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2012 will be a year where the Bank of I.D.E.A.S. will commit resources and time to the development of practical strategies and tools for implementing Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) projects. ABCD is a simple concept –
- discovering and mapping local assets- a systematic process of identifying and detailing resources and strengths in the community;
- connecting these assets to work together; and
- creating opportunities for these assets to be productive and powerful together.
- map the human, organisational, cultural, physical, institutional and networking assets and capacities;
- discover what residents care and are most passion about;
- link these assets and passions to enhance local community involvement, connection, social capital, resource sharing, volunteerism and networking;
- identify opportunities and initiatives for the connected assets and passions to create positive community outcomes; and
- promote greater awareness of community experiences and groups, and opportunities for involvement.
(Robert F. Kennedy, 1925-1967. American lawyer and politician)
Sad news was received on 16 December with the death from cancer of John Pearce from Scotland. John was an amazing community developer who taught many of us across the globe. Instrumental internationally in promoting best practice in areas like community business and social auditing, John will be missed by many. His good friend Alan Kay posted this tribute to him -“He strode through life...with original ideas that he put into practice...with a strong sense of values and social justice...and with an ability to include and support the most vulnerable in society. He had little patience with misguided authority and self-justifying power structures. He was always on the side of the common folk.”
Click here to read more of this wonderful tribute.
John wrote some great stuff. One of his classics is still available from online booksellers – “Social Enterprise in Anytown’. John, you will be missed for your wonderful insights, but more important the values you brought to the world.
Another of John’s great friends and colleagues was Colin Ball. Click here to read his wonderful homage to the contribution of John.
Click here to read.
Bank of I.D.E.A.S. would like to salute this amazing Australian youth initiative. The Oaktree Foundation is Australia's largest youth run organisation, and works towards ending extreme poverty through political advocacy, education programs and supporting sustainable aid projects in developing countries.To find out more about the Oaktree Foundation check out their website.
To read more in the latest edition of Network News, click here.
What a privilege to partner with the
Municipal Association of Victoria in bringing out Jennifer Ball from Canada for her series of workshops related to Circles methodology. Her seven Workshops had an amazing response. Her book entitled
'Doing Democracy with Circles’ was equally popular.If you would like a copy of this terrific resource, click here and order by Paypal.
Thanks also to Kim Lisson, a Workshop participant who provided this statement on Talking Circles and the rules learnt from Native Americans.
To download a copy, click here.
Peter Kenyon from Bank of I.D.E.A.S. will be conducting a BEAR Facilitator Training course on 21-22
May
2012. This internationally accredited course is being coordinated by Annie Inwood from the Auckland City Council.
For more details,
click here. If interested in participating, contact Annie at Annie.Inwood@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz.
With the theme –
‘Action and Reaction – Be the Catalyst', this year’s BREI Conference looks great. It will be held in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan from 20-21 June. Keynote speakers include Stephen Duber,
author of 'Freakonomics’ and Linda Nazareth, the in house economist for the Business News Network.Click here for all the details.
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‘Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.’ (Oprah Winfrey)
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‘The object of a new year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul’
(C.K. Chesserton)
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‘New Year's Resolution: To tolerate fools more gladly, provided this does
not encourage them to take up more of my time.’ (James Agate)
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‘New Year's Day is every person's birthday.’ (Charles Lamb)
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‘An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist
stays up to make sure the old year leaves.’ (Bill Vaughan)
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‘The Old Year has gone. Let the dead past bury its own dead. The New Year has taken possession of the clock of time. All hail the duties and possibilities of the coming twelve months!’ (Edward Payson Powell)
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‘Drop the last year into the silent limbo of the past. Let it go, for it was
imperfect, and thank God that it can go.’ (Brooks Atkinson)
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‘Many years ago I resolved never to bother with New Year's resolutions, and
I've stuck with it ever since.’ (Dave Beard)
- ‘We spend January 1 walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives... not looking for flaws, but for potential’ (Ellen Goodman)
This great initiative by our friend and colleague, David Wilson of Heritage
Futures International was mentioned in the last edition. David is engaged in an exercise of riding from the bottom to the top of New Zealand.....on a Penny Farthing, the first time this has ever be achieved. So far, David has cycled for 31 days and covered 1400 kms. Well done Dave.To read David’s blog and capture the amazing stories attached to the ride, click here.
Click image to enlarge.
Greening the Rubble is a community project from Christchurch, NZ, which unites a team of volunteers from several organisations, responding creatively to the extensive damage caused by recent large earthquakes.They are creating temporary public parks and gardens on sites of demolished buildings, usually in commercial rather than residential streets. Licence agreements with site owners, modest financial support from these owners and extensive sponsorship of the construction materials and design process, make it possible for the volunteer teams to build and maintain these parks.
Each project features as a post on the Greening the Rubble website and in addition the their Facebook page announces volunteer activity and has a story timeline in photos.
The Bank of I.D.E.A.S. loves collecting practical examples of social capital building in action. This is a wonderful example from residents in Prairie Dunes Place, Connolly who every Christmas period light up their street collectively to raise money for the WA Association for the Blind. Since 1979, they have collected $117,000 which has been able to train 5 guide dogs. Each night, the street of lights attracts 2000-3000 visitors.Click here to read more. For more practical ideas for building social capital, check out Bank of I.D.E.A.S. info sheets.
Our good friend Jody Kretzmann from the
Asset Based Community Development Institute is leading a three-year research project in Chicago, USA that will begin to institutionalize a new mechanism for creating mutually productive relationships between local schools and their surrounding communities. By defining the role of the school-community connector and building the capacity of individuals in this role, this project will (a) help schools position themselves to secure new pedagogical resources and political support for school funding and (b) help communities tap into school assets for community building activities.During the first year, this project will explore the lay of the land at innovative schools in the Chicago area and around the nation, looking for examples of where the school-community connector role has been successfully implemented. In the second year, the knowledge generated will be translated into a variety of materials for use in further developing the school community connector role in schools in the Chicagoland area, and testing the recommended method for implementing this role in both new and existing schools. In the third year, materials — including lessons learned — will be translated for a national audience and disseminated through national networks such as the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) and the Coalition for Community Schools (CCS).
For more details, contact Jody at j-kretzmann@northwestern.edu.
To learn more click here to view her one page summary.
To learn even more or register an interest in a workshop, contact Andrea at an.straaburg@gmx.de.
Andrea as part of her learning once discovered a gem of a quote which will become part of those quotation classics in the field of ABCD - when sharing what she hoped to contribute as a youth worker in the Australian Outback, an Aboriginal Elder responded - "You know what you know and I know what I know and with that we work together.”
The Canning Stock Route is one of the world’s classic four wheel drives. It is located in the desert country between Hall’s Creek and
Meekatharra in Western Australia.Click here to see an amazing collaborative cultural tourism initiative by Aboriginal artists as they seek to present their history of the Canning Stock Route. Photo is courtesy of the Australian Geographic.
Click image to enlarge.
David West, the Rundle Mall Manager for six years and Principal Consultant for Premier Retail Marketing has returned to Australia after 12 months working in London. During his time away, David has visited 14 countries in Europe researching retail improvement strategies , and consulted for the Association of Town Centre Management and Heart of London Business Improvement District.David has a long and impressive track record at working with business communities on the creation of Business Improvement Districts and special Rate Levies. David is an incredible business development resource.
Click here to read more about David’s skills. He can be contacted at davidwest@premierretailmarketing.com.au.
Click here to view.
Our good friend Jim Diers from Seattle has shared with many an audience across the globe the story about the famous Freemont Troll
public art monument in Seattle which enabled a community take a challenging situation of a motorway dividing a community and create an international tourist attraction. Click
image to see end product.Its creator - Steve Badanes - will be lecturing at the University of South Australia in Adelaide on March 14th and then speaking in Sydney on the 16th March. Steve runs a design-build program at the University of Washington that has resulted in many other fantastic community-based projects.
You can see some of them at the following website: Jersey Devil Design Build. Steve’s visit is a good opportunity for other Australian universities, architectural associations or community groups to get Steve to speak while he is in Australia.
If interested contact Steve at sbadanes@u.washington.edu.
Click on image to enlarge.
Looking for an interesting presenter or facilitator, then check out Donnie Maclurcan, the Co-Founder of the
Post Growth Institute – an international group inspiring and equipping people everywhere to explore paths to global prosperity that do not rely on economic growth. He is also the Founder and Ideas Guy at
Project Australia – a community organisation helping people launch not-for-profit initiatives that focus on Australian needs.Donnie enjoys asking big questions, and is passionate about appropriate technology, inner creativity, radical thinking and asset-based community development.
Click here to read his bio-data.
Thanks Donnie for your generosity in sharing such a tool in such detail
For more information, read a recent Times of India article.
The presenter is Roger Brooks from Destination Development International, a global expert on community marketing and branding. Worth checking out Roger’s book ”Your Town: A destination – the 25 Immutable Rules of Successful Tourism”.
Click here for a copy.
Street Pastors is a UK inter-denominational Church response to urban problems, engaging with people on the streets to care, listen and dialogue. It was pioneered in London in January 2003, and has seen some remarkable results, including significant drop in crime in areas where teams have been working. There are now some 9000 trained volunteers in over 250 teams around the UK. An Australian version of Street Pastors is running in Manley, Sydney, NSW.To learn more, click here or secure a copy of ‘Street Pastors’ by Les Isaac, available through Amazon.
Thanks to Mal Bryce for sharing this.
“I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.'
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin, but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today."
To see the film clip of the whole speech, view courtesy of SelfGrowth.com.
‘The ultimate test of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and moments of convenience, but where he stands in moments of challenge and moments of controversy.’
‘The method of non violence seeks not to humiliate and not to defeat the oppressor, but it seeks to win his friendship and his understanding. And thereby and therefore the aftermath of this method is reconciliation.’
‘A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a moulder of consensus.’
‘A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defence than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.’
‘Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better.’
‘An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.’
‘Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.’
‘All people are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality.’
'Faith is taking the first step, even when you don't see the whole staircase.’
'Hatred paralyses life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.’
‘Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.’
‘Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.’
‘We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.'
‘The hope of a secure and liveable world lies with disciplined non conformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood’.
This is a simple idea where neighbours share their knowledge and skills with their neighbours. Need a garment hemmed? Want some help preparing a presentation? Looking for gardening advice? Getting people together to work on anything from fixing a flat bicycle tire to helping a neighbour learn how to do Internet research ... that's the idea behind Bring and Fix.Bring & Fix is the brainchild of Philippe Granger, Development Manager of the Rushey Time Bank of Lewisham in the Greater London area. He designed it as an intergenerational event to bring together people of all ages to provide solutions for each other . In his words - "We all have these things around us that niggle us because they need putting back together, mending, gluing, oiling, sewing, cleaning, restoring, It could be a practical problem and someone needs to show us how to resolve it."
Click here watch Philippe explain his simple and brilliant idea for building community that anyone anywhere can put into action. Click here to read more about Bring & Fix.
This is a great opportunity for anyone interested in worker ownership
models.
Click here for a brochure detailing a free event in Melbourne on 24th January, 2012 (at 5:30pm) involving UK author, Peter Cox who will talk on
‘The John Lewis Partnership’, the ‘best company in Britain to work for’
and the model being touted by the British PM as the enterprise model for the
“Big Society” program.This event is part of the “Events Program” for the UN declared “International Year of Cooperatives 2012”. The evening is also being sponsored by Employee Ownership Australia Ltd, the Cooperative Federation of Victoria and Greenwoods and Freehills.
To register a place RSVP to christine.salau@gf.com.au. Places are limited.
With the closure this week of the last Heinz tomato sauce plant in Australia, and the loss of 146 jobs in the small Victorian town of Girgarre, it is exciting to see the efforts of locals to re-establish the factory as a local cooperative backed by by a local investor and a Victorian based cooperative development agency.
Click
here to watch a six minute segment from the ABC 7.30 Report. This segment covers the connection between:
- Decline in manufacturing sector on the back of the mining boom
- How co-ops save jobs
- How co-ops support local food production
- How co-ops provide a competitive dynamic in the market place
- How co-ops can provide a more innovative business strategy to diversify the business
Thanks to Alan Greig from the Australian Employee Ownership Association Inc for news of a fascinating
YouTube
presentation. This 6 minutes clip is by Steve Grlyak, a new employee owner at C-mac Industries in Sydney’s western suburbs (a project of the
Australian Employee Buyout Centre) which covers the issues of job security and the preservation of workers’ skills under employee ownership, where an ESOP trust is used to transition the firm from the existing family owners to the employees as part of a business succession plan.
Click
here to view a new and quality electronic newsletter produced by the Champion Centre of the City of Armadale in Western Australia. The Champion Centre provides in their words–“an inclusive neutral environment, promotes healing of many groups within the local area, reconciliation, builds bridges for families, shares knowledge and connects with the Armadale community promoting hope and opportunities. We are Aboriginal led, work in Aboriginal ways and welcome everyone.”
To subscribe, contact Natasha at championcentre@armadale.wa.gov.au.
We previously mentioned this great initiative by the City of Swan in Western Australia, where they provide small grants to residents to host a morning or afternoon tea or BBQ as a way of getting to know others in their street.
Click here to read a great article on the initiative.
Three courses in the future are planned-
CAMPAIGN SKILLS: ( Sundays 29 Jan, 5 & 12 Feb) Translate passion into action! Campaign Planning, marketing and media, politics and lobbying, events, activism tactics and people skills.
COMMUNITY SKILLS: ( Sundays 11, 25 March & 15 April) Build your organisation! Volunteer recruitment and management, fundraising secrets, increase membership, Web 2.0 and Cyber-activism, networking and partnerships.
SPEAKING SKILLS: (Sundays 6, 20 May, 10 June) Compelling Communications: Speaking with Confidence, Speech Structure and Content, Vocal Skills, Body Language, Persuasive Psychology, Dynamic Debating, Impromptu Speaking.
Valued at $900, the courses are priced for an Not for Profit budget with sliding scale fees starting at just $150 NFP, $120 waged individual and $80 unwaged individual.
For more details, click here or call Katrina Bercov (ACT Training Coordinator) on 9443 7454.
Perspective is UN Youth Australia's journal of youth opinion. Interested
young people are invited to contribute articles on topics of their choice.
Perspective aims to provide an outlet for the views of young people who have a unique perspective and an intrinsically fresh approach to a range of global issues. Perspective volunteer managers, editors and designers have high hopes: wanting it to become the cornerstone of youth opinion and intellect.
Click here to read.
Click here to read his bio data .
Outlook 2012 Conference
The ABARES Outlook 2012 conference, with its theme of future landscapes, will
see delegates focusing on the outlook for Australia’s key agricultural, forestry and fisheries commodities and the issues influencing future landscapes.At the Conference, on 6 and 7 March 2012, you will hear from international and national speakers as they deliver market leading information and sector analysis on the agriculture, fisheries, forestry and natural resource sectors.
Click here to visit the Conference website.
Another practical way is the sending of containers containing educational materials surplus to Australian schools. This Project is coordinated by Peter Snell from the Rotary Club of Bentley Curtin (WA). A container goes up each 3 months...the last one contained 259 desks, 1076 chairs, 6 white boards, 3 screens and 28 boxes of linen, books, toys and stationary.
What a practical difference this made to 5 schools, where previously students sat on the floor in bare classrooms!!
Cost of a container is $7,500. If willing to contribute, can you email Peter Snell - mobitronics@hotmail.com.&n. All donations are tax deductible.
Click
here to see a fascinating YouTube video about a young social entrepreneur who has changed the lives of residents in a neglected community and shown the simplicity of technology.Thanks to Lindsey McNeil for the link.
This competition challenges participants to develop software applications related to weather-related disasters, risks for agriculture, food and water supplies, rising sea levels and other climate-related challenges. Cash prizes will be awarded to winning entries. The deadline is March 16, 2012.For more information, click here.
IF...
If you can keep focused on your task while all around you there is chaos;
If you can maintain a simple lifestyle while all around you people are consumed by consumption and amassing wealth;
If you can remember your true task in the face of funding guidelines;
If you can remember that people opposite you in any struggle have divided hearts, and that part of each heart longs to work for the common good;
If you can work for positive social goals without becoming self-righteous or sanctimonious;
If you can remember to be proud of yourself, your traditions and your people, even while working to change some aspect inside of yourself or your culture;
If you can remember that all around you is support for you and your work, even though that support may not always be visible;
If you can remember that no abstract principle is more important than life itself;
If you can keep your intimate relationships, as well as your garden, a blossoming nourishing home for your soul;
If, among the brokenness of life, you can find shards of hope, and lift that hope up to people in a way that inspires them to dream anew;
And if you can keep your sense of humour while facing suffering and devastation, and still cry at the sorrow of this world and our time;
Then you can be a social change worker, my friend, and I guarantee there is no greater love, no more meaningful life available in humanity.
You will find joy in almost every day and peace as your head falls onto the pillow each evening.
History may or may not judge our goals kindly, we do not have control; but we rest easy in the assurance
that we have done our best with what we know.
This is a great initiative from the City of Wodonga in Victoria as a means for residents to get to know their neighbours. They suggest ideally, no more than 50 homes.To read more and see their toolkit click here.
Thanks to Robert Gordon for sharing with us.
Our Community is a world-leading social enterprise that provides advice and tools for Australia's 600,000 not-for-profit community groups and state, private and independent schools, as well as practical linkages between the community sector and the general public, business and government.
Looking for some fresh resources for community building, then click here to check out their excellent set of tools.
Click here to see their 2011 annual report and read about their range of innovative initiatives. If interested in supporting the organisation, contact Heath Thompson at infolafaekdiak@gmail.com.
A new report from the Plunkett Foundation shows that community-owned shops are continuing to prove their resilience despite the economic downturn forcing many other businesses to close. Community-owned shops are those that are owned and run by the community itself.:
- there are now 271 community-owned shops in the UK.
- 19 opened in 2011.
- Plunkett Foundation is currently working with a further 149 communities to explore community ownership as a way of saving their village shop.
- 114 shops have been helped to expand their local food offering, 62% of which reported significant increase in sales turnover
Click here to download a copy of the report.
Click here for more information.
Bank of I.D.E.A.S. wants to acknowledge this amazing Cambodian project and its continuing demonstration of effective youth employment and training through the creative arts. It certainly is a excellent model for job creation in rural communities through their marketing ability to target top end quality product.Click here to discover more or click here to read a Bank of I.D.E.A.S. case study (page 27) on the organisation.
If you are a farmers’ market organiser, community shop manager, or a volunteer or committee member, this event offers a cost-effective way to find inspirational new ideas, and a place to network and create new links. A feature will be presentation of latest research on why consumers choose local and how to persuade more people to make the switch.
For more information or to book a place contact Eileen Keenan on info@plunkett.co.uk.
Congratulations to the community of Tamworth for this iconic special event that begins next week. 2012 marks the 40th anniversary of this amazing event, which is the largest music festival in the southern hemisphere.
Included as a highlight to the festival are the CMAA (Country Music Awards of Australia) where the winners of the prestigious Golden Guitar Awards are announced. Other events include the Australian Country Music Busking Championships, Bush Poetry and Ballads, the Line Dancing Awards of Australia and many many others.
Click here to visit the Festival website.
Another milestone in special events recently took place – the 20th anniversary of the annual Elvis Festival in the NSW town of Parkes.
Click here to view story and photos.
This is a great example of a church enterprise in Adelaide, South Australia in providing a quality restaurant experience for the local community where no one feels excluded. Social capital formation in action.To read the story and its key success factors, click here. To learn more, contact Jeremy Brown, Manager Community Engagement, UnitingCare Wesley Adelaide on mobile 0439 862 014 or email at Jeremy.Brown@ucwesleyadelaide.org.au.
Across the globe, Cooperatives –
- Represent 800 million members;
- Have a combined turnover of $1.1 trillion;
- Employ 100 million people;
- Secure the livelihood of three billion people.
Interested in a great resource and regular update relating to sustainability, then connect to
Celsias edited by our great friend and inspiration Vicki Buck from Christchurch,
New Zealand.Strongly recommended.
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Introduction to social enterprise – a half-day session for anyone who is interested in social enterprise. Gain a deeper understanding about social enterprise, including the challenges and rewards of starting one. There is no charge for this session.
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Testing your social enterprise idea - for those with one or many ideas for a social enterprise, learn how to identify those ideas with the most potential to be viable and achieve your social goals. This workshop is particularly useful for those preparing an application to ‘The Crunch’.
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Marketing strategy and research - for those who currently run a social enterprise or have a social enterprise idea and are looking to understand their market. In this session, you will learn how to design and execute a simple market research program and how to interpret the results to produce a marketing strategy.
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Organisational design and financial modelling - for those who have a social enterprise or social enterprise idea and are looking to understand the organisational and financial feasibility of their idea.
• Developing a business plan for your social enterprise - for those who have a social enterprise idea and want to prepare a business plan to turn that idea into action.
- Financing your social enterprise - for those who have a social enterprise or a social enterprise idea and want to understand the options available for accessing capital to implement their plans.
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Resources of the Bank of I.D.E.A.S., either in full or in part, can be copied, quoted, reprinted, given away or circulated. Parts may be torn out, extracted and enhanced. In short, all resources are public property. Please use in any way to build the skills and knowledge of citizens in building healthier communities and more vibrant local economies.
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Bank of I.D.E.A.S.
(Initiatives for the Development of Enterprising Actions & Strategies)
14 Bird Rd, Kalamunda WA 6076
Ph: 08 6293 1848 Email: pp@bankofideas.com.au