Ways to make a Community Stronger, Wiser, More Resilient and Engaged

Twenty-six approaches to creative dialogue for positive social change

Tom Atlee from the American Co-Intelligence Institute provides guides to the following processes:

Stronger

We can know a lot more about who we are, as a community, and weave ourselves together into a strong, brightly-colored fabric.

• Asset mapping
• Listening projects
• Neighbourhood help networks
• Friendship webs
• Neighbourhood networks and phone trees
• Affinity group networks

Wiser

We have a lot of smart and wise individuals in this community -- but can our community as a whole exercise its collective intelligence and community wisdom? Can we use our diversity to deepen and broaden our shared understandings -- or only to divide ourselves from each other?

• Wisdom council
• Quality of life indicators
• Future search conferences
• Open space conferencing
• World cafe process
• Handy process tools for meetings
• Multiple-viewpoint drama and video
• Multiple-viewpoint "Fishbowl" process

More resilient 

As global forces -- whether meteorologic, economic or tectonic -- impact our community, how well are we prepared to survive and bounce back?

• Community currency and barter systems
• Community gardens
• Community supported agriculture
• Bioregional study and practice
• Nonviolent civilian-based defence
• Emergency preparedness organising

More engaged 

The foundation of a strong, wise, resilient community is people knowing and actively engaging with each other and their place -- simply because it feels good or meaningful to them. Everything else rests on that.

• Arts and recreation
• Dinner exchanges
• Celebrations, parties, potlucks and fairs
• Cleanups and neighbourhood aesthetics
• Scavenger hunts and tours
• Free school and learning exchanges

A fuller description of each of these processes can be found in Ways to make a Community Stronger, Wiser, More Resilient and Engaged (opens in a new browser window)

For further information

Contact	:	The Co-Intelligence Institute
Address	:	P.O. Box 493, Eugene, OR, 97440
Email	:	cii@igc.org

WWW

:

http://www.co-intelligence.org/