John McKnight

John McKnight is emeritus professor of education and social policy and codirector of the Asset-Based Community Development Institute at DePaul University. He is the coauthor of Building Communities from the Inside Out and the author of The Careless Society. He has been a community organizer and serves on the boards of several national organizations that support neighborhood development.
144 POSTS

A Place at the Table (audio)

John and Peter talk with their special guest Edd Conboy, Director of Social Services and the Counseling Center at Broad Street Ministry and Senior Staff Therapist at the Council for Relationships in Philadelphia, about different ways people and communities can shift from a scarcity,...

Giving In to Joy

Ed. Note: John and Peter’s online/dial-up conversation with Edd Conboy on August 4 inspired a thought-provoking email exchange with Jeannie Masterson on scarcity, gifts, joy and abundance. Enjoy!   Peter, John, Edd – I listened to your conversation today, enjoying and being...

Worms Everywhere

On a trip to Ireland, John encountered a merchant who reminded him that the worms he wanted for a fishing expedition were already all around him. He just had to look.   Originally posted January 2013. Home page image "Can of...

Making Space for Community

  Conversation with John, Peter and Ross Chapin: Making Space for Community Download or listen to John and Peter's conversation with architect, community planner and author Ross Chapin, the leader in defining and designing pocket neighborhoods. Ross believes that scale and design...

Powering Communities and Empowering People

Conversation with Ruston Seaman John and special guest Ruston Seaman of New Vision Renewable Energy talk about different ways about different ways people and communities can enable others to recognize and use their gifts to do great things wherever they...

Working in the Gap to Enhance Citizen Productivity

Conversation with Tom Mosgaller John, Peter, special guest Tom Mosgaller and others from the front lines of community work talk  about different ways people working in the “gap” can enable systems to shift from needs to gifts so that institutions...

One-Room School and Reclaiming Economic Sovereignty

What does a one-room schoolhouse in Michigan have to do with Greece, Europe, Democracy and the now floundering economic globalization experiment? On January 25, 2015 the far-left Syriza Party won 149 seats out of 300 in Greece’s parliamentary elections and formed...

Conversation with John and Peter: The Hometown of Your Dreams

Conversation with Jeff Yost John, Peter and their special guest Jeff Yost talk about different ways neighborhoods, communities and local organizations can organize and manage economic and social assets to support places where people want to live, raise families, do business, work...

Two Kinds of Community Organizing

John talks about two different approaches to community organizing in a Q & A session on community development with participants in a workshop sponsored by the Communities First Association. Watch the conversation and discover the difference between community organizing and...

A Children’s Guide to Dismantling Our Economy

No matter what some disappointed retailers said about last year's sales, the holidays are a bonanza for the toy industry.  The season provides millions of children with an intensive experience in conspicuous consumption.  And the economists argue that our...