Citation

Kesler JT, O'Connor D. Natl. Civ. Rev. 2001; 90(4): 295-305.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2001, National Civic League)

DOI

10.1002/ncr.90402

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Across the United States, a number of community-based movements and local groups share complementary visions and approaches to community transformation. This article gives an overview of these movements and examines some of their common concerns. In 2000, the National Civic League and the Coalition for Healthier Cities and Communities received a grant from theW. K. Kellogg Foundation to evaluate the potential for convergence of these community movements into a "communities movement." Although we found that it is too early to speak of the latter, a new stage in the development of community-based movements is emerging. The Communities Movement Project was designed as a series of five dialogues in locations around the country. The first stage was to convene an advisory council to frame the issues that would be discussed, choose the locations for the dialogues, and design a survey instrument for use in each dialogue. At the outset, we determined that we were interested in convening members of these community movements: Healthy Communities, Sustainable Communities, Community Building, Civic Democracy, Livable Communities, Safe Communities, and Smart Growth. There are other significant community-based movements, but this selection comprises a good sample of the movements that have been the most influential over the past decade. More information on each movement is found in this article.