Why a Fall in Love with Your Community Workbook?

There has been a surge in the desire for people to connect with their communities in a more intimate way. Some of this is due to the political climate in the world today and some of it has to do with our new awareness of the environment and global warming. We realize that in order to feel safe we need to know our neighbors and surroundings more intimately. How can we reach for peace and sustainability if we can’t get along and enjoy what we have in front of us every day in our own communities?

Negative conversations about where we live have held many of us back. Often we are not even conscious of how what we say impacts those around us and ourselves. In continuing to emphasize what we don’t like or want, we make sure that nothing changes for the better. Fall In Love With Your Community Workbook is a tool for transforming our conversations, and for propelling us forward into a new future, a future packed with possibilities, vision, alignment, personal responsibility and leadership.

How the Program Works

•The workbook is divided into four sections, three of them describing a program of “Actions” instigated by a “Team Initiator.”
•For each session, participants select from the menu of “Actions” that will help them fall in love with their community.
•The last section is designed to help the Team Initiator lead each session. It is easy to read and understand.

Who Will Benefit from Participating in the Program?

This workbook will be effective for any group of individuals or organizations interested in transforming negative conversations about where they live into conversations that propel them forward. Along with neighborhood residents and various municipal and non-profit service agencies, other beneficiaries include property owners, developers, realtors, businesses, chambers of commerce, places of worship, and community organizations.

When Pat O’Connor chose to move to Central New York State, she did so because it had all the qualities she wanted in a community. However, when she was meeting new people and exchanging pleasantries, they would often ask, “What brings you here?” When she told them that this area met all of her criteria for a place to put down roots, people would respond, “You chose to live here!?”

After several years of hearing this response, Patricia began to look at the Central New York area with a jaundiced eye. Eventually she joined the negative conversation about where she lived.

When Chuck Tomaselli, an architect in her area, asked if she were interested in being part of a grass roots movement aimed at transforming the conversation about living in Central New York, her negative feelings and comments flashed before her eyes. She quickly realized how she had become part of what she considered this region’s problems. She joined the new movement (Breakthrough Central New York), began to monitor her remarks and to rediscover the area. She became conscious again of why she had originally chosen this region and became happier and happier about where she was living.

Pat also came to understand that speaking negatively about one’s community is not confined to any particular region. Through her coaching practice, which involves talking with people from all over the country, she has continually heard comments like, “Well, after all, this is Tucson,” or “What do you expect, this is Denver!” No, she realized, negativity was not exclusive to Central New York State. Hoping to transform her discoveries into a contribution to others, she decided to codify the process that has transformed her attitudes and her life. Fall In Love with Your Community is the result.

Patricia O’Connor has a private practice in Financial and Empowerment Coaching.
See www.financialcleansing.com and www.oconnorcoachingservices.com

David Gershon
is the architect and co-author of All Together Now, The Low Carbon Diet and the Livable Neighborhood workbooks which are the templates for Fall in Love with Your Community. He is founder and CEO of the Empowerment Institute and designed empowerment programs that have been disseminated to 16 countries. David is one of the world’s leading authorities on behavior change and community empowerment. He has organized mass-mobilization efforts involving millions of people throughout the US and around the world including the Olympic Torch Relay and the First Earth Run. His best selling book, Empowerment, has become a classic on the subject of empowerment. David has served on White House, United Nations and various international advisory committees addressing empowerment and large system transformation issues. His work has received considerable media attention and many honors. www.empowermenttraining.com

Kim Landon
writing coach, held my hand as I conceived this book. She worked as a reporter at several Upstate New York newspapers before joining Utica College in 1979 as a journalism professor. An award-winning teacher, Landon is currently writing a book about women war correspondents. She has also done a nationwide study of how young journalists make career decisions. She has presented her research at national academic meetings and has published in several academic journals. She is also a freelance writer for a variety of magazines and newspapers.

Peter Michel
sculpture graces the cover and other pages of this workbook. He has worked as an architect in Boston, Houston and New York and has been creating sculpture for over 40 years. His colorful work is a celebration of the self, our relationships and commUNITY. His work has been shown in galleries, museums, and sculpture gardens in the Northeast and Midwest, and is in private collections across the United States as well as in Germany, Japan, Korea and South Africa. For more information on Peter’s work see, www.petermichel.com.

Chandler Moss
designed the workbook and workbook website. He is an artist/technology coach native to the San Francisco Bay Area and currently residing in Brooklyn, NY. A founding AmeriCorps alum, he loves working for the greater good. www.chandlermoss.com

*This workbook was inspired by my participation in “Breakthrough Central New York”, a grass-roots movement, whose mission is to “To generate conversations that inspire individuals and organizations to take responsibility for the future of our region”.  Gail Straub’s wonderful course, Grace, helped me learn what service is and inspired me to get involved along with the support of the wonderful people of the class. As always, I acknowledge my husband, Scott MacDonald for his unwavering love and encouragement.