The Dilemma of Meetings
By John McKnight Co-Director, Asset Based Community Development Institute from the John McKnight Learning Series In
The Problem With Problems
By John McKnight Co-Director, Asset Based Community Development Institute from the John McKnight Learning Series At
Intentional Neighborhoods in Co-Housing
Quick Summary: John and Peter talk with generative journalist and longtime co-housing advocate Sarah Arthurs about how the built
Building Wealth for All through Dividend Housing
Quick Summary: John and Peter talked with social innovator Margery Spinney on May 2, 2019 about
Time Banks Providing an Alternative Economy
Edgar S. Cahn developed time banking where an hour of work is worth an hour of
High School Student and Peter Block Discuss Life
What do you say to a sophomore in high school, who is interested in the illusion
Consumerism and Jubilee
A transcript from the above video featuring Professor Adam Clark for the Economics of Compassion Initiative
Organizing Residents to Solve an Impossible Challenge
If we want to end economic isolation and build wealth in the marginalized community, our thinking
Bringing Forth Jubilee in 2019
The old testament story of the end to slavery is part of a current conversation in
Faith and Church with No Bricks and Mortar: Conversation with Father Joseph Kovitch
Since their book The Abundant Community came out, John McKnight and Peter Block have sought out those social innovators who are bringing alive the ideas about how neighbors and local institutions can come together to create care, kindness, and welcome. One of those innovators is Father Joseph Kovitch. Peter and John talked with him in June of 2018. They are still in touch with him and what he describes here is still vibrant today.
Father Joe was a priest of Saint Matthew’s Episcopal Community in Westerville, Ohio, who worshiped in an Irish pub and is currently on a university campus; they are also serving out of a community house nearby. He has been ordained for 30 years and has served in many ministries and missional environments, some of which include serving as leader of a large traditional congregation, leading a redevelopment merger of three congregations into a new mission, and, at this moment, serving as Diocesan Missioner for New Episcopal Communities in the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio. Here is the conversation we had in 2018.
Listen to the Full Conversation:
The Parish in the Neighborhood
When we look at the Parish as a microcosm of all life’s dimensions, the conversation changes from traditional clergy talk of “butts, budgets and buildings,” to: What is God up to in our places, and how do we join in with that? Listen to Paul Sparks, Co-founding Director of the Parish Collective, discuss with Peter Block and John McKnight in this conversation:
Living Abundantly in an Age of Scarcity
By: Tim Kraus We live in a world of Paradox. A Paradox is a phenomenon in
Changing the Narrative for Community Leadership
With the old news business changing this is an exciting time of opportunity and threat, said
Unfair Advantage Stacy Mitchell on How Amazon Undermines Local Economies
By Tracy Frisch This article was originally published in The Sun Magazine, and is reprinted here
We Don’t Need Butter, We Need the CowOr, Why Universal Basic Income is Not the Solution We Think It Is
By Ed Whitfield Yes, I feel the current distribution of wealth is grotesquely unfair. Yes, I
Podcast: An Alternative Economy Today
Economist Mark Anielski welcomes Peter Block onto his podcast to discuss initiatives that are looking to overcome the economics of isolation to create an alternative economy. From the Old Testament story of the end of slavery to the reconstruction of land after the Civil War in the U.S., Peter and Mark reflect on lessons from the past and how they are relevant now. In Cincinnati, the Economics of Compassion Initiative and Jubilee projects are showing what can be done today to shift the narrative and start living into a neighborly or indigenous economy. Listen:
Restorative Practices for Turbulent Times
What can happen when we move justice out of the law system and into neighborhoods and communities? Restorative practices are being put into action beyond justice systems into schools and institutions, changing the conversation from fault and punishment to looking at who has been harmed, how they were harmed and whose obligation it is to repair that harm. In this conversation, community and organizational psychologist Thom Allena shares insight and experiences from his work with restorative justice. Listen:
Powerful Possibilities of Being Small
Small groups of faithful, committed people are the atoms that make a movement, says John McKnight.
From an Extractive to Neighborly Economy
Walter Brueggemann shares insight on today’s economy of extraction, a modern version of Pharaoh’s economy. The extractive economy is abnormal and the enemy of God’s intention for our neighborhood and our common humanness. Brueggemann describes to participants at the Conspire Gathering how when people left Pharaoh into the wilderness life supports were given. Listen:
Departing the Consumer Culture
Conversation with Walter Brueggemann ~ October 2, 2018 Quick Summary: October 2, 2018 dialog they invited
Another Other Kingdom
Walter Brueggemann joins Peter Block and John McKnight in a continuance of the conversation from their
John McKnight: Building Neighborhood Assets
Many know John McKnight’s work on creating abundant communities and focusing on gifts. In this podcast with Mark Anielski, McKnight shares about what sparked his interest in researching assets instead of deficits. McKnight shares the three questions they urge local citizens to ask. It begins with what you have rather than what you need. Anielski, an economist and author, also shares about his well-being survey work and how financial success doesn’t equate higher levels of happiness. Listen:
Rethinking Racism
In January 1865, a revolutionary Special Order 15 known commonly as reconstruction or “40 acres and a mule” was a promise given to former slaves to receive 400,000 acres of free tillable land along the southern east U.S. coastline that would be governed by the black people themselves.
But the policy was overturned that fall by President Andrew Johnson, Lincoln’s successor. The idea behind Special Order 15 shows America understood reparations. During a “Rethinking Racism” gathering in Cincinnati Rev. Damon Lynch III shares his goal to build strong, healthy, black communities and the four things that are needed to make that happen.
Read the handout: The Truth Behind ’40 Acres and a Mule’
Listen here
Living into an Abundant Economy
The Christian narrative of abundance and hope is a radical alternative to the scarcity narrative and
Economics of Compassion Initiative on the Ground in Spring Grove Village
By Derek Peebles As the local economy evolves, the Economics of Compassion Initiative is having conversations
Neighborly Economics: A Way Towards the Exchange of Gifts
By Peter Block In other times, our culture, our way of being with each other, the
Building a Jubilee EconomyThe J-RAB, INC. Business and Service Coordination Center
By Dr. Claver L. Pashi, PhD With an introduction by Trenton Davis Part of the Jubilee
The Moment for Community Has Arrived
by Peter Block A World Divided Isolation is on the rise in our neighborhoods, institutions, cities,
Pioneering Space for the Commons
In the city of Peterborough, Ontario, The Mount Community Centre is repurposing what was once home