Archive for August, 2008

Sunrise photo

Tuesday, August 5th, 2008

The St. James community photo taken at 6 a.m. on Wednesday, July 30, for the St. James Horizons story that will appear in Source magazine.  Photo is from St. James Plaindealer web site.  Thanks to Extension for setting it up, and thanks to Sue Harris (back row, right side) to get everyone to show up so early.

Get community-building ideas online

Tuesday, August 5th, 2008

The Community Coffee is going to start in earnest in September, but we are still looking for topics to discuss, starting with the new school building proposal. If you need some help with ideas, here are some of my favorite community-building web sites:

MPR’s The Future of Small Towns Idea Generator - http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/projects/2005/04/smalltowns/
(People, Economic Opportunity, Human Services, Telecommunications, Transportation, Social/Cultural Opportunities, Education, Government, Other. Challenge: find Dave Stordalen’s and Mark Anderson’s posts)
Project For Public Spaces - Building Community, Creating Places, Using Common Sense - http://www.pps.org/
(Parks, Transportation, Civic Centers, Public Markets, Downtowns, Mixed-Use Development, Campuses, Squares, Waterfronts)
Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation - http://www.smifoundation.org/
(Grants, Community, Business, Voices, Early Childhood, Bio-Industry, Asset-Based Community Development)

The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation - http://www.theharwoodinstitute.org/

Other Places To Get Ideas:
BetterTogether - http://www.bettertogether.org/
Center For Rural Policy and Development - http://www.mnsu.edu/ruralmn/
Local Initiatives Support Corporation - http://www.lisc.org/
Heartland Center for Leadership Development - http://www.heartlandcenter.info/
New Rules Project - Designing Rules As If Community Matters - http://www.newrules.org/
Institute For Local Self-Reliance - http://www.ilsr.org/
Local Government Commission - a nonprofit organization working to build livable communities - http://www.lgc.org/
(Community Design, Economic Development, Energy, Environment, People & Community, Transportation, Waste Prevention)
Boomtown USA - http://boomtownusa.blogspot.com/
National Trust Main Street Center - http://www.mainstreet.org/
The City Repair Project - http://www.cityrepair.org
Seven Revolutions - http://www.7revs.org
Community Development Foundation - http://www.cdf.org.uk/
World Changing - Change Your Thinking - http://www.worldchanging.com/
The Minnesota Design Team - http://www.minnesotadesignteam.org/
The Dialogue Project - Building Community Through Dialogue - http://www.thedialogueproject.org/
COMM-ORG - The Online Conference on Community Organizing and Development - http://comm-org.wisc.edu/
Freakonomics - The Hidden Side of Everything - http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/
Heartland Center for Leadership Development - http://www.heartlandcenter.info/
Rural Policy Research Institute - http://www.rupri.org/
Governing Magazine - http://www.governing.com/
Wiser Earth - http://wiserearth.org/

Northwest Area Foundation - http://www.nwaf.org/

Add Your Own: