COMMUNITY BUILDING ANYTIME, ANYWHERE! Laurie Frank GOAL Consulting

“People and Environments are never neutral. They are either summoning or shunning the development of human potential.” Purkey & Novak, Inviting School Success

GOALS To create a knowledge base and understanding about creating community that allows each participant to become an intentional community-builder. To participate in a dynamic community building process To enjoy oneself and each other To share expertise and ideas with one’s peers

OUTCOMES A relevant definition of community An awareness of conditions that encourage community to develop An appreciation that building trust is an ongoing, and vital, foundation of community Ideas for creating connections and community with one or more people A list and description of activities that can be used with children, youth, and adults Knowledge of service learning and how to modify events to deepen service experiences with your communities

AGENDA Introduction Community: Why and What? Conditions for Community to Develop Community is about Relationships & Relationships are About Trust Service Learning & Leadership Closing

GROUND RULES Assume Good Intentions Ouch/Oops Right to Pass Others?

VISION HONEST CREATIVE EMPATHETIC RESPECT RESPONSIBLE MOTIVATED SELF RESPECT RELIABLE LITERATE EMPLOYED CONFIDENT HEALTHY SELF SUFFICIENT SENSE OF HUMOR INDEPENDENT PERSEVERENCE RESOURCEFUL PROBLEM SOLVERS GOOD COMMUNICATOR LOYAL RESILIENT CARING PATIENT HAPPY AT PEACE INTEGRITY RESOURCEFUL SUCCESSFUL CONTRIBUTER FORGIVING GOOD PARENTS POSITIVE ATTITUDE WELL-INFORMED GET ALONG W/ OTHERS GOOD SELF ESTEEM CRITICAL THINKER COMPASSIONATE PRODUCTIVE CITIZENS

From Group to Community “In genuine community there are no sides. It is not always easy but by the time they reach community the members have learned how to give up cliques and factions. They have learned how to listen to each other and how not to reject each other. Sometimes consensus in community is reached with miraculous rapidity. But at other times it is arrived at only after lengthy struggle. Just because it is a safe place does not mean community is a place without conflict. It is, however, a place where conflict can be resolved without physical or emotional bloodshed and with wisdom as well as grace. A community is a group that can fight gracefully.” M. Scott Peck M.D. The Different Drum: Community Making and Peace

Thomas Sergiovanni states that “the need for community is universal. A sense of belonging, of continuity, of being connected to others and to ideas and values that make our lives meaningful and significant -- these needs are shared by all of us.”

Sergiovanni goes on to say: “… Communities are collections of individuals who are bonded together by natural will and who are together binded to a set of shared ideas and ideals. This bonding and binding is tight enough to transform them from a collection of “I’s” into a collective “we.” As a “we,” members are part of a tightly knit web of meaningful relationships. This “we” usually shares a common place and over time comes to share common sentiments and traditions that are sustaining. When describing community it is helpful to speak of community kinship, of mind, of place, and of memory.”

“The people in one’s life are like the pillars on one’s porch you see life through. And sometimes they hold you up. And sometimes they lean on you, and sometimes it’s just enough to know they’re standing by.” Anonymous

Community is consciousness of connection, combining and comprising: Courtesy, communication, collaboration, cooperation, consideration, caring, compassion, curiosity, commonalities, common goals, confidence, creativity, courage, challenge, camaraderie, and conceivably chocolate. CTC Group, 2004

Conditions for Community Development Social Commitment: WE Empowerment: ME Physical/Emotional Safety Focus: Goals/Questioning 3 R’s: Routines, Rituals, Rites-of-Passage Time Relationships

Service Learning is a teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities. Source: Learn & Serve America:

Community Service * Picking up trash at a park Service Learning * Picking up trash at a park, going to a recycling center to see where the trash goes, then creating posters for the community to show why recycling is important

Community Service * Visiting elders in a nursing home Service Learning * Visiting elders in a nursing home, interviewing them, writing their stories and giving them a copy -- and/or creating a newsletter to introduce these elders and their stories to the community.

Community Service * Going to the Humane Society to walk dogs Service Learning * ???

“People and Environments are never neutral. They are either summoning or shunning the development of human potential.” Purkey & Novak, Inviting School Success

COMMUNITY BUILDING ANYTIME, ANYWHERE! Laurie Frank GOAL Consulting