Common Good Collective seeks to make accessible the foundational practices for restoring the commons by cultivating a discipline that is rooted in the act of eliminating economic isolation, the significance of place, and the structure of belonging.
At the beginning of 2018 after months of conversations between Peter Block, Walter Brueggemann, John McKnight and a group of practitioners, the Common Good Fellowship was convened in Cincinnati in order to empower a group of 30 individuals from around the nation and world to enact their personal experiments of imagination within their lives, work and communities. In coordination with this, the Common Good Podcast and Reader were also launched in order to invite more ownership and participation in restoring the commons.
Due to the success of these elements, the Common Good Collective has now evolved to facilitating events and conversations. The three aspects (the significance of place, the structure of belonging, and eliminating economic isolation) are deeply interwoven together in all we do. We are at our best when we are collaborating with others around design, producing/hosting, facilitating and amplifying.
John McKnight, The Abundant Community: Awakening the Power of Families and Neighborhoods
“First, we see the abundance that we have – individually, as neighbors, and in this place of ours. Second, we know that the power of what we have grows from creating new connections and relationships among and between what we have. Third, we know that these connections are no accident. They happen when we individually or collectively act to make the connections – they don’t just happen by themselves.”
Peter Block, Community: The Structure of Belonging
“We are a community of possibilities, not a community of problems. Community exists for the sake of belonging and takes its identity from the gifts, generosity, and accountability of its citizens. It is not defined by its fears, its isolation, or its penchant for retribution. We currently have all the capacity, expertise, programs, leaders, regulations, and wealth required to end unnecessary suffering and create an alternative future.”
Walter Brueggemann, An Other Kingdom: Departing the Consumer Culture
“The alternative to the free market consumer culture is a set of covenants that supports neighborly disciplines, rather than market disciplines, as a producer of culture. These non-market disciplines have to do with the common good and abundance as opposed to self-interest and scarcity. This neighborly culture is held together by its depth of relatedness, its capacity to hold mystery, its willingness to stretch time and endure silence.”