Philanthropy
Think about the activities in which you normally engage. What is it about these activities that has value to you and that could be valuable to others? Is it your time? Is it your talent? Or is it your treasure? Did you ever think about giving something of value to you with the intention that your action might benefit many other people? Whatever you decide to give to others is called a resource and that is a valuable thing. When you give that resource away for the purpose of contributing to others, you become a philanthropist. In other words, you become a person who actively seeks to find ways to promote goodwill and improve human welfare through your donation.
Do you reside within a community? Imagine being a community philanthropist. As a community philanthropist, you may be regarded as a person who is giving a sense of belonging and hope for the future to your neighbours. You become a person who is making yourself available for collaboration and leadership. With a firm belief that your actions can lead to positive outcomes, you may be assisting the realization of your community’s visions for the future.
Now imagine more people like you in your neighbourhood pooling their resources to build and sustain a stronger community. Is this a cause that you would like to undertake? Is this a community where you and your family would want to live and prosper? Then why not learn more about the concept of Apple River Communities and make a donation to “Work the Talk”. Think of your contribution as a step toward building assets for your future communityThink about the activities in which you normally engage. What is it about these activities that has value to you and that could be valuable to others? Is it your time? Is it your talent? Or is it your treasure? Did you ever think about giving something of value to you with the intention that your action might benefit many other people?
Whatever you decide to give to others is called a resource and that is a valuable thing. When you give that resource away for the purpose of contributing to others, you become a philanthropist. In other words, you become a person who actively seeks to find ways to promote goodwill and improve human welfare through your donation.
Do you reside within a community? Imagine being a community philanthropist. As a community philanthropist, you may be regarded as a person who is giving a sense of belonging and hope for the future to your neighbours. You become a person who is making yourself available for collaboration and leadership. With a firm belief that your actions can lead to positive outcomes, you may be assisting the realization of your community’s visions for the future.
Now imagine more people like you in your neighbourhood pooling their resources to build and sustain a stronger community. Is this a cause that you would like to undertake? Is this a community where you and your family would want to live and prosper? Then why not learn more about the concept of Apple River Communities and make a donation to “Work the Talk”. Think of your contribution as a step toward building assets for your future community.
Service
Contribute some of your time to make your community a warmer and friendlier place to live and explore. You might join a group that volunteers, perform some tasks on your own at random or participate in an activity when asked. The goal would be to improve and beautify areas in and around community homes, parks and open spaces by pitching in with a little additional upkeep and maintenance. We rely too heavily on governments to perform this work when we could be doing some of it ourselves. Large projects would still require funding assistance, but we can decide on what part we do and what part they do. After all, it is our community. While there is a parcel of budgeted money allotted to our community, we should work with our government representatives to decide how it is spent. If there are rules in place preventing our participatory involvement initially, the plan would be to work out what we can do now and how we can change those rules to allow us to do more. We can have more and/or better placed garbage receptacles and work out with governments where to dispose of the waste and who would supply the bags. Since we don’t want to access additional government resources, we can do this ourselves. We can decide on temporary solutions for potholes and sidewalk issues and many more issues such as who provides power, gas and internet. Since we live in these communities, it is in our best interest to make sure they work well for everyone in every season. We need to ensure our community is active in all four seasons knowing it requires effort on our part for that to happen. We need to ask ourselves the question of whether people are too busy for additional volunteer tasks because of personal and family commitments or because they have been programmed into thinking that the work belongs to others. The benefits of volunteering might be hard to measure but they are there. Volunteering can range from picking up the trash blown around your property or park to teaching a movement class at the local community center. It can be emptying garbage cans regularly or helping out with batting practice. It can be cutting someone’s grass or shoveling someone’s sidewalk. When others are isolated or cannot participate in basic activities, your volunteering effort makes a world of difference for them. Volunteering in your community will elevate your self-esteem and your pride in your surroundings.
Roadmap
Choose to move into a community because of the culture within that community. Make your alignment with the community a higher priority with respect to lifestyle than the features of the house or condo or apartment you are exploring as your future accommodation. It seems a question that prioritizes you and your neighbours over buildings. As for you, what if your list of things that need to align consisted of things like playing a sport or opportunities for discussing issues with other community members. What if each community listed the sports and/or activities available? What if how the elected representatives and the members of the community voted on issues was on public record? This would add a potential layer of examination regarding alignment. Potential residents would have more information to compare with what’s important to them and their families. It is easier to follow a plan that has been put together in a story through a book. If you read the Day Walker series of books, you will gain a sense of how communities can create their own common interest geopolitical areas. Although the Day Walker books describe a place and a time in the future with superior technology and medicine, the story still allows readers to see the possibility and benefits of building interpersonal relationships within their communities. The intention is to create a roadmap toward an improved path forward for us, our families, friends and neighbors. It is so difficult now to envision a community that offers something different and better than what is there now but it is entirely possible. We, the people, are the higher power that can use the technology and medicine we have now and the new developments in the future to support even more improvements. It is critically important that there is no real replacement for social F2F interactions. And we should never lose sight of how others view our behaviors towards others. In the Day Walker books you will read how it was possible to right all wrongs in societies in every country on earth almost immediately, but the will to do it was not present. Most people in places of influence that abuse their power have been able to do so because they have not encountered limits or opposition. When no limits or boundaries are present, this is tantamount to granting permission to betray the trust of the office. In other words, we have allowed them to take more power than was granted and we failed to give them an option for another path to follow. As communities build towards the Work The Talk philosophy, others will graduate or be promoted into places of authority with a greater openness for doing what is best for the people they lead. Businesses will thrive under a culture that demands fairness and promotes those who would treat their workers as they would like to be treated themselves. Not only can you be part of the Work The Talk roadmap, you can be part of making certain the map stays on track and is updated or corrected as necessary to ensure it serves the will of each community.
Engagement
Imagine having the opportunity to foot race against your neighbor and being the fastest runner in your community or participating in batting practice when you are 75 years old and haven’t swung a bat for 60 years. Comradery builds quicky through engagement in physical activities with others. Activities may be noncompetitive or semi-competitive. Participation creates opportunities for conversation and the exchange of ideas. Being part of an activity can deliver a feeling of accomplishment no matter your age. There is a combined social and physical benefit.
People should never be sidelined from sports or social activities because of their age or physical conditioning. Participation should not be limited to the fittest of participants. Being a part of group activities makes a huge difference in people’s lives not to mention that every one of us can reap the benefits of group interaction through activity.
I grew up in a small-town community where we had a place for people to meet and talk about their day or listen to others do the same. It was a good way for people to discuss things and showcase their personalities. It was similar to business networking except it was mainly personal information.
From that people would better understand others and form their own opinions about the people that lived in their community. There was some gossip of course but it was to be expected. Work The Talk is committed to doing the same in each community. These meetings would be unscripted and held outdoors when the weather permitted and inside when it didn’t.
This would be a good opportunity to discuss issues that effect their community on a municipal, provincial or federal level. Sometimes people can make decisions on issues from how it might affect their immediate family. However, by discussing your thoughts with others it can solidify your decision or change it depending on the information you hear. Share your thoughts and ask questions to more than one person to get different reasons for how people view an issue. Always be aware of someone trying to sell you on an idea rather than sharing their opinion.
Imagine a place where the people living in a community collectively assist the other people in their community to participate in a broad range of physical and social activities. These physical and social activities are basic in nature. Physical activities can be a foot race or batting practice for people of all ages. You can tell someone who has good mobility just by watching them walk or perform basic movements.
Empowerment
Empowerment is the practice of sharing authority, information and rewards with others. When we connect empowerment to the context of community, it means enabling people to solve community-based problems by making decisions and taking initiative at the community level. Empowerment emerges when community members have the skills, resources and opportunities to contribute solutions. Empowerment is not without accepting responsibilities. It builds from promoting a sense of ownership by the members of the community toward a goal of increased satisfaction as a result of achieving better outcomes.
Empowerment can also be thought of as a personal philosophy tied to strategy. Empowered community members who operate within the framework of a common vision, mission and goals can increase their productivity and their effectiveness as they relate to community objectives. In other words, people become more responsible and accountable for the actions they take as individuals. To be clear, as member-owners of the community, trash is not simply discarded in the moment; it is deliberately deposited in appropriate receptacles. Taking ownership of one’s garbage helps keep the community tidy.
Empowerment is, indeed, a process of encouraging people to think, take action and make decisions toward common community goals. Being empowered means feeling in control of your environment and knowing you are trusted to make decisions within your realm of responsibilities.
Also, empowerment can be contagious. As an organic, grassroots, bottom-up process there are ways to empower others in your community. The most important ways are to build trust, ask for feedback, offer instructions, simplify discovery, show your appreciation and recognize limits. All methods should be applied in the appropriate scenarios to obtain the best results. Empowerment cannot be given or taken; it has to acquired.
Voice
Living in a community where you have an opportunity to influence the leaders that represent where you live and what is important to you. Imagine living in a community where you have the opportunity to contribute your opinion on decisions that impact you through frequent polls. Imagine that the results of such polls will become the voice of the community. Your voice is part of the community voice. Your voice will sometimes be on the same side of an issue as the community and sometimes not. Every voice has a stake in the outcome.
Some cautions are in order. Your voice becomes a part of your community’s collective voice. It has power and, therefore, your responses should be weighed and measured internally by you before being shared with others. Ask questions to learn more. If you know nothing about an issue, research it.
Whether a community is closely divided on issues or overwhelmingly on one side, the majority will have the say. That’s democracy in action. Community issues that only affect one community may be acted upon or implemented right away at a community level. In a democratic environment, issues that affect the province need to be measured with the other communities within the province and follow the overall voice of the province. Issues that affect the country need to be measured with the other communities within the country and follow the overall voice.
The collective voice of the community will be posted online with a margin of error so everyone will know when our opinions about issues are strong and need to be supported by our leaders. Elected leaders holding office may find themselves having to choose between their political or ideological position and advocating for the voice of the communities they serve.
Imagine living in a community where elected leaders can no longer use evasive tactics when it comes to communicating information. Leaders saying things like “that information is not yet available” or “we are continuing to study the issue” will not be accepted. With the implementation of a frequent and public polling system within communities, our governments and our local leaders will be able to become better informed about citizen reactions.
So… living in a community where you have an opportunity to influence the leaders that represent where you live and what is important to you, you have but to step up with your voice. Can polls influence decisions? When polling results are ignored, leaders may feel the pressure as communities may back other leaders who will represent community voices exclusively beyond any personal, political or ideological views. After all, exercising choices is part of the beauty of living within the freedoms of democracy.