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January 4, 2008Final Report from the National Community Building Network |
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Building a Community of Community Builders After many accomplishments through the support of our members and supporters, the NCBN Board has decided to cease operation as an organization effective at the end of 2007. For twelve years NCBN provided the framework for a diverse group of community builders across the country to improve conditions in low-income communities, a venue for them to share their strategies and lessons, and a platform for collective action. At its peak, NCBN had more than 800 members from 200 organizations across the United States and Puerto Rico. "Community building" was a relatively new and unfamiliar concept; its components and strategies were just taking shape, and its individual proponents often felt isolated and misunderstood. Along the way, NCBN leaders and members learned a lot about the challenges and potential of community-building efforts. It was no longer clear that a national organization like NCBN was the best vehicle for serving today's community builders. And so the National Community Building Network came to a natural end, although the work of revitalizing low-income communities continues. Community building is an approach to improving conditions, expanding opportunities, and sustaining positive change within communities by developing, enhancing, and sustaining the capacities and relationships of those who make up the community. It is a framework for addressing interrelated troubles---poor schooling, crime, bad health, unemployment and underemployment, family instability---that ensnare people in chronic poverty. Its practitioners believe that comprehensive, community-driven efforts offer the best hope for revitalizing neglected neighborhoods, especially in the urban core. Community building puts residents at the forefront of efforts to rebuild their neighborhoods. It is done by and with neighborhood residents---with the residents as the dreamers, planners, and implementers of a collective vision for their neighborhood. For more information please visit - http://www.handsnet.org/NCBN.php
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