We take an interdisciplinary approach to community building at Our Blocks, and since a little science never really hurt anyone, here are some pertinent excerpts from notes I took during a recent seminar led by Dacher Keltner of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley. Eight ways community building can be good for you [...]

The Greater Good Science Center is an interdisciplinary research center devoted to the scientific understanding of happy and compassionate individuals, strong social bonds, and altruistic behavior. While serving the traditional tasks of a UC Berkeley research center—fostering groundbreaking scientific discoveries—the GGSC is unique in its commitment to helping people apply scientific research to their lives. [...]

What is it? Crafted by people all over the world and drafted by a multi-fath, multi-national council of thinkers and leaders, the Charter for Compassion asks that we practice the Golden Rule: to do unto others as we would have them do unto us. It reminds the faithful (and the faithless, like me) that founders [...]

Excerpts from TED Talk by Karen Armstrong: What I’ve found, across the board, is that religion is about behaving differently. Instead of deciding whether or not you believe in God, first you have to do something. You behave in a committed way, and then you begin to understand the truths of religion. And religious doctrines [...]

A beautiful idea comes to town Duncan Banner – Kevin Kerr – The idea got to her, and she came up with something that has turned into a day-long event called Neighbors helping Neighbors. The event won’t be limited to curb cleaning, but to whatever community members think needs to be done in their neighborhoods [...]

The worst of times can bring out the best in Filipinos. This was particularly true in the case of a Chinese-Filipino family who voluntarily provided shelter to their neighbors when floods spawned by Storm “Ondoy” left a huge part of Metro Manila underwater on Saturday. On Agno and Kaliraya Streets in Quezon City, some 1,000 [...]

Earlier in September, two thieves stole all the money of a 94-year-old Loxley woman. She had saved the money to paint her home. Now some Good Samaritans have come to her rescue. The house used to be a dingy gray color, but not anymore. People in the community came together over the weekend to repaint the outside [...]

When a little boy needed help, this tight-knit farming community came to his rescue. The response has been overwhelming. “At a time when the economy is so bad,” Lumber Bridge resident Marvin Lynne Maxwell said, “the heart is strong.” This is the story of 6-year-old Nate Forbis, who needs a kidney transplant. And of his [...]

Is there a better example of neighbor helping neighbor than outpouring of assistance for the Hector Navarro family, left homeless by a fire at their rented home in Normal. Without renters’ insurance, they lost an estimated $70,000 in personal possessions in the Aug. 24 fire. But their plight touched people in the Bloomington-Normal community – [...]

There’s no telling what a street of neighbors can do when one of them is in need. On Friday Sept. 11, friends, relatives and strangers came together for a carnival at Richmond City Park to raise money for Lacey and Bret Abbott, whose 4-year-old daughter, Taylie, was recently diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. Melissa Roylance, [...]