I got this note from UMass Professor Emeritus Bill Berkowitz earlier this week, and with his permission have posted it here so you can share your own thoughts and suggestions. Dr. Berkowitz is a writer, editor, and core team member of the Community Tool Box, the most extensive web site on community health and development [...]

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 [...]

[ 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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Making Community Happen Here Richmond Times Dispatch – David T. Anderson – What if we brought together a disparate group of people who serve wide-ranging needs through a variety of institutions, and the families they serve, and worked together to build community? An expanding group of local people is doing just that, and last Sunday [...]

“We’re always thinking of ways to draw the community together the way neighborhoods were 70 years ago,” Waters said. The aim is to be “a community of friends and neighbors, not just houses — and have fun along the way.” The glue that holds everything together now is an active Listserv. “Even people who have [...]

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. [...]

This list of free resources for neighborhood-based community building was developed with the help of people like you. To add to the list, please log in then use the submission form that will appear here. Thank you. We monitor this list regularly for broken links, but if you find any, please Leave a Reply below. [...]

Ask Richard Layman of Citizens Planning Coalition, Washington DC, who recently sent us an inspiring e-mail (we hope you don’t mind us sharing this on our site): Community building isn’t just about organizing, it’s about vision and having some sense of what are the components of “livability,” what makes a great neighborhood and a great city.  In other [...]