Gifts

Typically, institutions committed to a community’s well-being begin by asking what’s wrong with a place. But the three thought leaders to join an upcoming Memphis conversation — John McKnight, Peter Block and Walter Brueggemann — choose not to take the...

“I get the jitters asserting that helping can be harmful,” says Maurice Lim Miller, founder and CEO of the Family Independence Initiative, in his Huffington Post blog post When Helping Doesn’t Help. Lim Miller takes John McKnight’s well-known position that...

One way of thinking about how communities get built is by seeing that the principal resource people have for the task is their gifts, skills, talents, capacities. So when we ask, “How could this neighborhood be built?” the answer...

Thank you for joining me on this journey.  The last several weeks have been eye-opening as we have intentionally set out to meet and know our neighbors.  Honestly assessing our fears and assumptions has led us to make changes...

When asked to define the word "neighbor," one of my children replied, “A friend.”  This seemingly simple answer is powerful in its implications for communities. How does neighbor become synonymous with friend? Week 4′s challenge is the beginning.  Understanding the gifts...

  Author’s Note: Here is an excerpt from a breakfast presentation sponsored by Metro Vancouver.  I had the pleasure of co-presenting with Catherine Clement and Lidia Kemeny, two leading philanthropists with the Vancouver Foundation. Illustration courtesy my talented Australian friend Paul Pholeros.                         I...

Last week′s challenge is known as “Head, Hands, Heart” among many who follow Asset-Based Community Development.  The idea is that every person has something to offer, to “gift” to those around him…to his neighbors.  I did this activity a few...