Community Capacities and Community Necessities

By John McKnight

 

There is a new worldwide movement developing, made up of people with a

different vision for their local communities.  They know that movements are

not organizations, institutions or systems. Movements have no CEO, central

office, or plan.  Instead, they happen when thousands and thousands of

people discover together new possibilities for their lives.  They have a

calling.  They are called.  And together they call upon themselves.

 

In many nations local people have been called to come together to pursue a

common calling.  It would be a mistake to label that calling ABCD, or

Community Building.  Those are just names.  They are inadequate words for

groups of local people who have the courage to discover their own way — to

create a culture made by their own vision.  It is a handmade, homemade

vision.  And, wherever we look, it is a culture that starts the same way:

 

First, we see what we have — individually, as neighbors and in this place

of ours.

 

Second, we know that the power of what we have grows from creating new

connections and relationships among and between what we have.

 

Third, we know that these connections happen when we individually or

collectively act to make the connections — they don’t just happen by

themselves.

 

We also know that these three steps leading to our way can often be blocked

by great corporate, governmental, professional and academic institutions. 

They often say to us, “You are inadequate, incompetent, problematic, or

broken.  We will fix you.”

 

It is our calling to ignore these voices that create dependency, for we are

called to find our way — not follow their way.

 

We are striving to live in a democracy.  A democracy is a politics that

gives us the freedom to create our vision and the power to make that vision

come true.  We strive to be citizens — people with the vision and the power

to create our own way, a culture of community capacity, connection and care.

 

Unfortunately, many leaders and even some neighbors think that the idea of a

strong local community is sort of “nice”, a good thing if you have the spare

time, but not really important, vital or necessary.  However, we know strong

communities are vital and productive.  But, above all they are necessary

because of the inherent limits of all institutions.

 

No matter how hard they try, our very best institutions cannot do many

things that only we can do.  And what only we can do is vital to a decent,

good, democratic life.

 

People in the new movement know what only we have the power to do as local

neighbors and citizens.

 

First, our neighborhoods are the primary source of our health.  How long we

live, how often we are sick is determined by our personal behaviors, our

social relationships, our physical environment, and our income.  As

neighbors, we are the people who can change these things.  Medical systems

and doctors cannot.  This is why scientists agree that medical care counts

for less than 10% of what will allow us to be healthy.  Indeed, most

informed medical leaders advocate for community health initiatives because

they recognize their systems have reached the limits of their health –

giving power.

 

Second, whether we are safe and secure in our neighborhood is largely within

our domain.  Many studies show that there are two major determinants of our

local safety.  One is how many neighbors we know by name.  The second is how

often we are present and associated in public — outside our houses.  Police

activity is a minor protection compared to these two community actions. 

This is why most informed police leaders advocate for block watch and

community policing.  They know their limits and call to our movement.

 

Third, the future of our earth — the environment — is a major local

responsibility.  The “energy problem” is our local domain because how we

transport ourselves, how we heat and light our homes and how much waste we

create is a major force factor in saving our earth.   That is why our

movement is a major force in calling us and our neighbors to be citizens of

the earth and not just consumers of the natural wealth.

 

Fourth, in our villages and neighborhoods, we have the power to build a

resilient economy — les dependent on the mega-systems of finance and

production that have proven to be so unreliable.  Most enterprise begins

locally, in garages, basements, and dining rooms.  As neighbors, we have the

local power to nurture and support these businesses so that they have a

viable market.  And we have the local power to capture our own savings so

that we are not captives of our notorious large financial institutions.  We

also are the most reliable sources of jobs, for in many nations

word-of-mouth among neighbors is still the most important access to

employment.  The future of our economic security is now clearly a

responsibility, possibility and necessity for local people.

 

Fifth, we are coming to see that a part of our domain is the production of

the food we eat.  So we are allied with the local food movement, supporting

local producers and markets.  In this way, we will be doing our part to

solve the energy problem caused by transportation of food from continents

away.  We will be doing our part to solve our economic problems by

circulating our dollars locally.  And we will be improving our health by

eating food free of poisons and petroleum. 

 

Sixth, we are local people who must raise our children.  We all say that it

takes a village to raise a child.  And yet, in modernized societies, this is

rarely true.  Instead, we pay systems to raise our children — teachers,

counselors, coaches, youth workers, nutritionalists, doctors, McDonalds, and

MTC.  We are often reduced as families to being responsible for paying

others to raise our children and transporting them to their paid child

raisers. Our villages have often become useless — our neighbors responsible

for neither their children nor ours.  As a result, everywhere we talk about

the local “youth problem”.  There is no “youth problem”.  There is a village

problem of adults who have forgone their responsibility and capacity to join

their neighbors in sharing the wealth of children.  It is our greatest

challenge and our most hopeful possibility.

 

Seventh, locally we are the site of care.  Our institutions can only offer

service — not care.  We cannot purchase care.  Care is the freely given

commitment from the heart of one to another.  As neighbors, we care for each

other.  We care for our children.  We care for our elders.  And it is this

care that is the basic power of a community of citizens.  Care cannot be

provided, managed or purchased from systems.  Our way is made possible by

the power to care.  Democracy is the way we care for our freedom and

responsibility.  So it is the new connections and relationships we create

locally that build community because in joining each other together, we

manifest our care for the children, neighbors and the earth.

 

Health, safety, economy, environment, food, children and care are the seven

responsibilities of our movement.  They are the necessities that only we can

fulfill.  And when we fail, no institution or government can succeed. 

Because we are the veritable foundation of the society.

 

Fortunately, at the heart of our movement are three universal and abundant

powers.  The three basics of our calling are:

 

The giving of gifts — the gifts of the people in our neighborhood are

boundless.  Our movement calls forth those gifts.

 

Second, the power of association — In association we join our gifts

together and they become amplified, magnified, productive, and celebrated.

 

Third, hospitality — We welcome strangers because we value their gifts and

need to share our own.  Our doors are open.  There are no strangers here. 

Just friends we haven’t met.

 

Ours is the movement of abundance.  There is no limit to our gifts, our

associations, and our hospitality.

 

We have a calling.  We are the people who know what we need.  What we need

surrounds us.  What we need is each other.  And when, we act together, we

will find Our Way.  The citizen’s way. The community way.  The democratic

way.

 

We care called to nothing less. And it is not so wild a dream.

 

*     *     *     *     *     *     *     *

John McKnight is Co-Director, of the Asset Based Community Development

Institute at Northwestern University.  His talk “Community Capacities and

Community Necessities” was delivered as part of the opening remarks at the

“From Clients to Citizens Forum”, at the Coady International Institute, St.

Francis Xavier University, in Antigonish, Nova Scotia on July 8, 2009.  John

McKnight may be reached at jlmabcd@aol.com

By now you’ve heard about this critter, the one in Worcester, non-native and a huge threat to forests, and the reason so many trees have to be cut down and chipped up. They just started finding more beetles in the area, (story here) but within the quarantine zone, so there’s no proof they’re spreading. 

However, if you see anything this summer like the attached images, please catch it and contact UMASS extension immediately:

Extension Director’s Office

University of Massachusetts

101 University Drive, Ste. C1

Amherst, MA 01002-2376

(413) 545-4800

If they get loose around here, we’ll lose a lot of trees! 
More pictures here.

August 2009
Bartholomew’s Cobble Calendar & News

(A Property of The Trustees of Reservations)

105 Weatogue Road, Sheffield, MA

413.229.8600

www.thetrustees.org

 

Sundays  August 2, 9, 16, 23,
30   8:30-11:30AM

Summer Canoe Trips

Join a Trustees of
Reservations naturalist guide for a leisurely paddle along a highly scenic
stretch of the Housatonic River, watching for wildlife and bald eagles. All
equipment is provided. Members: Adult $24; Child (6-12) $12. Nonmembers: Adult
$30; Child (6-12) $15. Please pre-register to 413.229.8600.

 

Wednesday August 5  7:00 – 9:00PM

Moonlight Canoe Trip

Enjoy a moonlight paddle
with a Trustees of Reservations naturalist guide and watch for beaver, bats,
and evening wildlife. Fees: Members: Adult $24; Child (10-12) $12. Nonmembers:
Adult $30, Child (10-12) $15. Please pre-register to 413.229.8600.

 

 

Thursdays through Oct   
9AM-12NOON

Eco-Volunteers

Join Trustees of
Reservations staff at Bartholomew’s Cobble for hands-on experience
identifying and removing unwanted invasive plants. FREE. Call 413-229-8600 for
information.

 

Saturday August
15      10AM-12NOON

Exploring Cobble Ecology

Join Trustees of
Reservations Ecologist Julie Richburg in exploring the cobbles, the rocky
limestone, and marble knolls whose alkaline soil supports an unusual array of
flora. Bring a lunch to enjoy about noon, then check out the views of the Housatonic Valley from Hurlburt’s Hill or
stop in the visitor center museum. Members: FREE. Nonmembers $5. Space limited;
Please pre-register to 413.229.8600.

 

Friday, August 21  Ashley House
      

Mum Bett Day – FREE

12NOON open house; 2:00PM
ceremony

Meet at The Ashley House,
just across the field from Bartholomew’s Cobble for a celebration of the life
of Mum Bett, a courageous woman who successfully sued for her freedom on this
day in 1781, helping to end slavery in Massachusetts.
Visit the home where she worked and made her bid for freedom and afterwards
follow the Mum Bett Trail to see where else in Berkshire County she lived and
worked – from Sheffield to Stockbridge. FREE. For the schedule of events, check
www.thetrustees.org/pages/252_ashley_house.cfm
or call 413.298.3239 x3013.

 

 

Saturday, August 22  4- 6PM (rain date
is Sunday)

Joseph Firecrow in Concert.

Join The Trustees of Reservations
at Bartholomew’s Cobble to enjoy wonderful Native American flute music as
you savor the view from Hurlburt’s Hill in the evening light (To learn
more about his music, visit www.josephfirecrow.com/index.htm).
Members: Adult $12; Child: FREE. Nonmembers: Adult $15; Child (6-16) $5. Please
pre-register to 413.229.8600.

 

 

Combat NDD (Nature Deficit
Disorder) with a Special Tour

Summer is the time when the
woods at Bartholomew’s Cobble are alive with wildlife, birds, flowers,
and creatures of all shapes and sizes. Are you looking for new and exciting
week-day activities with and for your kids? How about a week-day visit with
your children to reacquaint them with the wonders of nature in this National Natural
Landmark site?  Should you, your family, or a small group wish to be
accompanied by a naturalist guide, please call 413-229-8600 to arrange a Special Tour. It’s a great way to
educate yourself and your children about the natural world around us.

 

 

Hal Borland’s August
in Weatogue Valley

Hal Borland lived just down
the road from Bartholomew’s Cobble until 1978. He was a New York Times
columnist and a naturalist who wrote beautifully about the landscape
surrounding Bartholomew’s Cobble for nearly thirty years. Here, we share
excerpts from Hal Borland’s Twelve
Moons of The Year, published in 1979.  

 

August 1: Brooks languish in their
stony beds. Only the grandfather frogs groan and rumble in the dusk. The whippoorwills
are less insistent, and now a barred owl is heard questioning the night. The
big, dark moths haunt the flower garden’s deep-throated flowers, gleaning
nectar the August –lazy bumblebees overlooked. The night still twinkles
with fireflies but the day’s heat lingers and the air has a dusty August
scent, the smell of languid summer. And overhead the warm air touches the
treetops, rustles the rustling leaves in the broad-topped elms.

 

August 13: Meteors will be flashing
across the sky tonight and for a couple more nights to come, for now is the
time of the Perseids. They are the “shooting stars” whose orbit the
earth crosses now. Those who watch meteors regularly say close to seventy
light-streaking Perseids an hour can be seen. The casual amateur may easily see
twenty or twenty-five in an hour of watching. The annual meteor showers are
reminders that we are not alone in the universe, that the stars themselves are
made of such stone as this earth we live on.

 

August 26: It always seems to catch us
by surprise, that day when we know that summer is not endless, that autumn is
just over the hill or up the valley. It follows a night of unexpected coolness,
and we hear the katydids scratching in the dark. First katydids and they miss a
few notes; but they persist, and the old saying echoes once more in our memory:
Six weeks from first katydid to first frost.

Berkshire Teen Trail Crew has added two additional weeks of programming to their summer schedule!

Due to popular demand, AMC’s Berkshire Teen Trail Crew in South Egremont has added two one-week backcountry trail crews to their busy schedule.  These crews are taking place at two South Berkshire treasures, Guilder Pond on Mt Everett and Fountain Pond in Great Barrington.  What an opportunity for local youth, ages 15-19, to lend a hand to local stewardship efforts, learn about camping and trail work, and have a great time in the woods.  It’s imminently affordable, too!  190$ covers food, camp gear, and leadership for the week.  Fountain Pond is August 2-7, and there are only a few spots left.  We just announced the addition of the Guilder Pond Crew August 9-14, so now there are six or seven spots available, but they fill fast! 

For more information:

Find the registration form online @ AMC’s website:  http://www.outdoors.org/conservation/trails/volunteer/trailopps/vol-crews-schedule.cfm

See first hand accounts of past crews: www.amctrails.blogspot.com (click on "Berkshire Teen Trail Crew" on the right)

Or call or email Matt Moore, contact info below.