What is a Community

What is community work? http://infed.org/mobi/what-is-community-work/

How has it developed in the UK? What is it’s current state? We review thinking and practice in the field of community work, and question the direction it is currently taking.
contents: introduction · the emergence of community work · the gulbenkian report: community work and social change · the community development projects · community work in the 1980s – service extension· community work in the 1990s – economic development, community practice and capacity building · community work today · further reading and references · how to cite this article

(11/18/16 - long article to be studied - for next grant or when I begin.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_spirit

Community spirit is a group of people working together to help improve the community they live in.[citation needed] A phrase used to describe local people working together for a mutually positive and sometimes pleasurable result. This could be apparent at a community fair, a school fete, or in more practical situations where a local is in need of help and the community rally round to provide appropriate support. Other events that create community spirit could include charitable events at the community or church hall, or even putting together a team of volunteers to walk through local streets and clear them of rubbish. The measure of community spirit is subjective, but could be considered by looking at the level of achievement from deeds done by the community alongside the level of contentment of the locals.

Building Community Spirit The Harwood Institute
http://www.theharwoodinstitute.org/2005/01/building-community-spirit/
Listen to what Wynton Marsalis, co-chairman of the cultural committee (of the Mayor’s Bring New Orleans Back Commission) said to the New York Times in an interview about the report. “What gives you the will to survive? That will has to do with your soul and your spirit. That’s what culture is.”
Bricks and mortar can give us places to eat, meet and play – all vital to a community; but alone they cannot create the spirit that must fill those places in order for there actually to be a functioning community. For that we need citizens and leaders alike to find what gives them the will not just to survive, but to thrive and to take steps together to forge an authentic community spirit.

Rich Harwood
The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation is a nonpartisan, independent nonprofit that teaches, coaches and inspires people and organizations to solve pressing problems and change how communities work together. The Institute has worked across the U.S. and increasingly around the world and has partnered with some of the world’s largest nonprofits, including United Way Worldwide, AARP, the American Library Association, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and others.

The Spirit of Community (Vayakhel 5775) Rabbi Sacks
http://www.rabbisacks.org/the-spirit-of-community-vayakhel-5775/
Community is the antidote to individualism on the one hand and over-reliance on the state on the other. Darwin understood its importance to human flourishing. Tocqueville saw its role in protecting democratic freedom. Robert Putnam has documented its value in sustaining social capital and the common good. And it began in our parsha, when Moses turned an unruly mob into a kehillah, a community.

The Spirit of Community – The Reinvention of American Society – Amitai Etzioni
http://www.amazon.com/Spirit-Of-Community-Amitai-Etzioni/dp/0671885243
“shows us all, as citizens, how a philosophy based on shared values and mutual understanding can restore our nation’s promise and moral leadership.” – Senator Bill Bradley

How Can We Recapture the Spirit of Community Engagement that Built America?
Ben Hecht Living Cities
https://www.livingcities.org/blog/793-how-can-we-recapture-the-spirit-of-community-engagement-that-built-america
"We need to reinvigorate our democracy with actionable, effective, honest partnerships between government, institutions, and citizens."

https://www.livingcities.org/
Living Cities harnesses the collective power of twenty two of the world’s largest foundations and financial institutions to build a new type of urban practice. Together, we are working with cross-sector leaders in cities to develop and scale new approaches to dramatically improve the economic well-being of low-income people. Our investments, research, networks and convening's catalyze fresh thinking and combine support for innovative, comprehensive, local approaches with real-time sharing of knowledge to accelerate and deepen adoption in more places.

Purpose Built Communities http://purposebuiltcommunities.org/who-we-are/
Purpose Built Communities helps struggling communities implement a proven model to end poverty, substandard education, unemployment, health disparities and other challenges threatening urban America. By partnering with a local lead organization that serves as the “Community Quarterback”, we are able to help create vibrant new communities where everyone has the opportunity to thrive. Our model is a three-pronged approach to change; high quality mixed-income housing, a cradle-to-college education pipeline, and community wellness programs all guided by the “Community Quarterback”. Together, they create our holistic approach to community revitalization.

Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC) http://www.icic.org/about

Who We Are The Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC) is a nonprofit research and strategy organization and the leading authority on U.S. inner city economies and the businesses that thrive there. Founded in 1994 by Harvard Business School Professor Michael Porter, ICIC strengthens inner city economies by providing businesses, governments and investors with the most comprehensive and actionable information in the field about urban market opportunities.

Involvement in the Life of Society
http://www.bahai.org/action/involvement-life-society/

Generating and Applying Spiritual Capital: the Case of the Baha'i Community
http://www.socsc.hku.hk/ExCEL3/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Case-of-Bahai-Community.pdf

Why do we want community? What is the spirit of a community? What is a Divine Civilization?

“…Godlike impulses may radiate from the conscience of mankind, and this divinely kindled fire which has been entrusted to the human heart may never die away.”
“Senses and faculties have been bestowed upon us, to be devoted to the service of the general good…until all mankind are safely gathered into the impregnable stronghold of knowledge. We should continually be establishing new bases for human happiness and creating and promoting new instrumentalities toward this end. How excellent, how honorable is man if he arises to fulfill his responsibilities…”
“Supreme happiness is man’s, and he beholds the signs of God in the world and in the human soul, if he urges on the steed of high endeavor in the arena of civilization and justice.”
“We must now highly resolve to arise and lay hold of all those instrumentalities that promote the peace and well-being and happiness, the knowledge, culture and industry, the dignity, value and station, of the entire human race. Thus, through the restoring waters of pure intention and unselfish effort, the earth of human potentialities will blossom with its own latent excellence and flower into praiseworthy qualities, and flourish…

Burgeoning Communities

Welcome to Burgeoning Communities