Building an Org

I've just started reading an excellent book called Building Powerful Community Organizations. It's a guidebook to doing just that presented along the same lines as What Color Is Your Parachute. Case Studies, Stories, tips and exercises to sort out the direction on your way to building a new community organization or to strengthening existing ones.

I've also posted another blog on my personal development blog page which you can read here: jppersonalwellness.blogspot.com

In my last post here, I spoke of voter turnout in London and the related topic of community engagement. A Twitter friend had said in a Tweet sent while I was writing that blog that one can't talk about turnout without talking about engagement. ie, the reason that people don't vote may have to do with their feelings of efficacy and the legitimacy of government. Our governments in Canada are legitimate in some ways (rule of law, open elections, a high degree of transparency) but in other ways struggle for legitimacy (low voter turnout, parliamentary democracy, first-past-the-post.)

And so it is with these thoughts and some of the comments that I have seen, both on Twitter and in various other forums, such as TVO's AgendaCamp (I participated in many of the online discussions during Sunday's forum) that I am forming the basis for a community organization.

Part of this process will be to sit down with at least 50 engaged Londoners and people of interest. These people range from the many London friends I have on Twitter and Facebook as well as community leaders I've not yet met both elected and in the NGO and Private sectors. I have ideas and skills to bring to the table but no community organization can thrive with only one person at the wheel. It would be arrogant and quite misguided of me to engage in this process after only being back in London for 6 months.

It is my mission though, to help create a more engaged community around me. I have lived some of the problems. I was for a time one of those youths that leave our City. Now that I've come back with some excellent experience, I am determined to do what I can to address those issues.

So if you are from London and you read this I ask: Will you meet with me? Can you provide me the names/contact info or perhaps a reference to at least 5 people that I should meet with on my Listening Tour? What are your ideas/concerns? And How can you help me to work at building a better London (it's a pretty great place already!)