Resources
This selection of free resources for neighborhood-based community building was developed with the help of people like you. To add to the list, please register or log in then use the submission form that will appear here. Thank you.
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Free Libraries Online
- AARP Create the Good - How-to Guides The only thing needed to Create The Good is YOU - Find ideas and resources below to help you and yours Create The Good in your community.
- Abundant Community By John McKnight & Peter Block, gives ideas, tools and support to create a neighborhood that can raise a child, provide security, sustain our health, secure our income, and care for our vulnerable people.
- American Community Garden Association - Learn ACGA builds community by increasing and enhancing community gardening and greening across the United States and Canada, and is dedicated to bringing the community gardening and greening movement up to date information.
- Aspen Institute - Community Strategies Group Structures and contributes to focused learning that supports the innovation of organizations and funders working to achieve more widely shared and lasting prosperity in communities.
- Aspen Institute - Research on Community Change The Roundtable has long focused on how the community building field learns about community change—especially on theory, measurement and analysis challenges associated with evaluating community change efforts.
- Asset-Based Community Development Institute At the center of a large and growing movement that considers local assets as the primary building blocks of sustainable community development.
- Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program - Research & Commentary Provides decision makers with cutting-edge research and policy ideas for improving the health and prosperity of cities and metropolitan areas.
- Casey Foundation Knowledge Center - Community Change The primary mission of the Foundation is to foster public policies, human-service reforms, and community supports that more effectively meet the needs of today’s vulnerable children and families.
- Center for Community Change - Library The mission of the Center for Community Change is to build the power and capacity of low-income people, especially low-income people of color, to change their communities and public policies for the better.
- Center for Community Innovation (IURD UC Berkeley) - Resources CCI ‘s mission is to nurture effective solutions that expand economic opportunity, diversify housing options, and strengthen connection to place.
- Center for Neighborhood Technology - Toolbox Part of CNT’s ongoing commitment to fostering urban sustainability is the development of a variety of tools that individuals and organizations can use to identify ways that they can contribute to the environment and improve their own lives.
- Center for Problem-Oriented Policing - Library Advances problem-oriented policing in open and democratic societies by making readily accessible information about ways in which police can more effectively address specific crime and disorder problems.
- Centre for Intergenerational Practice - Community Development Resources CIP aims are to support the development of intergenerational practice throughout the UK and to promote an understanding of the potential of intergenerational practice to address social issues.
- Civic Practices Network - Community Manuals Descriptions and full-text versions of manuals and guides for civic work. CPN is a collaborative and nonpartisan project dedicated to bringing practical tools for public problem solving into community and institutional settings.
- Civil Politics - Resources Our goal is to promote "civil politics," by which we mean politics in which power and ideas are hotly contested but opponents are respected as fellow citizens who are assumed to be sincere in their beliefs.
- Coalition for Community Schools - Resources Housed at the Institute for Educational Leadership, CCS is an alliance of national, state and local organizations in education K-16, youth development, community development, and family support.
- Cohousing Resource Center Cohousing is a type of collaborative housing in which residents actively participate in the design and operation of their own neighborhoods.
- COMM-ORG Papers Collection Papers by practitioners, students, scholars, and others.
- Community Building & Organizing (Knowledgeplex) This page lists documents relevant to Community Building & Organizing, sorted in order of Most Relevant. The percentage after each title shows how relevant that document is to the current topic.
- Community Development Exchange - Publications Provides a host of publications and information sheets produced either by us or in association with external organisations which are available to download for free.
- Community Informatics Initiative - Resources A research center in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Many valuable resources which either participate in or relate to the field of Community Informatics.
- Community Tool Box - National Park Service There is no magic; there are simply some tried and true methods we have learned from the communities where we work. These have become the tools of our trade. Together they form our ToolBox for public participation.
- Community Tool Box - University of Kansas The world's largest resource for free information on essential skills for building healthy communities. A service of the Work Group for Community Health and Development at the University of Kansas.
- communityplanning.net Provides easily accessible how-to-do-it best practice information of international scope and relevance.
- Compendium for the Civic Economy
- Congress for the New Urbanism - Resources The leading organization promoting walkable, neighborhood-based development as an alternative to sprawl. CNU takes a proactive, multi-disciplinary approach to restoring our communities.
- Corporation for National & Community Service - Resource Center - Community Building Foster positive and productive interactions with the community and extend your program's reach and effectiveness by identifying, nurturing, and mobilizing neighborhood assets. Following are some of our most relevant resources related to this topic.
- Corporation for National & Community Service - Resource Center - Crime Prevention Crime prevention is about creating and sustaining neighborhoods and communities where crime cannot flourish. These are some of our most relevant resources for this topic.
- Creative Community Building The Creative Community Building program at the University of Connecticut engages the creative thinking and collaborative action necessary for shaping our communities.
- Developing and Sustaining Community-Based Participatory Research Partnerships: A Skill-Building Curriculum Explores the practice of CBPR as an innovative approach for improving health. The curriculum intends to foster critical thinking and action on issues impacting CBPR and community-institutional partnerships.
- Dr. Pop Helps people become better story-tellers and strategic thinkers, explaining complicated things in simple ways. Offers tools for organizers, educators, students, activists and all manner of curious people who are interested in change.
- eDemocracy.org Printable Outreach Resources for Inclusion Online Links to all of the print materials we are generating in our Inclusive Social Media effort promoting neighbor Issues Forum for all.
- Enterprise Community Partners - Publications We are a national nonprofit with 25 years of experience in the community development and affordable housing field. We are the leading provider of capital and expertise for affordable housing and community development.
- Everyday Democracy - Neighborhoods Neighborhoods need everyone's ideas, work, and talent. Dialogue-to-change programs help people build the trusting relationships necessary for long-term change.
- Fetzer Institute - Community Building Resources Engages with people and programs to bring the power of love and forgiveness to the center of individual, organizational and community life. Our database contains articles, books, lectures, videos and podcasts produced or funded by the Institute.
- Fighting Words
- Funders' Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities - Papers The resources section provides a variety of information for use by members of the public. Access is provided to public documents published by the Funders' Network as well as materials and information produced by other organizations.
- Great Indy Neighborhoods - Publications GINI helps realize neighbor-driven dreams and build a neighbor-driven structure that will result in a greater feeling of community and a shared responsibility to maintain and build on community improvements.
- Greater Good Science Center An interdisciplinary research center based in UC Berkeley devoted to the scientific understanding of happy and compassionate individuals, strong social bonds, and altruistic behavior.
- Groundwork - Polciy & Learning Groundwork is a group of charities helping people and organisations make changes in order to create better neighbourhoods, to build skills and job prospects, and to live and work in a greener way.
- Harlem Children's Zone - Publications Newsletters, white papers & poems from Geoffrey Canada and the Harlem Children's Zone Project - a unique, holistic approach to rebuilding a community so that its children can stay on track through college and go on to the job market.
- Imagine Chicago - Resources Imagine Chicago helps harness imagination for public good, encouraging and equipping people to become engaged in imagining and creating hopeful futures for their families and communities through both discourse and action.
- Indianapolis Neighborhood Resource Center - Resources Nonprofit INRC offers training and technical assistance to help grassroots neighborhood organizations address issues that impact the quality of life in their neighborhoods.
- IssueLab - Community Development category IssueLab's mission is to more effectively archive, distribute, and promote the extensive and diverse body of research being produced by the nonprofit sector.
- KaBOOM! - Toolkit and Project Planner From fundraising to volunteer recruitment, the Toolkit can help you take your project from start to finish with over a decade's worth of KaBOOM! knowledge, advice, and best practices in building playspaces.
- KnowledgePlex Operating as a nonprofit, KnowledgePlex, Inc seeks to help transform disadvantaged communities and neighborhoods by creating, maintaining, and innovating a standard technology platform for information and data that can serve a wide variety of sectors.
- KU Work Group - Publications Offers a variety of publications to support the work of promoting community health and development, including our Community Tool Box Curriculum. These reflect a 30 year history of applied research, teaching, and public service.
- Learning from the Harlem Children's Zone - Conference Materials On November 2010, HCZ and PolicyLink held the "Changing the Odds" conference on replicating the HCZ Project. This page including copies of the materials presented.
- Livable Streets Education Helps classroom teachers and schools weave pertinent ideas about urban livability and advocacy into their curriculum. Students and their families will be able to translate these ideas into recommendations for calmer, more livable streets.
- Local Initiatives Support Corp - Community Resources LISC is dedicated to helping community residents transform distressed neighborhoods into healthy and sustainable communities of choice and opportunity — good places to work, do business and raise children.
- Majora Carter Group - Press MCG builds highly productive relationships between organizations and across sectors. We help civic, business and nonprofit organizations understand how their individual interests will be met by working together through green economic avenues.
- Make a Difference (UNICEF) Learn the skills you need to start your own community project. You can find lots of great ideas in these pages. The material in this section of the site was adapted from Take Action!, a book written by Marc and Craig Kielburger for young people.
- Make A Difference Day - Project Tools Make A Difference Day is an annual event that takes place on the fourth Saturday of every October. Here is everything you need to complete a successful Make A Difference Day project.
- Massachusetts Smart Growth Alliance - Resources Founded in 2003 by seven leading Massachusetts-based policy organizations, works to improve the state’s development policies in order to build welcoming communities with a high quality of life. Also see their Great Neighborhoods Program.
- Mike Green ABCD Training Mike offers ABCD training and consultation to organizations to engage their local communities as partners for collective action. His site includes several handouts.
- Mobilize & Organize (NPAction) Organizing and mobilizing refers to efforts to engage individuals and groups in collaborative efforts, coalitions, constituency development or community building around a specific viewpoint, or to inform the public about a particular set of issues.
- National Community Development Institute - Training Tools NCDI was founded in 2000 with the mission of building capacity for social change in traditionally marginalized communities. The organization grew out of the philosophies and community building work of the Community Development Institute (CDI).
- National Criminal Justice Reference Service - Crime Prevention - Community Responses NCJRS is a federally funded resource offering justice and substance abuse information to support research, policy, and program development worldwide.
- National Gang Center The latest research about gangs; descriptions of evidence-based, anti-gang programs; links to tools, databases & other resources for developing & implementing effective community-based gang prevention, intervention, and suppression strategies.
- National Park Service - Community Toolbox ToolBox for public participation: tried and true methods we have learned from the communities where we work.
- Neighborhood Planning An educational resource for those who take pride in their neighborhoods and want to protect and improve them. Powerpoint slides on 11 topics, with extensive notes. Best viewed with IE or Safari.
- NESTA Reseach Reports National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts. Our detailed research reports provide a rich source of expert knowledge on how innovation works best in the UK. We conduct our own research and commission leading academic and policy institutes.
- Organizer's Forum - Articles The mission of the Organizers Forum is: to strengthen grassroots organizations by increasing capacity and stability of these democratic structures, to link organizing networks, and to improve on the skills and strategies employed.
- Partners for Livable Communities - Resources Partners for Livable Communities is a national nonprofit organization working to restore and renew the communities we work and live in.
- Pathways through Participation - Resources Explores how and why people get involved and stay involved in different forms of participation over the course of their lives. Research project by National Council for Volunteer Organizations, the Institute for Volunteering Research, and Involve.
- PBS Independent Lens - Community Cinema A free monthly screening series, features films from the award-winning PBS series Independent Lens. Screenings are followed by panel discussions that bring together citizens, organizations & public television stations to encourage dialogue and action.
- People and Participation.net The site provides practical information for those working to involve people. By registering you can upload case studies, ask questions of our experts and add events.
- PICO National Network - Organzing Tools PICO is a national network of faith-based community organizations working to create innovative solutions to problems facing urban, suburban and rural communities.
- Planning Tool Exchange Online hub for the best tools, resources, and organizations in community planning. Find and contribute resources to help grow an information bank for communities.
- PolicyLink - Equitable Development Toolkit This online toolkit includes 28 tools to reverse patterns of segregation and disinvestment, prevent displacement, and promote equitable revitalization.
- Pratt Center for Community Development We leverage planning, architecture and public policy skills to support community-based organizations in their efforts to improve neighborhood quality of life, attack the causes of poverty and inequality, and advance sustainable development.
- Prescott-Joseph Center for Community Enhancement Prescott-Joseph serves as a friendly, helping hand for the community of West Oakland. Prescott-Joseph Center for Community Enhancement, Inc. is a non-profit corporation organized in 1995 in the Prescott district of West Oakland.
- Project for Public Spaces - Resources The central hub of the global Placemaking movement, connecting people to ideas, expertise, and partners who share a passion for creating vital places. To help those placemakers, we have developed tools and worksheets based on PPS's unique methodology.
- Public Agenda - Center for the Advances in Public Engagement At the forefront of efforts to research, develop and disseminate new insights and best practices that help improve the quality of American public life by building the field of public engagement and citizen-centered politics.
- Resources for Evaluating Community Organizing Includes detailed summaries of each resource so users can find the resources that are most useful for their evaluation needs. Most case studies, tools and methodologies, and theoretical approaches to evaluation are available to the public.
- San Francisco Tenants Union - Links Since 1971, the SF Tenants Union has been fighting for the rights of tenants and for the preservation of affordable housing in San Francisco.
- Serve.Gov - Toolkits Have an idea for a service project – like getting a group together to volunteer each week at a homeless shelter, or reading to kids at your local library? Learn how to turn your volunteer idea into a successful service project using our toolkits.
- Shareable.net - Community Building Shareable is a nonprofit online magazine that tells the story of sharing. We cover the people, places, and projects that are bringing a shareable world to life. And we share tools and tips to help you make a shareable world real in your life.
- Shelterforce The nation’s oldest continually published housing and community development magazine, Shelterforce has been a primary forum for organizers, activists, and advocates in the affordable-housing and neighborhood revitalization movements.
- Solutions for America Summarizes program strategies that vetted research shows are effective in addressing important community issues. The site is operated by the Pew Partnership for Civic Change, a civic research organization.
- The Community-Wealth Access Panel The access panel below puts you one click away from an overview, organizations, models, research and articles relating to each of the main community wealth building sectors featured on this web site.
- The Diarist Project (The Annie E Casey Foundation) The Diarist Project is a new approach being used by the AECF to learn from its work to strengthen families and transform struggling neighborhoods. Diarists work most closely with the people trying to implement this initiative in each city.
- The Sharehood - Resources You don't need to start a community garden or use our local currency or get an article in your local media to be part of a Sharehood community. We're just giving you some information on how to do these things in case you want to.
- The Young Foundation - Publications The Young Foundation brings together insights, innovation and entrepreneurship to meet social needs.
- Tom Wolff & Associates - Free Resources Coalition Building Tip Sheets, two-page summaries of key points on many critical issues in seeking collaborative solution. Originally published as inserts in the Community Catalyst, the newsletter of Community Partners.
- Tools for Organizing (Citizen Works) Founded by Ralph Nader in April 2001 to advance justice by strengthening citizen participation in power. We give people the tools and opportunities to build democracy.
- White House Council for Community Solutions - Resources A diverse group of cross-sector leaders tasked to highlight the changemakers, enlist the sectors and broadcast what works. This section includes briefing materials and readings relevant to the work of the Council.
- Youth Participation in Development A Guide for Development Agencies and Policy Makers Funded by The United Kingdom Department for International Development, provides information on how to actually work with youth at a practical operational level. Explores key issues and approaches. 120-page pdf available for free.
- Youth Power Curriculum - Contra Costa Health Services The Guide is a resource for teaching youth about activism, leadership and community organizing. Use the easy-to-follow lessons in this practical training manual to partner with high-school aged youth to create real changes in their lives and communities.
Reading List (Community Building)
- A Guide for Collaborative Action: Youth, Crime and Community Development This publication will help community-based organizations recognize their common stake in supporting healthy and positive youth development -- both to revitalize their neighborhhods and control crime.
- A Reflection by Oakland Making Connections Coordinator Fred Blackwell The local people in the 10 sites faced a great challenge: how to pull together and be an advocate for local people and organizations while also being the connecting point between the local work and the national foundation that was supporting the work.
- Community Building: Hope and Caution The emergence of the community building movement is challenging community-based organizations to broaden their efforts and reconnect with residents, retooling and reexamining their relationship with, and role within, the communities they serve.
- Community Change: Theories, Practice, and Evidence A growing body of literature has begun to document encouraging lessons about interventions and factors that contribute to positive changes in communities. The literature points to promising areas that deserve sustained, careful attention.
- Community Development Reform Summaries This document reviews various reports and publications relating to community development reforms, highlighting the key questions and conclusions.
- Community Policing in Chicago - An Evaluation of Chicago's Alternative Policing Strategy Researchers from Northwestern University's Institute for Policy Research have been evaluating Chicago's Alternative Policing Strategy (CAPS), the nation's most ambitious experiment in community policing, since 1993.
- Community Voices Heard: Changing People and Public Policy through Low-Income Organizing A case study of grassroots organizing. Based on research directed by Ann Rivera of the New York University Center for Community Research & Action.
- Connecting Residents to Integrated Neighborhood Services Highlights main lessons learned and next steps towards promoting the development of a resident-friendly, integrated neighborhood model of providing direct services.
- Creating Opportunities for Families Through Resident Services: A Practitioner's Manual A compendium of hands-on tools to help organizations design and implement effective resident services.
- Culture and Sport Planning Toolkit Culture and sport planning is an integral part of creating and sustaining new and developing communities. This toolkit provides a plan-led and plan-together process for addressing culture and delivering cultural and sporting resources.
- Demystifying Outcome Measurement in Community Development Describes outcome measurement and explores to whom outcomes matter, how outcomes are measured, and the costs and benefits of undertaking outcome measurement.
- Discovering Community Power: A Guide to Mobilizing Local Assets and Your Organization’s Capacity A workbook developed by the Asset Based Community Development Institute which aims to strengthen community-based projects by enhancing both project design and proposal preparation.
- Evaluating community projects: A practical guide A guide to evaluating community projects, based on work with 20 groups and projects across England and Wales. Provides step-by-step advice on how to evaluate a community project which will be of interest to a much wider audience.
- Facts on Community Safety The most effective way to create a safe community is by having community members, property managers and outside partners join together to plan and implement a comprehensive community safety plan.
- From Clients to Citizens - Deepening the Practice of Asset-Based and Citizen-Led Development (pdf) Conversations from the ABCD Forum, July 8 - 10, 2009. Edited by Alison Mathie and Deborah Puntenney. December 2009, Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada. Hosted by The Coady International Institute and co-sponsored by the ABCD Institute.
- Going Comprehensive: Anatomy of an Initiative That Worked CCRP took aim at improving the social, economic and human service infrastructure of some of our nation’s most impoverished neighborhoods. It changed neighborhoods and the lives of people who live in them.
- Harnessing community power in public health A research briefing on what community or volunteer workforces can, and do, to help services improve health and how these services can engage, support and sustain them.
- Helping Rebuild Urban Neighborhoods Through Unconventional Police-Community Partnerships Proposes mixing community policing and community development with the objective of having economic development and community safety mechanisms reinforce one another to prevent the typical plight of urban neighborhoods.
- How to Engage Youth in Community Building A synopsis of the advantages of involving youth in community building efforts. It provides suggested activities for youth involvement and real-world examples of organized youth volunteer activities in local communities.
- Linking Colleges to Communities: Engaging the University for Community Development Higher education remains a "sleeping giant" when it comes to strategically using its resources to meet challenges facing communities. This report seeks to answer the question: “How might this sleeping giant be awakened to benefit our communities?”
- Majora Carter: Greener Neighborhoods, Sustainable Jobs Green activist Majora Carter made her name tackling joblessness in the South Bronx through daring green building programs. Now she's taking her ambitions international.
- Managing to Prevent Crime: A Guide for Property Managers This manual describes how to create and maintain a secure, crime-resistant property. Community-based organizations and others that manage property will find this manual useful.
- Neighborhood Planning An educational resource for those who take pride in their neighborhoods and want to protect and improve them. Powerpoint slides on 11 topics, with extensive notes. Best viewed with IE or Safari.
- Network Organizing: A Strategy for Building Community Engagement Using a "network organizing" strategy to connect people to each other and to opportunities for people to step into public life, in a way that feels safe, fun and productive.
- Organizing for Safety: Transforming Community Activism Into Community Change Presents examples of the unique and critical role that proactive police officers can play in facilitating this sort of community activism to improve public safety.
- Out of the Ordinary A short study by Community Links founder David Robinson explains the Community Links approach to local social regeneration.
- Patching the Fabric of the Neighborhood: The Practical Challenges of Infill Housing Development Describes the potential and limits of infill affordable housing development in the community development context, with the aim of serving as a resource for practitioners in framing and evaluating infill development opportunities.
- Pitfalls and Promises of Community Engagement in Comprehensive Change Community engagement refers to efforts to involve community residents and neighborhood leaders in the planning, implementation, and assessment of comprehensive initiatives. What are the best ways to sustain meaningful engagement as initiatives unfold?
- Promising Practices In Online Engagement We take a closer look at a selection of online engagement practices, from high-level national politics to our most immediate public realms, our neighborhoods.
- Resource Guide to Public Engagement (pdf) Features some of the best resources developed collaboratively by the NCDD community. The National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation is a community of practice centered around conflict resolution and public engagement practices.
- Social by Social A practical guide to using new technologies to create social impact. It makes accessible the tools you need to engage a community, offer services, scale up activities and sustain projects.
- Solving Chronic Nuisance Problems: A Guide for Neighborhood Leaders Whether the nuisance is physical (such as blighted property) or behavioral (such as a drug house), the best solutions focus on the core elements that have allowed its continuing existence.
- Soul of the Community - Findings What makes a community a desirable place to live? What draws people to stake their future in it? Are communities with more attached residents better off? A study by Gallup and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
- Tapping the Power of Social Networks: Understanding the Role of Social Networks in Strengthening Families and Transforming Communities Presents the base from which the Casey Foundation built its work on social networks. Compiles definitions, key findings, and challenges for strengthening positive social networks.
- The Community Builder's Approach to Theory of Change: A Practical Guide to Theory Development The Community Builder's Approach to Theory of Change: A Practical Guide to Theory Development, by Andrea A. Anderson. Washington, D.C: Aspen Institute, 2005.
- Thriving Neighborhoods Research and best practices to prevent crime, to ensure an adequate supply of housing, and to help residents build assets. Operated by the Pew Partnership for Civic Change.
- Using Public Schools as Community-Development Tools: Strategies for Community-Based Developers Public schools can have a profound impact on the social, economic, and physical character of a neighborhood. This paper explores the use of public schools as tools for community and economic development.
- Using school buildings efficiently - Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development Includes links to "Alternative Use of K-12 School Buildings: Opportunities for Expanded Uses" and other articles on how to put existing school resources to greater use for the community.
- Voices From the Field II: Reflections on Comprehensive Community Change The conclusions about place-based, anti-poverty work presented here are drawn both from the field’s last 40 years of evolution and its current form of comprehensive, community-building approaches to neighborhood change.
- Worker Centers: Organizing Communities at the Edge of the Dream The goal of this study was to identify various worker center models, evaluate their effectiveness in improving the lives of workers and highlight their current strengths, weaknesses, challenges, and potential.
- Youth Participation in Development A Guide for Development Agencies and Policy Makers Funded by The United Kingdom Department for International Development, provides information on how to actually work with youth at a practical operational level. Explores key issues and approaches. 120-page pdf available for free.
Reading List (Organizing Residents)
- Basics Of Organizing (Tenant.Net) This manual was written with staff in mind. Times are changing and leadership may have to take on more of the responsibility traditionally performed by hired staff. We hope this manual will be helpful to both staff and leaders.
- Building Community Cohesion into Area Based Initiatives: A guide for residents and practitioners The guide suggests concrete ways in which diverse groups of people can be encouraged to live and work together cohesively, and looks at the factors that contribute to or undermine this process. Focuses on good practice examples.
- Building Strong Neighborhoods: A Study Guide for Public Dialogue and Community Problem Solving A four-session discussion guide on neighborhood issues including race and other kinds of differences; young people and families; safety and community-police relations; homes, housing and beautification; jobs and neighborhood economy; and schools.
- Creating Resident-Led Governance Structures (The Annie E. Casey Foundation) Summarizes the outcomes from a peer technical assistance match to exchange ideas about creating resident-led governance structures.
- Get Organized (National Alliance of HUD Tenants) Tenants can come together as a group to share their talents, ideas, information, work, and to have the power of group action.
- Have a Street Party Streets Alive guide to organizing street & block parties
- Home & Community - Resources Our goal is to provide information that educates and empowers members of low-income communities. You'll find sample documents and info packets which will assist you in participating in the processes of change.
- How to Form a Tenants Association (Metropolitan Council on Housing) There are no set rules for starting a tenant association. However, based on the experience of thousands of associations that have already been organized, you can have a good idea of what to do and what to expect.
- How to Organize a Tenants' Association (Tenant.net) Either live with no hot water (or muggings, or a leak in the kitchen) or consider organizing a tenants' association. Before putting your thoughts into action, ask if you are willing to invest some time and energy to improve your living conditions.
- How to Start a Tenants Association (Tenants& Neighbors) Examine your building, Involve your neighbors, Preliminary meeting, Planning meeting
- INRC Organizer's Workbook An easy to follow guidebook full of practical tools to help you and your neighbors organize for the future of our neighborhoods.
- Neighbor Power by Jim Diers, Excerpt People still yearn for a sense of community and want to contribute to the greater good. They also want a voice in their government. What they are looking for has less to do with reinventing government than it does with rediscovering democracy.
- Organizing - People, Power, and Change Syllabus of Marshall Ganz's Harvard class on organizing, with links to several resources. Students learn how to conduct campaigns to build organizations through which people can make their “voices” heard.
- Practical ways to engage with your community Community empowerment is about motivated people actively engaged in making a difference to the places they know best. These methods and tools should help make engagement easier.
- Reflections on Community Organizing and Resident Engagement Reflections of a community's struggle with resident engagement and community organizing; focused in on understanding the role and practice of community organizing and resident engagement. Bill Traynor. Annie E. Casey Foundation.
- Resident Leadership and Facilitation Workbook (The Annie E. Casey Foundation) Designed to help participants gain an understanding of the skills needed to lead successful meetings that result in decisions about actions that will achieve desired results.
- Tenant Organizing (Tenant Resource Center) Tenant associations may be the most effective way for tenants to improve housing conditions and stop a pattern of illegal landlord activity. Organizing a tenant association is not easy, but it can be done successfully for short-term projects.
- Understanding participation: A literature review The review brings together different bodies of literature on participation, including literature on community development, volunteering, public participation, social movements, everyday politics and ethical consumption.
Neighborhood Networks Online
- ABCD Asia Pacific Network The ABCD Asia Pacific Network is a group well versed in ABCD. We offer support, share successes and help with challenges and evaluation.
- ABCD in Action A place to discuss and share ways to apply the principles and practices of Asset-Based Community Development.
- Allen Neighborhood Center Serves as a hub for neighborhood education and capacity building. We offer activities that promote the health, safety, and stability of families and neighborhoods on the Eastside of Lansing.
- Citizen Power - Peterborough An open, online collobarative space for everybody to air their thoughts, opinions and ideas on the project and get first-hand updates on exciting news and events.
- Comm-Org The COMM-ORG mission is to help connect people who care about the craft of community organizing, find and provide information that organizers, scholars, and scholar-organizers can use to learn, teach, and do community organizing.
- Communities of practice for local government Supported by IDeA, enables like-minded people to form online communities of practice, which are supported by collaboration tools that encourage knowledge sharing and learning from each others’ experiences.
- Community Tool Box - Workstations Customized online platforms to support the work of local, national, and global initiatives. WorkStations provide quick access to the latest announcements, online tools, shared documents, success stories, discussion forums, chat rooms, and more.
- CommunityCollab CommunityCollab is a web-based initiative to help community revitalization practitioners from all callings develop new professional relationships, share knowledge, and learn from each other
- Cyburbia Forums The Cyburbia Forums is the oldest and most active English language urban planning message board on the Internet, and one of the small number of online communities where members enjoy intelligent, troll-free discussion.
- Front Porch Forum Hosts networks of online neighborhood forums, including all 19 towns of Chittenden County, Vermont with 130 forums and 16,000 households subscribed.
- goodWORKSconnect An online community space and virtual resource center connecting the good work that nonprofits do in east central Illinois.
- Ground Crew Groundcrew helps organizers and companies coordinate their people via GPS and mobile communication to get things done out in the real world.
- Hey, Neighbor! a location-based website and mobile app that connects neighbors, and creates a new marketplace for neighborly sharing of “MicroFavors”
- Leaders for Communities The Leaders for Communities website was developed by NeighborWorks America in order to foster dialogue among established and emerging leaders in the community development field.
- Local Communities Wiki Ams to support discussions about the role of social technology in the development and sustainability of local communities - and provide practical advice.
- Mo‘ili‘ili Matters Mo‘ili‘ili Matters is designed to bring the Mo‘ili‘ili community together. With your active participation, we can ensure that Mo‘ili‘ili is a thriving and neighborly community.
- Neighbors for Neighbors A Boston based volunteer run 501c3, in partnership with the City of Boston, created neighborhood-centric community-generated social networks for Boston Neighborhoods.
- Social by Social Community A community around using social tech for social impact.
- Start Where You Live A platform for developing Conscious Community and an organizing tool for a grassroots strategy to build a face-to-face, real-world community based on universal spiritual principles and virtues.
- The Placemaking Movement A network of Placemakers organized by Project for Public Spaces, enabling discussion, ideas and networking. Use this space to meet fellow Placemakers, throw ideas around, talk about your projects.
- The Sharehood All about sharing resources within your neighbourhood, helps people in meet and make friends with people in your local areas.
Technology for the Neighborhood
- Center for Neighborhood Technology - Toolbox Part of CNT’s ongoing commitment to fostering urban sustainability is the development of a variety of tools that individuals and organizations can use to identify ways that they can contribute to the environment and improve their own lives.
- CitySourced A real time mobile civic engagement tool; provides a free tool for citizens to identify civic issues (graffiti, trash, potholes, etc.) and report them to city hall.
- CivicEvolution An online public utility to help citizens influence their communities by collaboratively developing proposals to solve problems. The structured dialogue process leads participants from problem definition to solutions.
- Community Tool Box - Workstations Customized online platforms to support the work of local, national, and global initiatives. WorkStations provide quick access to the latest announcements, online tools, shared documents, success stories, discussion forums, chat rooms, and more.
- ConnectNetwork A community knowledge network that targets change at the local level. The Network’s power comes from the relationships it fosters via region-wide and issue-specific social networks.
- Craigslist A network of online communities, featuring free online classified advertisements – with sections devoted to jobs, housing, personals, for sale, services, community, gigs, résumés, and discussion forums.
- Dr. Pop Helps people become better story-tellers and strategic thinkers, explaining complicated things in simple ways. Offers tools for organizers, educators, students, activists and all manner of curious people who are interested in change.
- E-Democracy.org Builds online public space in the heart of real democracy and community. Our mission is to harness the power of online tools to support participation in public life, strengthen communities, and build democracy.
- FixMyStreet A site to help people report, view, or discuss local problems to their local council by locating them on a map. primarily for reporting things which are broken or dirty or damaged or dumped, and need fixing, cleaning or clearing.
- Goodneighbors.net Family Support Network Our mission is to weave a grassroots web of support for young and old alike and create a more caring, just, and civil society
- Hey, Neighbor! a location-based website and mobile app that connects neighbors, and creates a new marketplace for neighborly sharing of “MicroFavors”
- Making the Net Work (for Housing) Making the Net Work aims to help organisations, centres, neighbourhoods or networks plan and use the Net effectively. Offers sets of workshop games, a routemap for planning development, and other tools. This section focuses on neighborhoods.
- Meetup An online social networking portal that facilitates offline group meetings in various localities around the world. Meetup allows members to find and join groups unified by a common interest.
- Nation of Neighbors - Online Neighborhood Watch and Reporting Nation of Neighbors is Neighborhood Watch for the 21st century. We facilitate real-time collaboration within communities and between community members and Law Enforcement.
- Networked Neighbourhoods A collaborative venture between experts in social media, neighbourhood networks and community development to foster digital society at the local level to increase neighbourhood social capital, democratic engagement, and capacity.
- Ning An online platform for people to create their own social networks, co-founded by Marc Andreessen (founder of Netscape). Several of the community sites listed under Social Networks Online are powered by Ning.
- OhSoWe OhSoWe is about the personal and neighborhood level things we can do to safely build bonds with our neighbors, save money, and increase our quality of life while making our neighborhoods better.
- Online Neighbourhood Networks Study Explores the ways in which people communicate online using local citizen-run websites, the impact of that communication, and the implications for local service providers.
- PBS Independent Lens - Community Cinema A free monthly screening series, features films from the award-winning PBS series Independent Lens. Screenings are followed by panel discussions that bring together citizens, organizations & public television stations to encourage dialogue and action.
- SeeClickFix "Tools to help Communities help Themselves", encourages residents to become citizens by participating in taking care of and improving their neighborhoods. Allows citizens from anywhere to give their local government a website that tracks local issues.
- Shareable.net - Tools for sharing In a shareable world, things like clothing swaps, childcare coops, potlucks, carsharing, community gardening, and cohousing bring us together, make life more fun, and free up time and money for the important things in life.
- SnapImpact Makes it easy to drive change in your community by donating your time to local non-profits. Discover opportunities to improve your world.
- Social by Social A practical guide to using new technologies to create social impact. It makes accessible the tools you need to engage a community, offer services, scale up activities and sustain projects.
- Socialreporter Stories about web-enabled social innovation, blending online and offline facilitation, promoting collaboration across boundaries.
- SplitStuff Free online tool that helps people & local businesses to cooperate or organize in groups to reduce expenses, reduce waste, and build community.
- ToolzDO A social platform for connecting neighbors to each other and to their local community to strengthen community life. Fully hosted, rich in community building tools that provide opportunities for neighbors to connect and stay connected.
Blogroll
- Bill Traynor - The Value of Place Bill Traynor is the Executive Director of Lawrence CommunityWorks Inc., an initiative working to rebuild the struggling city of Lawrence, Massachusetts, his hometown. Bill has 30 years of experience in community development and organizing.
- Britt Bravo - Have Fun • Do Good A blog for people who want to make the world a better place AND have fun!
- Carline Lubin - ToolzDO Founder of ToolzDO, a social platform for connecting neighbors to each other and to their local community to strengthen community life.
- Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement Based at the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service at Tufts University, provides a stream of reliable data and analysis that helps Americans to understand the strengths and weaknesses of civic education.
- Community Development Exchange CDX's mission is to be a strong and effective voice for community development. We are a diverse membership-led organisation, aiming to bring about positive changes towards social justice and equality.
- Community Tool Box Blog Promoting community health and development by connecting people, ideas and resources
- Craigslist Foundation Craigslist Foundation works to connect people and organizations to the resources they need to strengthen communities and neighborhoods.
- Diane Dyson - Belonging Community: Being at home in an urban neighbourhood Board member of Social Planning Toronto, and a member of the Centre for Urban Health Initiatives, the Toronto Neighbourhood Research Network, and the Toronto Community Based Research Network.
- Hildy Gottlieb - Creating the Future Hildy Gottlieb has been called “the most innovative and practical thinker in our sector.” As President of the Community-Driven Institute, her ground-breaking work aims Community Benefit Organizations at their highest potential - creating the future.
- Home & Community We were among the early organizations providing interdisciplinary collaborations between residents, advocates, planners and educators. The hallmark of our work continues to be providing tools empowering residents to train and educate other residents.
- Idealist.org Our aim on this site is to invite you to help launch a global network that will serve and support all those people who want to make the world a better place, online and in person.
- Julian Dobson - Living with Rats Julian Dobson has writen on regeneration, sustainable communities, housing, social policy and suchlike for 20 years. Living with Rats is about the complexity of modern life, about making mistakes and learning from them, about inspiration and humility.
- Kevin Harris - Neighborhoods Personal take on news, information, ideas and lessons to do with neighbourhood relations and social capital. Reflections on policy and practice issues, curious vignettes of local life, and information for others working in community development.
- linksUK The national team of innovative east London charity Community Links. Sharing experience from the ground up.
- Livability Live From Partners for Livable Communities. Your best source for up-to-date ideas about relevant issues, links to interesting articles, and personal commentary about subjects that share our focus.
- Making Places, the PPS blog Project for Public Spaces is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people create and sustain public spaces that build stronger communities.
- Matt Grist - The Social Brain Looks at research pitched at the three levels of brain, individual behaviour and social organisation. It aims to integrate this research into a credible and useful model of decision-making.
- Michael Wood-Lewis - Ghost of Midnight Ghost of Midnight is an online journal about fostering community within neighborhoods, with a special focus on Front Porch Forum. FPF’s mission is to help neighbors connect and foster community within neighborhoods.
- OnTheCommons.org — Community Life The commons is a powerful organizing principle for understanding countless aspects of nature, creativity and knowledge, local community and everyday experience.
- Rebuilding Place in the Urban Space A community’s physical form, rather than its land uses, is its most intrinsic and enduring characteristic. This blog focuses on place and placemaking and all that makes it work.
- Richard Flyer - Start where you live Coordinator of Start Where you Live, a platform for developing Conscious Community and an organizing tool for a grassroots strategy to build a face-to-face, real-world community based on universal spiritual principles and virtues.
- Robert Voigt - Civic Blogger About sharing and analyzing information on citizen engagement in public projects and plans; but empowerment with tools that can steer outcomes.
- Shareable.net - Community Building Shareable is a nonprofit online magazine that tells the story of sharing. We cover the people, places, and projects that are bringing a shareable world to life. And we share tools and tips to help you make a shareable world real in your life.
- Soul of the Community Stems from a three-year study conducted by Gallup of the 26 John S. and James L. Knight Foundation communities to determine the factors that attach residents to their communities, and the role of community attachment in growth and well-being.
- Talk About Local Hyperlocal community activism and communication. A project to give people in their communities a powerful online voice. We want to help people communicate and campaign more effectively to influence events in the places in which they live, work or play.
- The Neighbors Campaign A collaboration of nonprofits, government agencies, and grassroots leaders are linking residents to services – and to each other.
- Thomas Sander - Social Capital Thomas Sander, Executive Director of the Saguaro Seminar at Harvard. What can I say about myself? decaf coffee, fast eco-friendly showers, all cotton shirts, indie music afficionado, shuns valet parking, speechless in nature’s beauty.
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