New microaction website connects drops to make waves RT @craigslist_fndn Help @cindygallop1 run the world http://bit.ly/d2KYIe 3 lessons organizers can learn from a shirtless dancing guy http://bit.ly/9fFVwC /via @communitychange Social media for neighborhoods and other place-based communities: what works and what doesn’t ttp://j.mp/93yX6o /via @EvDem Complete systems for reforesting cities – it’s not just [...]

A national leader in the field of civic participation and community change, Everyday Democracy helps people of different backgrounds and views talk and work together to solve problems and create communities that work for everyone. Using innovative, participatory approaches, Everyday Democracy works with neighborhoods, cities and towns, regions, and states. It also runs the The [...]

Sources: Block Party Guide, Oakland CA and Block Party Planning Tips from Block Party NYC. These resources include forms and other tools. For local restrictions and guides, try searching the term “block party permit” and the name of your city/town. Click on this, for example.
10 Reasons To Have a Block Party

To have fun – [...]

[ The resources linked below are those referenced in the book, p179ff ]
Easy Steps

Sponsor community dinners.

Slow Food
Community meals

Establish a community newsletter, bulletin board, and community roster.
Establish a neighborhood watch program.

National Sheriffs’ Association Neighborhood Watch Program

Start neighborhood investment clubs, community sports [...]

Thanks to Richard Layman for pointing us to PPS, and to Bill Berkowitz for recommending the book.

The Project for Public Spaces (PPS) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people create and sustain public places that build communities. It has identified 11 key elements in transforming public spaces into vibrant community places, whether they’re parks, [...]

The goal of the Knight Foundation-Gallup Soul of the Community project is to explore how community qualities influence residents’ feelings about where they live, and how those perceptions relate to local economic growth and vitality.
Gallup interviewed a group of randomly selected adults age 18 or older, currently residing in each of the 26 Knight Foundation [...]

Bike Your Block Too: Tips for Bike-Themed Block Parties 15 Oct 2009 by MikeOnBike
An hour into NOPA’s popular Bike the Block party last month, a few neighbors announced, “We’ve got to do this next year” and “We should do this every month.” But the comment that grabbed our attention the most was “I wish [...]

In Empowering Neighborhoods and Restoring Play, Psychology Today columnist Peter Gray asked his readers to help him develop a proposal to build a neighborhood play and learning center “that could serve as a model that communities everywhere might emulate”. I said I’d help, and after putting in a few hours, recommended that he check out [...]

Excerpts from The Art of Community, by Jono Bacon.
Our function as community leaders is to enable people to be the best they can in the community that they have chosen to be a part of. Our job is to help our community members achieve their greatest ambitions, and to help them work with other community [...]

Excerpts from Chapter 1 of The Art of Community, by Jono Bacon. Note from the author: When I started work on The Art of Community I was really keen that it should be a body of work that all communities have access to. My passion behind the book was to provide a solid guide to [...]