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http://www.communitiesbychoice.org/ Here's another one, compliments of a classmate: I'll add this these to web resources on the "more e-resources" page, which I will update frequently. Finally, there are some particularly good general readership magazines that you might wish to research for issues and articles related to community:
Here's the definition of community we put together for our course: "A group of people who voluntarily communicate and interact regularly in a common space and guided by shared values, interests, and goals, and strengthened by tolerance." For other definitions, including those of the previous class, see the definitions page. Toward our discussion about what makes a good community, Wendell Berry proposes the following:
How can a sustainable local community (which is to say a sustainable
local economy) function? I am going to suggest a set of rules that I think such
a community would have to follow. I hasten to say that I do not understand these
rules as predictions; I am not interested in foretelling the future. If these
rules have any validity, it is because they apply now.
Supposing that members of a local community wanted their community to
cohere, to flourish, and to last, they would: 1.
Ask of any proposed change or
innovation: What will this do to our community? How will this affect our common
wealth? 2.
Include local nature—the land, the
water, the air, the native creatures—within the membership of the community. 3.
Ask how local needs might be supplied
from local sources, including the mutual help of neighbors. 4.
Supply local needs first (and
only then think of exporting their products, first to nearby cities, and then to
others). 5.
Understand the ultimate unsoundness of
the industrial doctrine of “labor saving” if that implies poor work,
unemployment, or any kind of pollution or contamination. 6.
Develop properly scaled value-adding
industries for local products in order not to become merely a colony of the
national or the global economy. 7.
Develop small-scale industries and
businesses to support the local farm or forest economy. 8.
Strive to produce as much of their own
energy as possible. 9.
Strive to increase earnings (in
whatever form) within the community, and decrease expenditures outside the
community. 10. Circulate
money within the local economy for as long as possible before paying it out. 11. Invest
in the community to maintain its properties, keep it clean (without dirtying
some other place), care for its old people, and teach its children. 12. Arrange
for the old and the young to take care of one another, eliminating
institutionalized “child care” and “homes for the aged.” The young must
learn from the old, not necessarily and not always in school; the community
knows and remembers itself by the association of old and young. 13. Account
for costs that are now conventionally hidden or “externalized”. Whenever
possible they must be debited against monetary income. 14. Look
into the possible uses of local currency, community-funded loan programs,
systems or barter, and the like. 15. Be
aware of the economic value of neighborliness—as help, insurance, and so on.
They must realize that in our time the costs of living are greatly increased by
the loss of neighborhood, leaving people to face their calamities alone. 16. Be
acquainted with, and complexly connected with, community-minded people in nearby
towns and cities. 17. Cultivate
urban consumers loyal to local products to build a sustainable rural economy,
which will always be more cooperative than competitive. From a speech delivered November 11, 1994, at the 23rd annual meeting of the Northern Plains Resource Council. Pledge of Allegiance* "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation, under God** indivisible, with liberty and justice for all"
* first appearing in Boys Life, revised after WWI and WWII ** "under God" added in the 1950's, about the time "In God We Trust" was added to the currency
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