Successful Strategies
Every activity your group sponsors can help build community. With well-planned opportunities for relaxed, informal social interaction among residents at events in your neighborhood, residents can develop connections with neighbors of different ages, incomes and backgrounds that can last year round.
Special strategies can reach even your most isolated neighbors. The Lyndale neighborhood uses a “Language Exchange Program” to build long-term connections between new Mexican and Somali immigrants with their English speaking neighbors. In the Central neighborhood, residents who are moving through the difficult transition of moving from welfare to work are building bonds of mutual support through “Community Living Rooms” sponsored by Freeport West.
Barter Exchange Networks build connections while meeting neighbors’ practical needs. The Barter Exchange networks that are currently active in the Central, Powderhorn, Lyndale, and St. Paul’s East and West Sides, are strengthening the long-term connections among hundreds of urban neighbors. In a traditional barter network, residents earn one hour of help for each hour of service they give. Participants can use a data base to find neighbors who can offer the skills they need (babysitting, house painting, etc.) Two other barter networks active in the Twin Cities reward neighbors for their volunteering through economic means. The Fare for All network provides half price groceries for residents who volunteer two hours a month and the Community Hero Network in South Minneapolis empowers residents to earn discounts at local merchants through their volunteer help.
Local and National Networks have been formed to advance the work of community-building. Please see the MCN’s Resource Directory for links to these groups.
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Annotated WebLinks
National Community Building Network
National Community Building Network 06/14/04
An alliance of individuals and organizations that work to reduce poverty and create social and economic opportunity through comprehensive community building strategies. The mission of NCBN is to promote and advance community building principles, in practice and policy, to achieve social and economic equity for all children and families. NCBN provides a forum for community practitioners, researchers, funders and others engaged in neighborhood transformation to share their common interests, insights into barriers they encounter, and field-tested strategies for rebuilding communities.
National Neighborhood Coalition
National Neighborhood Coalition 06/14/04
Serves as the national voice for neighborhoods by providing a crucial link to Washington for neighborhood and community based organizations. Fosters communications and collaboration among local, regional and national organizations working to build healthy and sustainable communities. Promotes public policies that strengthen the role of community and neighborhood-based nonprofits as problem solvers and community builders.
Neighbor Nets Network
Neighbor Nets Network 06/14/04
"Neighbornets" are affinity groups of people who live in the same general neighborhood who choose to form closer bonds with one another. In some cases, these people will already be acquaintances who wish to deepen their friendship. In other cases, they may come together initially around one common area of interest (for example, gardening), and then decide to broaden their scope of activities (for example, to include service projects, a monthly potluck etc.), and thereby increase their sense of community.
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Library
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Vendors by Sub-Topic
Local Community Building Groups 
Asset-Based Community Development Institute
BIHA Women in Action
Center for Neighborhoods
Central Community Housing Trust
Fare for All/Emergency Food Shelf Network
Lyndale Neighborhood Association
Powderhorn-Phillips Cultural Wellness Center
The Freire Center: A Popular Education Center for Democratic Social Change
State and National Community Building Networks
National Association of Town Watch
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