Recently added to our list of Resources for neighborhood-based community building: 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. eDemocracy.org Printable Outreach Resources for Inclusion Online Links to all of [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

from Community Change: Theories, Practice, and Evidence (pdf). Amie M. Schuck and Dennis P. Rosenbaum. Edited by Karen Fulbright-Anderson and Patricia Auspos. The Aspen Institute. The community policing era, roughly 1970 to the present, is arguably only the third period in the history of American police reform, following the political era, 1840s–1920s, and the reform [...]

from Community Change: Theories, Practice, and Evidence (pdf). Amie M. Schuck and Dennis P. Rosenbaum. Edited by Karen Fulbright-Anderson and Patricia Auspos. The Aspen Institute. Neighborhood watch/block groups. Neighborhood Watch or Block Watch programs have been the primary form of collective citizen crime prevention over the last twenty-five years. Neighborhood watch-type activities are intended to [...]

Crime is a serious and costly social problem that touches every neighborhood in this country. The knowledge base for developing effective neighborhood crime prevention initiatives has expanded significantly in recent years. When targeting these processes, certain interventions have been fairly successful in reducing the prevalence of crime in specific areas. Whether this knowledge can be [...]

United We Serve Brings Catholics and Muslims Together Serve.gov – This year during Ramadan, right before the start of the United We Serve Interfaith Week of Service, the Interfaith Committee at my church, St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church in Arlington, Virginia, organized an iftar (dinner to break the Ramadan fast) for members of local Muslim [...]

Acclaimed conductor brings music education to neighborhood kids Twin Cities Planet – Mckenzie Martin – In 2008, Alsop founded OrchKids, an after-school music education program in low-income neighborhoods throughout the city. Through the program, students learn musicianship with the goal of improving the students’ social, academic and behavioral skills. Last year, 30 students participated in [...]

Lots of good stories on last night’s night out (although some got rained out and moved down) Neighbors gather to celebrate National Night Out San Antonio Express – Eva Ruth Moravec, Valentino Lucio – Allie Hostetter looked around the Calvary Temple parking lot as hundreds gathered to watch a local elementary school choir, grabbed a [...]