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As we read earlier:

Associations are a primary place in community where individual capacities get expressed.

Continuing:

 If I want to manifest my kindness or generosity, and I want to do it in a collective way, then I create or join an association. Association is a structural property of a competent community. It is the aspect of community that is repeatable; it has continuity and membership. Otherwise, it is a meeting. If you and I want to have breakfast together, good. If we want to ask two friends to join us and have breakfast every month, then we are an association. You can tell who is in an association. It has a boundary.

What meet-ups are repeatable in your life? How do these regular or boundaries, friendships, or associations, help build momentum and impact to characteristics you value? Does meeting once a year to camp with families help you bring local possibilities to life? Does joining a cohort of neighbors help you proliferate kindness beyond what you practice in your home? Does meeting with colleagues for breakfast help you keep generosity at the center of your work?

And going a step further, do those who expect these regular meets come to feel a sense of belonging because you all keep them up? Celebrate this sense of community today. And if you feel a longing for this why not make a short list of possible communities to join or form, and start by inviting others.

McKnight, John. The Abundant Community: Awakening the Power of Families and Neighborhoods (pp. 71-72). Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Kindle Edition.

On America’s adoption of the Declaration of Independence, it is helpful to ask what independence is used for. Continuing our discussion on associations, we see how they activate citizenship in ways that systems (such as government) cannot.

An association… is a means to make power rather than giving it away. This new associational tool involved using these community powers:  

• The power to decide what needs to be done. This power is not delegated to experts. It is based upon the belief that local citizens, connected together, have the special ability to know what needs doing in their community.
• The power to decide how we could do what needs to be done. Here again, local knowledge is the basic expertise.
• The power to join with one’s neighbors to do what needs to be done.

The association is the tool that allows us to produce the future we envision. A citizen is a person with the awesome power to determine and create a common future. And so it is that the association makes citizenship possible. It empowers us because neighbors can decide what needs to be done and how it can be done—and, of greatest importance, they are the people who can do it.

As you celebrate with friends and family, note the ways that association life calls forth the freedom to freely join neighbors in deciding what and how to do what you are passionate about. Is there a particular friend or community hero who makes such association-life possible for you? Maybe a call or a card, or sharing a cool summer drink would be a way to help them know this.

McKnight, John. The Abundant Community: Awakening the Power of Families and Neighborhoods (pp. 125-126). Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Kindle Edition.

Community competence and abundance are most likely to prevail in places where the consumer society and its institutions have not taken over. The consumer economy has invaded or colonized most every corner of life but one: associations and associational life.

An association is fundamentally a group of people who have a shared affinity. Associational life begins with a group of people who are drawn together for some reason, and that reason is what makes it work. Say they all like dogs, so they have a dog club. Or they all like reading fiction, so they have a book club. An association is often a fulfillment of one’s individual likes and purposes. It is a place for having something in common, standing on common ground. But there is more to it than that…

Associations are a primary place in community where individual capacities get expressed. 

In a consumer society, we behave as if the “center” is where commerce, institutions and the rich-and-famous live. But you and I intersect places at the margins of such a society every day. Like the wilderness, these marginalized places or those who experience marginalization, are rich with abundance, and we just miss it.

What is one example of a margin that you intersect with or frequent? Is there a group you know who are not the typical center of attention? Is there a common cause or passion that is less than mainstream. Why not lean further into these relationships and begin committing to associate together more often. You don’t need to elect a organization president or a have shiny product to be an association. Consider simply sharing the possibility of committing to one another to meet regularly. Vulnerably listen to see if this is welcomed.

Moving from an unnamed possibility into a shared intention is a step toward building the social possibilities of a community.

McKnight, John. The Abundant Community: Awakening the Power of Families and Neighborhoods (pp. 71-72). Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Kindle Edition

… Associations are organized to express the properties and capacities of a competent community, [while] systems are organized to produce services and products. This distinction has particular meaning when it comes to relationships.

Systems use relationships to produce products and services. Associations create relationships for their own sake. This has the effect of bringing forth the properties of kindness, generosity, and the rest. Developing community properties and capacities is the secondary purpose of association. Associations exist to be a collecting place for them. They will allow these qualities to be brought into the collective. This is why we need associational life; otherwise, these capacities will remain hidden within ourselves, a gift ungiven.

Association is built on people who are manifesting generosity, cooperation, and forgiveness. It provides a vehicle for the manifestation of that which is hidden in systems.

Consider such qualities or values as kindness, generosity, or rest. Notice how you might practice these alone, or as an individual. Now consider how associations you belong to make it possible to practice these even more frequently and with greater impact.

Take time this holiday week to thank a couple people or associations for helping you with that. It’s amazing how a simple call or email to a group of friends, or a letter to colleagues in an association you belong to  can remind the association of their power and significance.

McKnight, John. The Abundant Community: Awakening the Power of Families and Neighborhoods (p. 81). Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Kindle Edition.

Yesterday we read about how kindness is done together.

The [second] is, “How do we, together, allow me to do it individually?”…

… when I show kindness as an individual act in a competent community, I not only feel good but also am rewarded for being kind. This is a community that creates space for me to be kind and values it. It is a context in which kindness is welcome, appropriate, rewarded, and valued. In this context, kindness is nurtured. If, on the other hand, in the context of the consumer way, the meal is ordered and delivered from a restaurant, it is still a kind act. The problem is that while it is good for the economy, it does not build the social fabric of the neighborhood.

Families and neighborhoods become abundant and functional again when they invest enough in each other that gifts, association, and hospitality become commonplace in the collective.

There is a pizza shop in the Clifton neighborhood of Cincinnati where someone began the practice of secretly picking up the bill for another family’s meal. This passing it forward has continued. For years now, there is a culture of generosity that reminds patrons that kindness is possible and it builds curiosity, play, and generosity. And the kids eat it up. What a simple, light-hearted way to model kindness to children!

Consider one public or community space that you frequent (maybe a coffee shop, a farmers market, a gas station, or a park). How could you and a few friends create a scenario that rewards individual kindness in this space?

McKnight, John. The Abundant Community: Awakening the Power of Families and Neighborhoods (pp. 72-73). Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Kindle Edition.