| What does it
take to make a community work? |
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In Rich Harwood's weekly Redeeming
Hope blog entry,
he discusses the important role that a
community's "rhythms" - its stage of community
life -
plays in undertaking change work that will be
deep,
fundamental, and long-lasting.
The Harwood Institute developed the
community
rhythms framework and the stages of community
life
as a way to understand why some initiatives
blossomed in certain communities but failed to
take
off the ground in others. We recognized through
our
years of work in communities that
unfortunately,
most change efforts are designed for
communities in
the "growth" stage, when in fact, many
communities
are in a much earlier stage of community life.
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| Learn how to
align your work to your community's
'rhythms' |
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Although The Harwood Institute has a detailed
methodology for gauging what we call a
community's "stage of community life," most
public
innovators already have a strong sense of what
stage their community is in. The question for
them
is, "How do I calibrate my work to be
effective, given
my community's stage?"
The Harwood Public Innovators Lab is
designed to
help you answer that question.
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| How one United
Way became a 'Harwood United Way' |
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This week, The Harwood Institute is featuring
Ron
Butler, executive director of the United Way of
Genesee County, Michigan. Ron and his
predecessor,
Michael K. Brown (now president of the Capital
Area
United Way in East Lansing, Michigan) worked
with
the Institute through our Flint initiative to
develop
their capacity as a catalytic organization.
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- We believe in the
innate
goodness of individuals
and the possibility
for
change.
- We seek for people to imagine
and act for
the
public good so that we can all do
the
unfinished
work
of our communities and the nation.
- Together, we must create
the conditions for
people to tap their potential to make a difference
and
join together to build a common future.
- Our aim is to ignite a
sense of possibility
and
hope in America.
- We must create more
advocates for
public
life.
Rich
Harwood's
Redeeming Hope
blog
An authentic voice
for
public
life
Take a poll this morning, and most of
us will know the
Pittsburgh Steelers won the Super Bowl last
night.
But they’re not the only big winner today;
no, the
host city of Detroit is perhaps the biggest
winner of
all. I can’t recall a city that has gained so
much from
hosting a big event.
Read
on...
More on Rich's latest
book
Purchase at
Amazon.com
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