to's, references and stories, especially targetted for people working with disadvantaged communities, but powerfully useful to all of us.
• The Quickening of America: Rebuilding our Nation, Remaking our Lives by Frances Moore Lappé and Paul Du Bois (Jossey-Bass, 1994). Powerful examples and new theory about how Americans are "doing democracy."
• Reworking Success by Robert Theobald (New Society, 1997). An accessible re-examination of how to make communities and societies work better in the 21st Century.
• Building Communities from the Inside Out: A Path Toward Finding and Mobilizing a Community's Assets by John P. Kretzmann and John L. McKnight (Center for Urban Affairs and Policy Research, 1993; $15 from ACTA Publications [800] 397-2282). The manual for asset-based community development.
• The Spirit of Community: The Reinvention of American Society by Amitai Etzioni (Touchstone/Simon & Schuster, 1993). The kick-off of the communitarian movement.
• The Power in our Hands: Neighborhood-Based World Shaking by Tony Gibson (Jon Carpenter, UK,1996). How-tos and stories for those who want to make a creative difference in their communities.
• Going Local: Creating Self-Reliant Communities in a Global Age by Michael H. Shuman (The Free Press, 1998). The title says it.
• Self-Reliant Cities by David Morris (Sierra Club Books,1982). The classic visionary text on the relationships of American cities to energy. This and many other books on that topic can be found at http://www.ilsr.org/pubs/pubbroch.html
  

See also

Multiple-Approach Studies and Method Compilations