Land/Environment

To most of us, housing seems to be one of those things like the weather or the stock market controlled by unseen forces far outside our reach. Yet decade after decade, we feel the impacts of these forces keenly...

An emerging co-operative development project in L.A.'s Crenshaw neighborhood is boldly challenging the model of urban development by asserting their vision for a co-operatively owned, community-backed mall that will directly benefit community members and their small businesses, rather than...

It is often the habit of organizational professionals who interface with communities to do "to" or "for" local residents. However, when such staff step back from their traditional functions and shift their focus to supporting community members to decide...

A path toward racial justice and equity cannot avoid a confrontation of economic injustice. I first heard of Damon Lynch as the pastor who corrected John McKnight's characterization of our communities as being not just "half-empty" as but also "half-full."...

Writing in Backyard, a newsletter exploring scalable solutions to make housing fairer, more affordable and more environmentally sustainable, Emily Nonko puts Cincinnati's Margie Spinney and Renting Partnerships in the spotlight. The renter equity model changes everything by making wealth...

About every six weeks for the last six years, John and Peter have hosted conversations with community-building social innovators as their guests. Their August 4, 2020 guest was DeAmon Harges, named by the Kettering Foundation as one of eight...

Neighbor to neighbor, block by block. That's the approach they're taking in connecting people to one another and other resources available to them in Central Louisiana. It's the asset-based work of the Strong Neighborhood Project, centered in Pineville, LA. They...

Cormac's post is an adaptation of the Introduction to his just-published book, Rekindling Democracy: A Professional's Guide to Working in Citizen Space. Abundant Community readers can buy the book at a 40% discount by contacting Wipf and Stock Publishers at orders@wipfandstock.com and quoting the...

In his teachings and writings, John McKnight, founder and co-director of the Asset-Based Community Development Institute at DePaul University, has echoed Alexis de Tocqueville’s appreciation of the value of healthy civic associations. As coauthor of Building Communities from the...

At the start of any asset-based initiatives, the identification of local assets is the essential starting point. Nonetheless, in many neighborhoods, most of these local assets are not recognized. Even though they are present they are not visible. This...