These are some resources you can use to plan community-building activities in your neighborhood around National Night Out, August 3, 2010 (unless you’re in Texas: 10/5). The National Night Out website. From the About page: NNO is designed to Heighten crime and drug prevention awareness; Generate support for, and participation in, local anticrime programs; Strengthen [...]

From the abstract to Mapping the Assets of Your Community: A Key Component for Building Local Capacity , by Lionel J. Beaulieu, Southern Rural Development Center: Asset mapping is an effective tool for understanding the wealth of talent and resources that exists in each community–even those with small populations or suffering from poverty and economic [...]

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 easy-to-use and visually attractive guide, from the Indianapolis Neighborhood Resource Center, is a roadmap to discovering, organizing and engaging your neighborhood. It takes you through the steps of community building – from identifying assets to running effective meetings – and uses real-life case studies and plenty of hands-on activities. You can download the complete [...]

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 activities and restoration projects. Form weekly discussion [...]

Extracted from 150 Things You Can Do to Build Social Capital, The Saguaro Seminar: Civic Engagement In America, an initiative of Professor Robert D. Putnam at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. The project focuses on expanding what we know about our levels of trust and community engagement and on developing [...]

click here for an updated version of this post: we added links to resources cited in the book Easy Steps Sponsor community dinners. Establish a community newsletter, bulletin board, and community roster. Establish a neighborhood watch program. Start neighborhood investment clubs, community sports activities and restoration projects. Form weekly discussion groups. Establish neighborhood baby-sitting coop. [...]