Fellow Neighborhood Organizers, It’s Joseph Porcelli, I’m the Chief Executive Neighbors at NeighborsForNeighbors.org and I’m also one of the editors here on Our Blocks. It’s summer time and one the pleasures of summer is making sidewalk chalk. So today, NeighborsForNeighbors.org is launching Neighbor Chalk and we’re inviting you to join us and help spread the word. [...]

From The Spirit of Coalition, by Bill Berkowitz and Tom Wolff © 2000 American Public Health Association. Dr. Berkowitz has been involved in creating, directing, and writing about community programs for over 35 years. His previous books, Community Impact, Community Dreams, and Local Heroes deal with the skills, ideas, and personal qualities involved in successful [...]

Toward the end of 2009, the Craigslist Foundation began a series of discussions around their plans to focus the foundation’s efforts on strengthening communities, with some emphasis on neighborhood-based communities. This began with a meeting at The Case Foundation in Washington DC, which included Michael Smith, Kari Dunn, Cindy Gallop, Jessica Kirkwood, Marsha Semmel, Michael [...]

Community Tool Box is probably the most extensive (maybe even the best) Community Development resource on the planet. A public service of the Work Group for Community Health and Development at the University of Kansas, it contains (as of this date) over 7,000 pages of practical information. Its purpose is to make it easier for [...]

This is a list compiled by Professor Dick Schoech of the School of Social Work, University of Texas Arlington. He received these suggestions from members of COMM-ORG and ACOSA. Ten of these videos are available on YouTube, and I’ve organized them into this a playlist, which you can play (in the order listed) by clicking [...]

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 [...]

Excerpted from the Community Development section of CDX’s 74-page Resource Briefing, to include only those publications that are available online for free. The Community Development Exchange is a membership-led organization which aims to bring about social justice and equality by using and promoting the values and approaches of community development. More free publications from CDX [...]

These projects by past Make A Difference Day honorees can inspire your brainstorm sessions for ideas on how your group can use its special services to make a difference. Also on this site: planning guides and other resources to help you turn your ideas into good deeds. Need ideas? Check out the Idea Generator. TEEN [...]

via Loving Thy Neighbor. By Sam Fulwood III, Center for American Progress. As a fresh immigration reform debate gears up in Washington, D.C., a wide range of faith groups are showing a new, unexpected, and grassroots-led social activism that’s rooted in theological and moral ground. While loud and shrill anti-immigrant voices dominate much of the [...]

Source: Discovering Community Power: A Guide to Mobilizing Local Assets and Your Organization’s Capacity | The Habitat Exchange. A. From Greyrock Commons Co-Housing Community GIFTS I CAN GIVE MY COMMUNITY GIFTS OF THE HEAD Things I know something about and would enjoy talking about with others, e.g., art, history, movies, birds. GIFTS OF THE HANDS [...]