Top 10 ways to build a modern sense of community

A common question is how does one build a sense of community? Here’s a CoolTown take on that, based on the article, The Top Ten Ways to Kill a Community, from the infinitely resourceful work-life blog, Lifehack.org.

Local investment
– Support economic gardening where cities invest economic development dollars in growing their own companies vs stealing them from other cities.
– Invest in local lenders that care and know how to assist in the development of local businesses vs attracting only national lenders who have no ties to the local market.
– Establish programs to hire and train from within the community with the help of the beta community vs training local companies to rely on outside entities for talent.
– Identify the core beta community of conscious creatives in your region/city/neighborhood and draw on them for leadership, vision and talent vs hiring people from outside the community. Related to above.

Leadership
– Maintain the diversity in leadership meetings by including local, younger and emerging businesses and creative organizations vs relying on only the more established representatives that often represent maturing and declining industries, trends.
– Ensure that government officials are located in or at least near the neighborhoods they make decisions for vs allowing governmental authority to migrate to distant locations, which is why inner cities are often denied high achievement-oriented charter schools by suburb-residing boards.
– Keep gifted leaders in the local communities that they know so well and have helped prosper vs forcing them to move to a larger governmental body as a ‘promotion’.

Industry
– Encourage experience industry development that emphasizes local culture vs the traditionally lower-paying service industry that doesn’t.
– Pay people what they’re worth in a meritocracy – more talented people will come and stay, your company will grow, and so will the local economy… vs paying people by seniority only and watching the opposite happen along with inflation.

Placemaking
– Build the most beautiful places: streets, building, blocks, parks and plazas that you/your city can afford throughout the city vs allowing the build up of substandard housing in one area and luxury housing in another, with the conscious creatives, the source of your job and culture creation, left with little choice than to move to the suburbs.

Thanks to Robert Richman, director of community for PeopleJam for the reference.

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