type here...

Friends & Neighbors

Friends & Neighbors

About Time

Clare Goff -
Now aged 77, Edgar Cahn – or “Father Time” as he is known – is showing no signs of slowing down.  The US-born inventor of timebanking is at the end of a trip to the UK, during which he...
Friends & Neighbors

Christmas 2011 — Birth of a New Tradition

Abundant Community -
  An anonymous email making its way around the Web and into inboxes these last few weeks echoes many of John and Peter’s thoughts on finding a life of abundance “within walking distance.” Searches for the author of the piece...
Friends & Neighbors

A Waiting Posture, or an Active Ownership Posture?

Louise van Rhyn -
In a recent email to her South African colleagues, Louise van Rhyn shared a thought-provoking video of South African physician, anthropologist and activist Mamphela Ramphele. Louise asks, what are the parallels between Ramphele's thinking about the meaning of "citizen" and...
Friends & Neighbors

A Message from Occupy Wall Street

Abundant Community -
Even if the protesters were able to narrow their concerns to one, easily defined goal, some organizers say that would miss the point. David Graeber, one of the original organizers of the protests, told The Washington Post that making demands of institutions...
Friends & Neighbors

Interview with Peter Block

Laura Fulton -
I had the pleasure of interviewing Peter about how we understand and enact community within the framework of our lives that exist in place-based communities, taking into account the complexities of our simultaneous allegiances to multiple communities. Peter also...
Friends & Neighbors

Interview with John McKnight

Laura Fulton -
I had the pleasure of interviewing John about how we understand and enact community within the framework of our lives that exist in place-based communities, taking into account the complexities of our simultaneous allegiances to multiple communities. John also...
Friends & Neighbors

The Value of Public Service

Randall Reid -
We find ourselves today as public sector leaders working in an era of dynamic global economics, stormy political discourse and facing yet another crisis in confidence in our public institutions. Memories of 9-11 sacrifices of public servants have faded...
Friends & Neighbors

Rekindling Responsibility for Our Elders

April Doner -
Today my dad called while I was busy at work to tell me that he had bought a house. This is big news for two reasons — one, he hasn't had a house in I think about 8 years, living as...
Friends & Neighbors

Thriving in a Post-Consumerist Society

Duane Elgin -
What does a thriving way of life look like in a post-consumerist society? Many aspects of a thriving future can be found by stepping into a contemporary co-housing community or eco-village. To illustrate, my wife and I lived in a...
Friends & Neighbors

Post Debt Crisis: How to Bring Out the Best in Ourselves

Richard C. Harwood -
The debt ceiling crisis brought out some of the worst of people’s tendencies in the country. Today, many of us are asking what can be done to get things moving in a better direction. Here are five questions that...
Friends & Neighbors

A Decentralist Reading List

John McClaughry -
Recommendations from the founder of The Ethan Allen Institute, Vermont's free-market public policy research and education organization; widely published commentator on Vermont issues;  co-author of The Vermont Papers and editor of the Institute’s monthly Ethan Allen Letter. Herbert Agar  Land of...
Friends & Neighbors

Three Ways to Restore Your Belief

Richard C. Harwood -
At the core of many of my conversations with individuals and groups lately, stands a basic question of “belief.” Will we believe that we as individuals, and together, have the ability to affect change? Wavering on this question leaves...
Friends & Neighbors

When Charity Counts, But Change Is Called For

Richard C. Harwood -
“Charity is ensuring someone has a meal tonight or roof over their head … things I suspect we agree are good things to do,” says Richard C. Harwood, founder and president of The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation. The...
Friends & Neighbors

We All Belong

Bruce Anderson -
I was contacted in the fall by a disability leader in our community and asked to help figure out how to build more “inclusion” opportunities for students in our school system that wanted to belong more in our town....
Friends & Neighbors

Open Letter to Journalists

Peggy Holman -
> An Open Letter to Journalists By Peggy Holman, cofounder, Journalism That Matters It’s time for a new compact between Journalists and the Public. We need you.  Your work is vital to the well-being of us all.  I can’t imagine a functional democracy without...
Friends & Neighbors

Jill J. Jensen Review: The Answer to How Is Yes

Jill J. Jensen -
"Getting the question right may be the most important thing we can do," states Peter Block in the opening to Part One of his book, The Answer to How is Yes: Acting on What Matters. "We define our dialogue and, in...
Friends & Neighbors

Social Innovation – Doing More With More

Al Etmanski -
The phrase social innovation is surfacing everywhere.  The European Union has just launched Social Innovation Europe.  The UK has multiple initiatives around social innovation. President Obama has an Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation. The Canadian Government has established awards for social innovation. ...
Friends & Neighbors

Notes on Peter Block and “Art Calling Out Empire”

Ferrell Foster -
I’m attending an amazing conference in San Antonio titled “Our Abundant Communities: Neighborly Nourishment in the Wilderness.” Here are my notes from Peter Block’s session titled “Art Calling Out Empire.” (The following notes are close to being quotes but there is...
Friends & Neighbors

Is Square Dancing on Its Last Legs?

Steve Schmidt -
Activities like square dancing, which requires teamwork and a sense of play, allow people to tap into the heartbeat of a neighborhood or a town. After Steve called to interview me for this article in the San Diego Union Tribune,...
Friends & Neighbors

Rediscovering the Neighborhood

Alan Roxburgh -
My recent book, Missional: Joining God in the Neighborhood, argues that forming a mission-shaped life in our time involves the recovery of neighborhood. Congregations must be re-imagined around the location of their members in neighborhoods. This requires us to...
Load more

Topics

Association449Gifts449Cooperation430Local Economy296Care of People on the Margin275Raising Children257Hospitality246Generosity215Safety205Health203Food195Land/Environment191

Latest News

Friends & NeighborsTim Schlak -

The Biggest Question You Can Ask in Life

A Buddhist teacher once nudged me along the path by rephrasing a question my mind kept posing to itself....
Abundant Community
Awakening the Power of Families and Neighborhoods

Contact Us

Navigate

Stay Connected

Sign-up for our mailing list and we’ll keep you updated on what we’re doing and learning. We keep your address private and you can unsubscribe anytime.

© 2020 The Abundant Community