Peter Block

In addition to The Abundant Community, co-authored with John McKnight, Peter Block is the author of Flawless Consulting, Community, Stewardship and The Answer to How Is Yes. He serves on the boards of Elementz, a hip hop center for urban youth; Cincinnati Public Radio; and LivePerson. With other volunteers, Peter began A Small Group, whose work is to create a new community narrative and to bring Peter's work on civic engagement into being. Peter's work is in the restoration of communities and creating systems that restore our humanity. He is a partner in Designed Learning, a training company that offers workshops he has designed to build the skills outlined in his books.
130 POSTS

If You’re Not Fast You’re Food

This is a bit of a rant, so forgive me. I received an email advertisement from The Timberland Company. The ad said, “If you’re not fast you’re food.”  Gulp. Timberland sells shoes and outdoor accessories. I know them a little and...

The Future of Community

All of us, in one way or another, are in the conversation about the relationship between electronic technology and community. Does the technology build community and relationships or become a substitute for them? Does the internet act as a...

Kibble and Grist

Thoughts from and to the community-minded . . . Wendell Berry has spoken clearly and for such a long time about the ways industrialization and the consumer economy have caused the breakup of families, farms and communities. This quote gets...

Art in Community

The Democratization of Art I just spent two days at a conference on education reform. While the agenda was to discuss schools and the ways students learn, what was unique about this gathering was the role that art played in...

New Measures of Better Off

The Pew Research Center reports annually on social trends in America and recently reported that the number of Americans who believe that their children will be better off than they are is in decline. This was considered news and...

La Casa Chica

Meet a person who is uncovering a local world of hidden treasures. Her name is Allison ... She invites us to see the treasures of her neighborhood through the eyes of children. They are not interested in what is...

The Power of Positive Deviance: Jerry Sternin, Monique Sternin, Richard Pascale

Book review by Peter Block Jerry and Monique Sternin are a couple who have been concerned for the past twenty years or more with the most difficult problems facing modern societies. They have been interested in child malnutrition, sex trafficking,...

News to Us

Our intent here is to reconstruct what is considered news. The traditional news is about extraordinary people working in systems and institutions doing special things. We especially call it news when those extraordinary things are illegal or titillating. What the...

Win, Lose or Draw

The path to a life of satisfaction starts when we begin to see clearly the roots of our dissatisfaction. One root is our belief in competition. Satisfaction begins when we begin to understand that “up or out,” “grow or...

Al Etmanski

Al Etmanski is one of North America's best social inventors. He has looked beyond traditional institituions and their failures to create new means of achieving a better life. His analysis of the forms of organization that enable local communities...