Graduate and Honey

Graduation

Well I finally graduated from the Doctoral program at Bakke Graduate University. It was a great celebration for me and fun to see so many family and friends in one place. Our graduating class was made up of students from all coners of the USA and various parts of the world. Meeting together for graduation was gift of friendship that I doubt will be repeated in my lifetime. I feel privileged to be associated with such fine men and women.

Our Graduation speaker was Bob Lupton of Family Consultation Services in Atlanta. He told a story about a coalition of Community Developers, Architects, constractors and social service agencies that worked together to transition a post civil war era prison into a modern transitional housing complex. They transformed a symbol of injustice to a recognizable place of blessing to the vulnerable in Atlanta. MOre about his story below...

http://www.fcsministries.org/about.htm
Word from Bob LuptonThe call that I first felt while serving in the armed forces in Vietnam eventually caused me to leave a budding business career and pursue a ministry with delinquent urban youth. It did not take long to figure out that if this work was to have lasting effect on troubled young lives, we would have to become involved with their families. Family Consultation Service (FCS) was formed for that purpose. In time, however, it became apparent that our effectiveness would be limited unless we could find ways to change the environment that impacted so negatively upon them every time they stepped out of their door. Thus, FCS Urban Ministries emerged into a Christian community development organization. Our mission statement has become: creating healthy places in the city where families flourish and God's shalom is present.

Troll Shamelessly Pitches Book by Diers

Neighbor Power

This is the title of the book written by Jim Diers. I met him last month at a seminar he led for a group of community activists. It hit me half way through the morning that I had stopped thinking about the time and just enjoyed the ride. Jim's stories were engaging and inspiring all in one. So I bought the book.

I liked it too, but I found the chapter titles a bit dry for the stories being told. One outstanding feature, the story behind the story. Did you ever hear how Seattle got its very own troll in Fremont? Me neither.

Here's the table of contents...

Valuing Community
Organizing Communities
Connecting Communities
Building Community
Cultivating Community
Sustaining Communities
Celebrating Community
Modeling Community
Replicating Neighborhood Programs
Conclusion

Ref
Diers, Jim. (2004). Neighbor Power - Building Community the SEattle Way. Seattle: University of Washington Press.

Learning and Listening at Community Asset Mapping Seminar

Community Asset Mapping - Seattle

I attended the Community Asset Mapping seminar in Seattle this weekend with 28 neighborhood organizers with a passion to draw on the strengths of the places where they live. The event was sponsored by:

City of Seattle Department of Neighborhoods,
Capitol Hill Community Council,
Greenwood-Phinney Ridge Community Councils,
International District Housing Alliance,
North Beacon Hill Community Council,
and Sustainable Seattle.

Speaker and Facilitators Mike Green and Jim Diers painted a picture of how to create community (relational strength) in neighborhoods. This is a priority application of NeighborhoodsWork workshops and resources. We look forward to working with Mike Green again when we partner together to bring Asset Based Community Development to SEATTLE in August. ABCD gives us the big picture, NeighborhoodsWork goes to work on the streets.

I was inspired once again to join with others in my city and region who care about investing in relational bonds that bring out the best in people and leave a legacy. I met a lot of new friends and then dashed off to a birthday party for my sister who always gives a lot of hugs to my kids.

Passionate Storytelling

Storytelling

We have said for along time that stories bring people together around shared experiences. The problem is finding the time and places where stories can be told creatively and forcefully.

Recently Matt and Eric went public at a local coffee hangout in their neighborhood. The songs were stories about personal experiences from life in their neighborhood and beyond. As the coffee shop filled up and the crowd reacted positively the community was built. One song, "Scared" talked about the feelings of living in a neighborhood where thieves or drug dealers good change the way Matt feels about the place he calls home.

I liked seeing people gather and have a great time together. Of course the stories gave all of us something to talk about between sets and afterward. The cafe owners responded by opening their doors to future engagements from the same group of neighborhoods artists.

Storytelling is powerful.

City of Edmonds-Historical Commission

Thursday afternoon I met with the City of Edomonds Historical Commission to show them a video I found while researching the history of our neighborhood. The footage showed vintage cars, sparsely populated city streets and even a little footage of Main Street with the 1940's era merchants. The city councilman who invited me said the video was "nothing less than extraordinary".

One shot showed billowing smoke rising from smoke stakes from lumber mills along the waterfront. Those mills are long gone and replaced by multi-million dollar view homes.

The Commission asked the question, how do we motivate our community to engage in Historical preservation? After receiving a grant from the National Park Service to identify historically significant properties, the need to preserve the property still remains.

I suggested sharing the story behind the buildings as a way to bring people together. Obviously those stories are easily lost, but when connected to a building or monument or art that people see everyday it becomes part of the fabric of life in a city.

How do historical sites, buildings and monuments add to the sense of community people experience in a City?

Snohomish County Exec - Aaron Reardon

Meeting with County Executive

Last week representives from NeighborhoodsWork had an informal meeting with Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon to discuss his vision for needs and improvements in the county. The meeting lasted about an hour over lunch. We talked about ways that Faith Based orgainizations might help organize "Town Hall" type meetings through diverse networks of relationships. Many FBO's have the uniqueness of a diverse population with connections into a great number of citizen groups in the region.

We are making a plans to organize at least one event that would include a presentation from the Executive regarding the State of the County from is point of view. The event would also be designed to facilitate feedback from participants and help give direction to the future decisions in the county.

If you would like to be notified about the times and dates send an email to info@neighborhoodswork.com. Request to be notified about the Snohomish County "town hall" meeting.

One of our great neighbors with stories to tell. 

Edmond History Project

As a personal project I've taken on the role of gathering historical artifacts for our neighborhood. I enjoy the stories I hear from older residents and sadly remember a few elderly friends who are no longer with us, but still had stories to tell .

This week I viewed a video of our neighborhood with an Edmonds City councilman. The video footage was "archived" at the home of a neighbor's mother. It shows scenes of our city taken 60+ years ago when it was a largely rural community. Chickens can be seen running free around the neighbor's yard.

The councilman proclaimed it a treasure and asked if I could bring it to the historic commission meeting on February 10th. It will be a special surprise. WE have more plans too.

More later,

Neil