An Appreciative Approach to Community

Well, you all know how i (and many of you) dream about intentional community. Well, i've been having these amazing conversations lately that have spawned some questions around a different approach.

Talking with seasoned vets of communes and other intentional communities has highlighted just how difficult it is to artificially construct a viable community. How leadership is usually a thorny issue--a bit of a catch-22 really--you need a strong and visionary leader to actually make one of these things happen, and then after a few years, everybody is sick of the "controlling, overbearing, sob"... And then there's money...some have it, some don't; some earn it, some don't. How do you make it all equitable and what kind of internal economy will help the community flourish? And what about the interface with the external economy? Then there's the question of numbers--how many folks do you need to make a vibrant and viable community? And what about the mix of skills and professions (to say nothing of personalities or ages)? And this is just scratching the surface.

So, i have started wondering, what might emerge if i began to apply an appreciative approach to the issue of intentional community? What if i looked at the community i already live in as one which is largely functional, viable, and sustainable? What would change if i tried believing that the distance between what we have and what we need to create is very small? What would be different if i began to ask, "What is working well here and how can we grow more of it?" instead of, "What is wrong here and how can we escape it?" I am really interested to see what small steps and actions suggest themselves to me as i sit with this new set of wonderings.
It is absolutely entrancing to my writer's mind to look at my community through this new lens. What if i imagine that my community is an intentional community that has been thriving for 100 years? How would i approach my neighbours differently? What would i think was possible? How would my assumptions about how change happens be different? What if i began acting as if Gabriola is an intentional community of 5,000 souls that is threatened by external and internal changes and pressures? What invitations could i issue from this new perspective?

It is just flipping the paradigm around. I would be bringing intention to my community rather than attempting to attract a community to my intention.

PS: Further to my post of March 02, here is a link to a letter from Starhawk reflecting on her work of the past three years and in remembrance of Rachel Corrie, the peace activist who was crushed to death by a bulldozer in Gaza. You can access her other writings about her work in New Orleans and at the G8 summit via this site also.

For your listening pleasure

I have been wanting to post about the wonderful music coming out of CHLY Community Radio for a while now (available on the web). One of my favourite shows, Third Stone from the Sun (Wednesdays from 3:00 pm to 6:00pm) is hosted by friend and fellow Gabriolan Fergus Foley. George and I saw Fergus tonight on our way to and from Nanaimo and he very kindly sent a set out to us. Thanks, Fergus!



This is a pic of Fergus relaxing at his Gabriola digs. Several people are encouraging Fergus to start a wee blog, so perhaps we will be hearing more from him in the future. At the moment, you can find his top 10 list from 2005 here.

Some of the other shows i have been checking out...Eclectic Celtic--just what it sounds like and American Crossroads--live bluegrass--oh yes, and Indiecontextual--it's an absolute hoot if you are, were, or love a GRRL and serious RnR. You can check out the whole line up here.

Time for a change?

I don't know if it's spring or the alignment of the planets, but i'm all revved up again about making big transformations and having another go at changing my life and maybe helping to change the world. My friend Dave Pollard has been blogging about the same sort of thing over at How to Save the World. Interesting that he has been on my mind a lot the last few days--must be that group soul thing...

In his post, Taking Things into our own Hands, he suggests a cell-based, distributed system to just get things done locally that can have global implications. He asks for suggestions for a code of principles and silly as it may seem, my kids have been getting into Dinotopia recently and the Dinotopian code isn't a bad start. Needs some tweaking, but:

1. Survival of all or none. (recognizes our interconnection)
2. One raindrop raises the sea. (recognizes our uniqueness and its value to the community)
3. Weapons are enemies even to their owners. (nuff said)

4. Give more, take less.
5. Others first, self last.
6. Observe, listen, and learn.
7. Do one thing at a time. (Ah, the temptation of sanity)

8. Sing every day.
9. Exercise imagination.
10. Eat to live, don't live to eat.
11. Don't p...remaining text missing. ( The movie says: Find the light.)

So there you go Dave! If five-year-olds find it meaningful, it must have something going for it. I'll keep thinking about a name, although i almost wish it could be nameless. Somehow, everytime we name something, we close a bit of space and all of a sudden there's us and them.

And in his post for today, he points out the insanity of modern life--all work and no (meaningful) play. I was talking to a sister parent on Monday about how we seem to be caught in a new feudal system, continuing to work for subsistence rather than sustenance. Wondering how we can shift out of it. Continuing to have these conversations is part of it. Continuing to name it, raise our awareness, and support each other is another. And maybe it's past time i started demonstrating it.

A couple of women who are doing amazing work demonstrating the power of the people to create their own solutions and just doin' it are Starhawk, who is supporting incredible bioremediation work in New Orleans, and Cheryl Honey, founder of the Family Support Network.

The importance of practice

I have written a lot about why we find it difficult to achieve peace, about the need to reinforce good intentions and desires with practical skill-building and daily practice. Here is a story passed along by Jack Ricchiuto from jack/zen:

For decades after his enlightenment, the Buddha found it necessary to meditate 3 times a day and take 3 months a year off to meditate. Seriously. So what does that say about the importance of practice?

Thanks for the reminder.

How to change the world with blogging

NV06
Originally uploaded by the view from in here.

Registering for Moose Camp.

I was at the Northern Voice blogging conference last Friday and Saturday. Lots of juicy stuff going on, and one of the highlights that i figured you guys would enjoy the most was a presentation by Rob Cottingham on how your blog can change the world.


NVRob
Originally uploaded by the view from in here.

Here's a blurry picture of Rob holding up a cell phone on which Marnie Webb was able to contribute her portion of the presentation. Bloggers are nothing if not resourceful!

Here's my notes on his presentation...

Rob suggested that there are five kinds of change we can bring about, specifically the kinds of changes where people can act on something:

• building community
• connecting resources and needs
• advocacy
• providing information
• supporting or enabling others

He warned that bloggers for change can encounter the echo chamber effect where the communication becomes circular, with little dialogue, and ultimately few people are persuaded to change. He suggests that we need to know what the goal is and to remember that the change we seek is in the physical world, not just the digital.

We need to ask, what do people need and how do we reach them? Our thinking needs to be strategic, but perform that fine balancing act between personal authenticity and strategy to achieve goals. He offers sustainablog--as a good example of this balance.

Rob suggests that ways to avoid the echo chamber and to widen your sphere of influence is to invite others to speak through your blog either as a guest post or guest editor. And to join an existing effort, by adding a web badge for instance (for example human rights watch produces an rss feed), by providing information on other blogs and websites related to your goals, by using common tags for your topic, and by using flickr tags. All of these will help you to draw a wider audience. Also consider contributing reasoned comments on the blogs of those who oppose you. Where better to find new readers?

Some other great examples of blogs that are changing the world:

• interplast-blog --creates an ongoing connection. They use a flickr feed. They connect the community and tell a story
• march of dimes --dealing with critical childhood illness. Was originally set up for parents (by Nancy White), but became a powerful fundraising tool. It is used in addition to traditional websites.
• jetsgo--When it failed suddenly and thousands were left jobless, one person set up a simple blog and invited people to share their stories -- it became a job connection site.

The invitation to a broad scope and letting go of control brings in wider audience and increases what you can cover.

Some sites offered by audience members as examples of social change/networking blogging:
bc3.ca/wiki - an amazing site about planning, developing and operating wireless broadband networks in northern BC communities.
myknet.org; youth in the north linking to each other
werenotafraid.com - after the london bombing
iamfuckingterrified.com - reaction site to werenotafraid.com

There was also a suggestion for the creation of a drupal module to help with decision making for online groups.

There was a reflection that this medium of communication is transformative for an organization and to remember that there is a bifurcation between people who are comfortable with digital world vs those that are not.

Awesome contribution, Rob. Well done, espeicially in light of losing so many panel members at the last minute.


NVlunch
Originally uploaded by the view from in here.

Lunch at Templeton, 1087 Granville St., Vancouver. Great organic burgers and other cool eats for under $12! Groovy!

Here's to a great Film Festival!

Congratulations and thank-you to Nick Halpin of Eyes Wide Open Photography and Paul and Sapora of Moonfire Studio for all their work in pulling together an inspiring and thought-provoking film festival for Gabriola this weekend.

I was lucky enough to be able to catch two films: A New World is Possible, and The Indigo Evolution. A New World is Possible documents the 2002 World Social Forum held in Porto Alegre, Brazil, where 51,000 people from 113 countries gathered in response to the elite World Economic Forum in New York. The Gabriola film festival coincided with this year's Social Forum in Caracas, Venezuela, where more than 100,000 now gather to share in collective action.

I had an interesting experience as i watched it and reflected on some of the converging currents of the previous week. On OSlist, Harrison and others were debating the merits of having regional OSonOS events (the annual international learning gathering of OS practitioners) and while all agreed that having an international event was important, and should be preserved to continue growing the community, the value of having more accessible regional events that could feed into or share learnings from the Int'l OSonOs was made clearer. Often in the past, as i have watched footage of events like the Social Forum, i have felt a need to be there, to be present and a part of it--but this time i had a different experience. As i looked around the room and saw neighbours and friends and folks i had opened space with around our community commons project, i felt already connected--already a well-woven strand in the web. The work we are doing on Gabriola is directly connected to the work of the Social Forum and the movements it represents. It was an amazing feeling of solidarity.

And the Indigo Evolution...well, having three indigo's at home, i thought i had better go have a look see. Well, to paraphrase Robert Anton Wilson, it's not that i believe in all of this, it's that i am simply willing to believe in it. (if you decide to check out the link, be warned this guy is a satirist, a trickster, a disrupter, and a discordian and totally unrepentant--not to mention an amazing Joyce scholar)

Reminder...Don't miss the Moose!

Just a reminder that the Northern Voice Blogging Conference is coming up fast! Check out the offerings.

See you there!

A few links

A bit of linkage for you:

A beautiful and thoughtful blog by colleague Filiz Telek.

The new Open Space World newsblog--all the latest and some of the greatest from the Open Space community of practice.

A fun reminder about our interconnection -- turn on your speakers for the One World Wombat!

The Shire: An ecological learning community near Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. Supporting leadership and hosting conversations that matter.

The Berkana Institute: (from their homepage) ...is a growing community of life-affirming leaders around the world. We define a leader as anyone who wants to help, anyone who is willing to step forward to help create change in their world. We are everyday people who hold visions of new possibility for our local communities, nations, and our shared global village. If this describes you, we hope you will join us.

Long dark night of the soul -- for facilitators

Facilitated an Open Space yesterday for a small group (11) that was hosted in a beautiful private home. We had enough space, three! fires, awesome food, and a singing dog named Darby.

What i noticed in this small group and relatively small space, was that it is a lot harder to be invisible. I worked extra hard not to be too large a presence in the opening, and then was very careful to be as unseen and inobtrusive as possible, while still being present. While i was busy not-doing (more than usual), i had lots of time to observe the inner activity.

Now, facilitation is not usually seen as a spiritual practice, but i think i can now heartily recommend it to any serious student of any spiritual path. If you are looking to come face to face with all your stuff, to engage with your own long dark night of the soul--facilitation is good hunting ground.

During the hours while everyone else was deep in juicy conversation and dialogue, i was sitting/standing/pacing around listening to my brain do a number on my ego by inventing all sorts of stories about what was happening with those gathered and the day. Thank Spirit that i know that it's not about me and that i have faith in the folks gathered to do the work.

I have got to the point now, where this aspect of holding space is as close to fun as it's ever going to get. It's kind of like when you know you are dreaming--you can go along for the ride if you like and try to learn something. I know what my head is telling me is utter fabrication--but, of course, faith is not real unless it has something to test it/challenge it--yes? So the voices are necessary to strenghten the faith. At least that's my story at this point.

So there i am, for hours and hours, watching this incredible dance inside myself--aware of the space i am holding, aware of the strength of my faith in those gathered, aware of my insecurities and frailities--present with it all. Just sitting with it all. How glorious. What another gift.

What is it about facilitating that in order to truly serve those we host, we must lose faith in ourselves and everything else except those who are on the voyage with us?

Eye of the Storm

51677main_isabel_new_4
Originally uploaded by the view from in here.

Once in a while you get a gift. In this case it was at the end of a lot of hard work, risk, and grief, but it was still a gift. I'm not sure when the seed of this particular insight was planted, but i know it began to uncurl into the light of awareness during the Art of Hosting training i attended on Bowen Island in November.

I believe that i get more out of a training or conference if i go with a personal quest--so this time out i went to challenge myself at a very deep level. I asked myself, if I believe that facilitation is what i am called to do, if it is what i am focusing my career and a lot of life energy on right now, can i be (let me say that again, can i BE, as in embody) the very best host possible--for me. In other words, i wanted to walk straight into the heart of what i know are my greatest fears and weaknesses and see if i could overcome them or if they would stop me from being the best i believe i can be. Sound like fun?

Anyway...one of the learnings that i harvested from those three days of challenge was that the veil of fear is very thin. It looks fearsome and feels deadly, but if i pushed through it, i found that it was almost insubstantial. Once moving over the first hurdle, a path through emerged--even if twisted and shrouded in mystery and unknowing.

After the training, i went directly into a three-day facilitation for a community project on Gabriola Island, where i live. I will write more about this in the days to come, but the link to this idea came on the third morning. It was that moment when a facilitator really earns their keep--the groan zone as some call it--you can feel it when all the wonderful divergence stops and the whole enterprise has to begin to converge in to new emerging ideas and outcomes...the hard work, when everyone feels overwhelmed, loses faith and just plain gets ornery.

To me, it sometimes feels like a swirling storm of chaos and energy that i am both holding and remaining apart from. (At least that's the plan...) This event was a particularly strong example of it and it was remarkable to watch it unfold and see how my holding of the space was like the eye of the storm--an anchor of calm and stillness at the centre of the swirling work of the group. It is a challenging place to stand, but there is also an ease that comes and the same sense of emerging through a very thin barrier to what lies beyond when you get it just right.

I have talked before about the importance of stillness at the centre--that i believe it is the fifth practice of open space facilitation--and this seems to be further learning.

And finally, a personal challenge--aren't they always the toughest? When it's not about a client or a group, but just about you and something or someone you care about. So there i was...face to face with an intractable old pattern of defensiveness--not wanting to go there again--not wanting the same old, same old, but still feeling in the middle of the raging storm of emotion and history--you know that one, right? And there it was...the eye of the storm...Pema Chodron's words, and Goenka's teachings, the pains of birthing, and so many other influences all converged...i stood back, watched the storm swirl, saw the eye--through the centre of the pain. That was where the path was laid...the shortest and surest route out of the suffering was right through the middle of it all. Through the eye of the storm.

What it taught me, was that the eye of the storm, the centre of suffering and pain, is the place where our courage can be sufficient to the task. It is the thinnest place, the place where all the rest anchors and spins from. Act at the centre and you move beyond--all the dangerous energy of the storm uncoils behind you as you slip through into an uncharted open space. Watch for it and let me know what you find.

Happy New Year

New Year's
Originally uploaded by the view from in here.

Happy New Year everyone! And here's to more regular appearances--as promised.

The photo was taken on New Year's Eve outside the Gabriola Community Centre. We were just loading the kids into the van when i looked up and saw this and knew it was the photo i'd been waiting for. The branches of this lovely old twin maple seemed to curve up and embrace the light. What a beautiful image for the new year.

Well, lots of plans and new projects. Three more Open Space projects on the go, a new Open Space e-book project, website revamps, blog updates, a new hair colour, even a new business and partnership in the works.

Up next on the menu for tomorrow...The eye of the storm. Followed by my very late reports from the field on a one-day strategic planning OS with convergence and priority setting and a three-day OS for Gabriola Commons to produce a land use proposal with map! Lots of learning and thinking to share over the next month.

See you tomorrow,

Cheers,

Wendy

Has it really been that long?!

Gosh, i had no idea it had been this long since i posted. I have been sunk in work and family. And, unusually for me, i am struggling with the capacity to match words to my thoughts. I have needed to give myself permission to let go of some of my obligations (even the pleasant ones like this blog!) so that i can get more rest and engage in a bit more self-care. I can't say for sure when i will be back to posting more often, but it will likely be the New Year. Hope you will hang in there with me...

It is not necessary to choose a life of dramatic sacrifice: it is necesary that we discover what we love that is beyond our own concerns, and love it actively. To work in the world lovingly means that we are defining what we will be for, rather than reacting to what we are against.
~Christina Baldwin

The facilitator as Artist

There has been a long thread running on the OSList lately about whether those who Open Space call ourselves facilitators or what. Many fessed up and declared that we feel uncomfortable with the term, but that we often continue to use it, because clients/sponsors understand it.

“If the group is an art form of the future, then convening groups is an artistry we must cultivate to fully harvest the promise of the future.”
Jacob Needleman, Centered on the Edge

This quote arrived in my Art of Hosting package and on the heels of re-reading, for the first time in ages, Eric Maisel's, Fearless Creating. Which had got me thinking about myself as an artist again. So much of his description of the artistic process reflects the practices of open space.

So i am offering this up to you all for consideration. The facilitator as Artist. Artist in the creative sense and Artist in the alchemical sense as well--taking the common stuff of the Now, that which Is, and with Artful intent mixing it in the crucible of chaos. Then dancing on the edge of the feather of uncertainty, with only the lodestone of faith in those present as a guide, and gently holding the energetic flame beneath until something new emerges.

During a recent three-day OS, i had the opportunity to observe myself in this light and wonder about the metaphor. Here are the results of this initial wondering: artistic medium: the quantum stuff of chaos, the emergent field; artist's tools: OST and other dialogic methods, personal preparation/spiritual practice, creativity and design, energy awareness/work; the work of art: the liberation of the human spirit. (Which i believe, like all works of Art, is not of the Artist, but comes through the Artist. The Artist as conduit for the expression of Spirit in the material world.)

So i'm going to play with being a facilitator-Artist for a while and wait for the next bold thing to emerge--i can already feel the field of potentiality swirling...[grin]

Language not supporting our answers

Raffi asked to hear a bit more about our language not supporting the answers to our questions. The whole initial impetus for this blog came from my wondering about this very thing. Word gravity...that our words, because of their collective and individual history, can impede our capacity to understand each other. And at this particular time, when communication and dialogue are so important, this quality and/or effect seems to me to become even more essential to grasp and grapple with.

In Halifax at OSonOS, i had a wonderful butterfly conversation with Henri Lipmanowicz (Board Chair, Plexus Institute) in which he said that our language is failing us. That we have no language to talk about what we do (as OS facilitator-artists or change agents). And that our current language is structured on an action/reaction worldview--leaving no room for mystery or open space in which to allow the emergence of new forms.

At the Art of Hosting, one of our threads of inquiry was about wicked questions--what they are, how to ask them, how to find them. One of the insights generated from those conversations, was that our language lets us down by not supporting the answers to those questions we most need to explore. Again, i think it is connected to what Henri observed about the action/reaction base--the often dualistic stance we are forced to maintain by the inner structure of English. It actually influences our thought processes. And our culture either reinforces or is reinforced by this. In English-speaking culture, we have an unconscious expectation of instant response--usually opinion. This sets up a dynamic in which we are constantly under the iron weight of expection of response (and intelligent at that) with no space for reflection on or honouring of what we have just heard. This dynamic also seems to set up the competitive, evaluative, externalizing, and us/them engagement style most of us end up enmeshed in. None of this is helpful in developing skills for dialogue.

There are examples of our language strain all around us. Quantum physics has encountered it and ends up sounding just like metaphysics. We often have to turn to poetry and poetic devices to attempt explanations of our intuitions of emergent concepts/forms/processes. We feel the need to create elaborate explanations of even the most simple statement (this whole blog post, for example) and, i don't know about you, but i always feel like i've failed to communicate the thought-form in my mind. Read a little Buckminster Fuller if you want another example of someone actively (and often impenetrably) grappling with this.

You may have noticed that i often use what appear to be passive constructions on this blog. It seems to me, it may be, i posit that, i wonder if, i suggest...and so on. This is intentional usage to attempt to reflect and grow an appreciation of the concepts of relativity. There are a lot of venues in which this is taken for uncertainty, lack of confidence, lack of forceful presentation--as opposed to my intention of attempting to reflect more accurately the nature of time, space, experience and knowledge.

Want to experience what i'm talking about? Try a couple of these wicked questions on for a moment and see what happens. Maybe try answering them and then reading them back to yourself using a different understanding of the words you have used (use a dictionary if you need inspiration). Just see what happens. Or better yet!!! Host a conversation with a couple of good friends or complete strangers using these questions (strive for understanding, rather than agreement):

What is the antidote to fear?
What is sacred?
What is worth living for?
How can we become our best selves?

I am certain (and that's unusual for me), that at some point in this exercise, you will find yourself struggling to find words to express your thought-sense. And if we are lucky, we will witness the reluctant birth of a new poet.

Yes, I'm still alive

Hello all,

Yes, I'm still out here. I've been working way too much (60 hours week before, 87 hours last week). I have sooooo much to write about i hardly know where to start. Which, of course, is a big part of the problem.

I was at the Art of Hosting on Bowen Island last week and have so much to unpack still. But will drop a few choice gleanings here and write more later...

Follow your thread.

Never work alone.

A wicked question is one that is more important to ask than to answer.

Our language doesn't support the answers to our questions. (This came up at Halifax OSonOS, too).

Believe in the vast possibility that exists beyond fear. The veil of fear is very thin. If we can push beyond that first boundary, there is often a path, mysterious and overgrown, but if we walk with care it can be navigated.

Glad i asked

Yesterday, as i was enjoying the increasingly rare opportunity to be just Mommy all day, something interesting and wonderful happened. Beric came up to me as i was sitting in the chair in the living room and he put both of his hands around my arm and gave a squeeze and at the same time he made a very intense face. Maybe because i had been holding space the day before and was still in that holding/noticing mode, i thought to stop him and ask what he was thinking as he did that. He climbed up and curled up into my lap and looked into my face very thoughtfully. Then said, "I was thinking of all the love I share with you."

Mmmmmmm. Total body hum....

After the moment ended and he went back to rolling around with his brother, i found myself reflecting a bit as i watched them wrestling like little kittens. Children are so connected to their hearts and their bodies. They can still experience directly the heart as a generous organ. When a child tells you they love you, it just spills out of them--an overflow of the openness and joy of the present moment. And we hear it as the gift it is. Simple and direct.

Watching them wrestle i see the message of love too. The way they touch each other in play constantly communicates and reaffirms the bond of love they share. There is no separation; feeling, thought and action are in alignment. And i wonder, as their mother, how can i help to preserve this instinct for authenticity, as the dulling pressure of propriety encroaches?

And how do we do that for ourselves--reclaim that gift? --those of us who play with the idea that a different consciousness is possible and therefore a different way of being together. What a challenging thought experiment to try and discern which boundaries actually matter (good and wise structure) and which merely repress. To cast the mind forward into a potentiality where alignment is the norm--and to wonder what we might be like.

No answers here...just more shining questions...and a full and generous heart.

Love ya all
Mmmmmmmmm

Away for a couple of days

I'm going to be offline again for a few days. See you early next week.

a little riff on contraction

Contraction. From the Latin, con - trakere...to draw together.

I have been expending a lot of energy for some time now--okay years--in working to deepen my understanding of defendedness or the contraction of the heart. Why does it happen? 'Cause it seems to happen all the time...even when we are conscious and have strong intent...fear, the great contractor, is ever-present it seems. Through our conscious practice, we can intercede and remain open, we can choose to act, speak, risk, connect. But isn't it interesting that a word that means something as simple as to draw together, has such painful associations.

Here's just a few...
Of course, the one that is still pretty present in my mind...the contractions of labour...lots of pain--got to keep thinking about opening--and on the other side a new life is born into the world.

And then there's the contraction of the heart...that cold and painful feeling when the heart closes in on itself in the presence of fear. The feeling of smallness, of failure, of loss of self...when our courage doesn't match our intention. And if our courage is up to the test, there's the pain of stretching open the heart, of surrendering to the emergent moment. Drawing together is always a significant act of faith.

Ken Wilber describes the ego as the contraction of the Self. And i have experienced this so far, only when sitting with and exploring the nature of defendedness. Then i can feel the painful contraction, the drawing in, the shortening, the narrowing, of the expansive Self. The ego at these times feels like some little creature fluttering fearfully, heart pounding, subject to so many judgements, desires, and attachments.

Contraction--to draw together. Not so simple. And just that simple. When we talk about drawing together, when we form the intention to create intimacy, we will encounter contraction. And what can keep us moving forward, what can open the heart in the face of fear, is faith in the significance and the joy of what can be born on the other side of uncertainty.

If we want more intimacy, if we want more peace, if we want to truly know each other, then we have to practice jumping into space without a net--often. (Now you don't have to start out with a mountain cliff, mind you...the couch will do for a start...) (Certain readers of this blog will recognize this as a note to self...i have a habit of cliff jumping...problem with beginner's mind and all...)

poverty and regionalism in Canada

From Charity Village this morning:

According to the most recent report released by Social Watch, a coalition of 400 non-governmental organizations from 50 countries, poverty is rising among children and new immigrants in Canada, and the middle class is finding it increasingly difficult to afford education and housing. The report on Canada examines why the country has failed to make serious progress in the fight against poverty and inequality. It also demonstrates how a commitment to "small government" feeds regionalism and inequality, and how economic growth alone cannot reduce poverty and inequality, or improve access to basics needs and services.

The report is available here: Social Watch Report on Canada 2005
And consider a visit to the Social Watch site itself...some very interesting information available there .

Open Space Sangha debuts

Well, it's finally done--enough. I can't get the template the way i want it, but so be it...enough fiddling! It's time to announce the birth of Open Space Sangha, a new team blog that i am administering. Go have a peek and see what it's all about ... in the beginning...