WiserEarth Area of Focus Stewards

[This is all of Section 2 of the original 161 page document “1000Communities2” (see p. 3-4)]

Note:  The entire document "1000Communities2" ("1000CommunitiesSquared") can be accessed for free at the website of The Interfaith Peacebuilding and Community Revitalization (IPCR) Initiative (at www.ipcri.net) , or from its specific IPCR website address ( http://ipcri.net/images/1000Communities2.pdf ).  Kind Regards,  Stefan Pasti, Founder and Outreach Coordinator, The IPCR Initiative

 A.  The “1000Communities²” proposal may be summarized as follows:

“1000Communities²” advocates organizing and implementing Community Visioning Initiatives in 1000 communities (communities or segments of rural areas, towns, or cities with populations of 50,000 or less) around the world

1.  which are time-intensive, lasting even as much as 1½ years (18 months), so as to give as much importance to developing a close-knit community as it does to

a)  contributing to accumulating and integrating the knowledge and skill sets necessary for the highest percentage of people to act wisely in response to challenges identified as priority challenges

b)  helping people to deliberately channel their time, energy, and money into the creation of “ways of earning a living” which are directly related to resolving high priority challenges

c)  assisting with outreach, partnership formation, and development of service capacity for a significant number of already existing (or forming) organizations, businesses, institutions, and government agencies

d)  helping to build a high level of consensus for specific action plans, which will help inspire additional support from people, businesses, organizations, institutions, and government agencies with significant resources

2.  which establish a significant number of local community points of entry called “Community Teaching and Learning Centers” [if use of that particular description “Community Teaching and Learning Centers” is permitted by the organization “Teachers Without Borders” (see http://www.teacherswithoutborders.org/html/ctlc.html)] to act as information clearinghouses, meeting locations, classrooms for ongoing workshops (on a broad range of topics related to the Community Visioning Process, and building the local knowledge base), practice sites for developing “teacher-leaders”, a location for an ongoing “informal” “Community Journal”, a location for listing employment opportunities—and to provide a means of responding quickly (by changing the emphasis of workshop content) to new urgencies as they arise

3.  and which suggest—as a way of emphasizing the need for an exponential increase in compassion for our fellow human beings—that communities (with the resources to do so) enter into “sister community” relationships with communities in other countries where there has been well documented calls for assistance with basic human needs.

[Note:  For a 15 step outline of this kind of Community Visioning Initiative, see Section 6.]

B.  Commentary of the potential for “1000Communities²” to have a positive effect of an exponential nature

1.  If even a few of these kind of Community Visioning Initiatives generated results similar to those achieved by the Chattanooga, Tennessee (USA) Visioning Initiative carried out in 1984 (“Vision 2000”)¹, people in all parts of the world—keenly attuned when it comes to resolving challenges which require urgent solutions at all levels of society—   could be   inspired to carry out similar Community Visioning Initiatives.  And if many communities carried out similar initiatives, and also achieved significant results, our collective capacity to resolve the challenges of our times   would surely   begin to accumulate at an accelerating rate.

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Notes and Source References (Section 2)

1.  In 1984, the non-profit organization Chattanooga Venture [Chattanooga, Tennessee (USA)] organized a Community Visioning Initiative that attracted more than 1,700 participants, and produced 40 community goals—which resulted in the implementation of 223 projects and programs, the creation of 1,300 permanent jobs, and a total financial investment of 793 million dollars. 

The above statistics are from “Revision 2000:  Take Charge Again”, a brochure this writer received from Chattanooga Venture.  These statistics are also accessible in a detailed overview of Chattanooga community revitalization efforts titled “Chattanooga:  The Sustainable City”, at the website for the James MacGregor Burns Academy of Leadership at http://www.academy.umd.edu/Resources/AcademyPublicationsPDF/BoundaryCrossers-CaseStudies/Ch3-Chattanooga/Chattanooga.pdf  (see Chpt. 3, p. 7)  (Confirmed June 15, 2008)