Friday, June 20, 2008

SOME INTERESTING EXAMPLES OF COMMUNITY-BUILDING


























It Takes a Village to Raise an Artist
Painter Mike Sorgatz has started an online community of artists in Brooklyn.
At http://www.artinbrooklyn.com/, Mike is creating an online gallery showcasing the work of Brooklyn Artists.

It Takes a Village to Raise a Neighborhood
Petra Symister, creator of Bed-Stuy Blog, uses words and images to highlight goings on in her neighborhood in terms of real estate, local business, politics, transportation, and the art and culture scene. One of Petra’s neighbors is now contributing a regular feature on the blog called Meet Your Neighbors. For the record: People have moved to Bed-Stuy because of what they’ve read on Petra’s blog.

It Takes a Village to Raise a Family
My friend Susan was asked to be the Social Action Committee Chair at her synagogue. She now pulls together synagogue members (many of them elderly adults) and her own family members, including a teen and pre-teen, to do all sorts of projects. Now, her children have a whole slew of other adults who care about and watch over them.

It Takes a Village to Raise a Community Garden
In 1986, Lily Yeh collaborated with the residents of an underserved North Philadelphia neighborhood to build a community park. Her Village of Arts and Humanities has grown since then to encompass several parks, gardens, a community center and regular performances and events. (Portrait of Lily above by Rob Shetterly, creator of Americans Who Tell the Truth.)

It Takes a Village to Raise a Grocery Store
At the Park Slope Food Coop, more than 10,000 members take turns working at jobs there so that all of us can buy locally-grown, pesticide-free or minimally treated produce; pasture-raised and grass-fed meat; free-range, organic and kosher poultry; fair-traded chocolate and coffee; wild and sustainably farmed fish; supplements and vitamins; imported and artisan cheese; freshly baked bread; bulk grains and spices; environmentally safe cleaning supplies for 20-40% less than we’d spend in a regular grocery store.

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