Description

Discover a powerful methodology for bringing communities together to uncover hidden assets and transform deeprooted challenges

Veteran community organizer Paul Borns work has contributed to lowering cancer rates in Maine improving mental health for young people in Florida and reducing poverty rates in Canada by 20 percent In this muchneeded new book he shares stories of how he was able to catalyze local communities and guide them to make significant progress on seemingly intractable community problems

Born has found that the secret to success is to organize and unite around a common agendaThis is not a list of topics like a meeting agenda nor a strategic plan He offers a process for bringing leaders from businesses human service organizations and governments together with people who have a lived experience of a specific community problem A common agenda is a statement of shared aspirations a map of the assets in the community and a road map for how to work together to make those aspirations a reality

Part I of this book describes how to identify your communitys readiness for change form leadership action and strategy teams create a common agenda and establish plans for community engagement Part II presents the approaches and skill sets needed to do the work described in part I

Remarkably enormous systemic problems such as climate change poverty disease racism housing and many more issues can be best addressed at the local level Communities can develop solutions tailored to their unique circumstances and can collaborate at a magnitude that can result in a truly transformative impact This book shows how to make change happen