Food

The Abundant Community Initiative Edmonton

Inspired by John McKnight and Peter Block’s book, “The Abundant Community,” Howard Lawrence undertook a pilot project called the Abundant Community Initiative in Edmonton, Canada in January 2013. Howard started with the idea that local residents have gifts, skills, abilities and knowledge...

The Abundant Communities Initiative

Conversation with John, Peter and Howard Lawrence: The Abundant Communities Initiative Download or listen to John and Peter's conversation with Howard Lawrence of Edmonton, Alberta’s Abundant Communities Initiative. An ordained minister, neighborhood consultant and active volunteer with Edmonton’s Highlands Community leadership, Howard...

A River Runs through John

Cormac Russell Note: The following is a guest blog written by Al Etmanski (aletmanski.com) . Al is a community organizer, social entrepreneur and author. John McKnight is his friend. Al's new book is Impact: Six Patterns to Spread Your Social Innovation. There is a...

Innovation Is Birthed from Disorder

Here’s some advice for the explorer in you who desires to make the world better, particularly the young bright sparks who are just setting out. Trust all your senses. When your experience compels you to seek something different and your...

Looking Back to Look Forward: The Intellectual Heritage of Asset-Based Community Development

In 1995 John McKnight and Jody Kretzmann convened a circle of friends to help them establish the Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) Institute at Northwestern University. The Institute was built on John and Jody’s work and research over more than...

Timebanking Rich in Possibilities

Sometimes the significance of a happening revisits you much later. When, several years ago, I found myself in a carload of folks that included pioneer of timebanking, Edgar Cahn, I felt very honoured but certainly didn’t imagine what might...

Building Community, Economy and Mutual “Delight”

Robert Thompson and co-host Mike Neiss continue their Leadership for the Common Good blogtalkradio series with an interview with De Amon Harges. DeAmon is the original “Roving Listener” as a neighbor and staff member of the Broadway United Methodist Church in Indianapolis....

From Charity to Empowerment: Interview with Mike Mather of Indianapolis’s Broadway UMC

Conversation with John, Peter and Mike Mather: From Charity to Empowerment Download or listen to John and Peter's conversation with Mike Mather, the pastor of Broadway United Methodist Church in Indianapolis. Their conversation centered on what truly innovative institutions can do to make the...

Veggies at the Liquor Store — and 5 Other Ways to Bring Food to Your Community

1. Backyard bounty In the Westwood neighborhood of Denver, Re:farm Denver is growing a cooperative food economy from the backyard out. Re:farm supplies families with everything they need for backyard gardens, from irrigation systems to seeds. The program has grown rapidly,...

Social Innovation: A Definition of Opportunity

When asked recently to define social innovation I replied rather off-handedly it’s a combination of the old, the new and the surprising. It’s not much of a definition but then again the ambiguity might be useful. Definitions all too often...

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Corporate Capture: Can We Find a Way Out?

This article, published originally by Nonprofit Quarterly, from Nonprofit Quarterly Magazine’s summer 2024 issue, “Escaping Corporate Capture.” The aircraft manufacturer Boeing,...