Our Vision
/On the basis of the context and assumption we laid out in the last section we think it is now possible to put forward our vision for our communities. In short, we think that a healthy and vibrant region is one where citizens are active and efficacious in their social systems, where all actors are welcome to the table, where our social systems are aligned with our identities, histories, and ways of life, where solutions are found within, using the wealth of capital and assets all our communities naturally possess, and where all these activities support and foster our current well-being and future prosperity.
We think this vision is both possible and necessary. Possible because all the ingredients – people, talent, connections, knowledge, diversity, natural resources – lay at our feet. Necessary because our position in history demands that we become both more connected and more self-reliant at the same time. But we're also convinced that this vision can be brought to fruition more painlessly with the help of devoted community builders: people whose sole responsibility and passion it is to help a community make the transition to this emerging paradigm of social relatedness. Like a midwife, a marriage counselor, or a loving gardener, the community builder's role is to do everything in her power to ensure the well-being of everyone involved. This dispassionate passion requires a unique mindset, a unique set of both technologies of the self and social skills, and a unique range of tools that we think needs to be recognized and encouraged. This is ultimately what the Field Guide for Community Builders hopes to achieve.