The Community Building Class

I went to a class today on "Process of Community Problem Solving". I thought that this would be about building community between nonprofits with similar missions to work toward resolving issues or sharing resources. I was slightly mistaken, as most of the attendees were from public organizations or working with neighborhood organizations. Whoops. Despite my confusion, the class was actually pretty great. I learned a lot about the process in building these community groups and heard some success stories about how organizations (mostly government) have made change. The biggest lesson that I got from it was that a lot of change is about having the right people and the right resources at the right time (sounds a lot like Jim Collins!).

According to my friend Jordan, there is a new trend in nonprofits where smaller nonprofits are teaming their resources together and then voting on how to use the funds. I think that this is an amazing idea, and there are so many tiny nonprofit organizations that could make a big impact if they worked with others!

The information that I learned today was great, and I learned some very valuable skills that I will hopefully be able to use either to consult for some nonprofits or to help nonprofits become even more successful.

I also made a couple of contacts today--one girl who is in a similar situation that I am in! She moved here a few months ago and is looking for a job in nonprofits. We are going to get together at some point next week to work today.