Hi Folks, We have lurked on this list for sometime and have benefited greatly from your experiences and reflections. Thank you all.
We are Homegrown Wisdom. We are a partnership of Fredrc Morgan and Wendy Johnston. We have been doing some work in the non-profit sector using Appreciative Inquiry for the past couple of years, but we are increasingly leaning towards Open Space Technology, especially in our community building work. In our work with grassroots community builders we have hosted two Open Spaces on Community Building that were facilitated (graciously) by Michael Spencer, who trained in OST with Birgit. Our third Open Space is coming up and Michael is busy, so Fredrc (my partner) will be opening the space. Fredrc did this once before and feels pretty comfortable with it. Here is the draft invitation: The theme for our Third Open Space on Community is: ISSUES & OPPORTUNITIES RELATED TO COMMUNITY FOUNDATIONS. A discussion has been percolating among the Open Space group for some time. Initially there was a discussion about the idea of setting up a community foundation that would be a community-based organization that would share resources (including money and in-kind contributions) in a given neighbourhood. Some people think that this would be a more sensitive mechanism for sharing resources. A community foundation might identify new resources (outside the current charitable framework) because people would see that their energy and money go directly toward building community in their own neighbourhoods. It would make the connection between resources and community building work more direct. Then the discussion broadened to include the idea of the community foundation being an Association of Associations (like the one promoted by the Asset-Based Community Development Institute), where local associations and organizations could share resources, experience and knowledge that would support community building in a specific community. There was further discussion about how resources would be shared among these local organizations and associations. One person pointed out that developing a shared community vision would provide a framework for such a community foundation to make these decisions. So, as you can see, this is an evolving discussion. We would like you to be part of this evolution. This is the most specific the theme has ever been. Previous themes were: Community Building from the Inside Out and just Community. I had suggested to the host that perhaps our theme might be broader like Community & Money, but he says that he wants to discuss community foundations. Im not sure why Im nervous about this... I guess its because this discussion is about a theme that is new to people and that were in a brainstorming mode. Do you have any advice and words of comfort for my nervous stomache? Wendy & Fredrc Homegrown Wisdom Seaforth, Nova Scotia CANADA * * ========================================================== osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu, Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
