Tools for Working Smarter in Community Development

[Discussion list for COMM-ORG]

From: Xavier de Souza Briggs <xbriggs at MIT.EDU>

we've had queries about how to find the material i announced a few days ago.

unfortunately, the list's filter system deleted all the links i had 
placed in my email.

if you want to download and use the new briefs or any other material, 
just google and go the website:

Working Smarter in Community Development

best -- xav


Xavier de Souza Briggs
Associate Professor of Sociology and Urban Planning
and Director, The Community Problem-Solving Project @ MIT
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
77 Massachusetts Avenue, Room 9-521
Cambridge, MA 02139

(voice) +1 617-253-7956
(fax) +1 617-258-8594
(email) xbriggs at mit.edu

Discussion list for COMM-ORG wrote:
> --------
> This is a COMM-ORG 'colist' message.
> All replies to this message come to COMM-ORG only.
> --------
>  
> From: "Xavier de Souza Briggs" <xbriggs at MIT.EDU>
>
>
> Dear Colleagues and Friends:
>
>
>
> I’m pleased to share three “knowledge-in-action briefs” as part of a new 
> online resource for self-directed learning that aims to strengthen the 
> field of community development in America. We hope that you and your 
> students, partners, or clients, find these useful.
>
>
>
> In 2004 and 2005, I organized a series of workshops to put researchers 
> in dialogue with practitioners. These were funded by the John D. and 
> Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation in connection with the ambitious New 
> Communities Program in Chicago (and its evaluation). Informed by those 
> workshops, the new briefs are about how to work smarter, not just 
> harder, on behalf of important goals at the local level:
>
>
>
> (Brief 07-1) Rethinking Community Development: Managing Dilemmas about 
> Values and Goals
>
>
>
> (Brief 07-2) Stocks, Flows, and Dreams: Shaping and Measuring 
> Neighborhood Change in Community Development
>
>
>
> (Brief 07-3) Networks, Power, and a Dual Agenda: New Lessons and 
> Strategies for Old Community Building Agendas
>
>
>
> The Working Smarter project website also includes learning guides and 
> links to helpful resources on the web, for example NeighborWorks 
> America's excellent material on success measures and much more.
>
>
>
> The new tools complement those at our companion website, 
> www.community-problem-solving.net, which focus on key civic processes 
> for leading change, such as negotiating, organizing stakeholders, 
> participatory planning, forging effective partnerships, and more. More 
> than 80,000 copies of these free tools have been downloaded worldwide 
> since The Community Problem-Solving Project @ MIT launched in 2003, by 
> educators and practitioners and others. Trainers and teaching faculty in 
> planning, social work, public policy and management, sociology, 
> political science, public interest law, and other fields have assigned 
> the tools in their courses and programs.
>
>
>
> The new Working Smarter briefs, though distinct in focus, were written 
> in a similar format, with “ideas in brief” and “ideas in practice” 
> sections as roadmaps upfront and with accessible language throughout.
>
>
>
> Please note that no copyright permission is required for any and all 
> educational use of the new briefs. But we’d love to get your feedback 
> and also to hear about your use of the material, of course.
>
>
>
> I’m grateful to Susan Lloyd and Julia Stasch at the MacArthur 
> Foundation, Andy Mooney and Susana Vasquez at LISC-Chicago, and the 
> workshop participants, web designers, MIT staff and students, and others 
> who made this work possible.
>
>
>
> With best wishes,
>
> Xav
>
> _________
>
> Xavier de Souza Briggs
> Associate Professor of Sociology + Urban Planning
> and Director, The Community Problem-Solving Project @ MIT
> Massachusetts Institute of Technology
> 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Room 9-521
> Cambridge, MA 02139, U.S.A.
>
> (voice) +1 617-253-7956
> (fax) +1 617-258-8594
> (email) xbriggs at mit.edu
>
> The Community Problem-Solving Project @ MIT
> www.community-problem-solving.net
>
> Works in progress: http://web.mit.edu/xbriggs/www/
>
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