Clik here to view.
Detatching From the Single-Family Home
I taught a class on the American Dream while student teaching last year. I gave students markers and giant pieces of paper and asked them to draw whatever popped into their minds when they thought of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Participation by Design: Using Story in Community Planning
This post is the fourteenth in a month-long series hosted by PlaceMatters on the impressive diversity of participatory decision-making tools that communities can use for land use plans, transportation...
View ArticleClik here to view.
“Infinite Vulnerability” (for Maurice Sendak)
The death of Maurice Sendak this week has gotten me thinking about why his books have made such an impact, and why as a nation we are registering his passing as a significant cultural loss.I think, in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Power of Partnership: CommunityMatters Bulks Up
This is an exciting month for the Orton Family Foundation and CommunityMatters®. To help you understand the significance, bear with me as I hit the reverse button.In 2007 the Foundation held a national...
View ArticleClik here to view.
If Your Community Were an Orchestra...
If your community were an orchestra, what would it sound like?This is a question the Brooklyn Philharmonic seems to be asking as it roamed the boroughs of New York City this summer. Led by a new...
View ArticleFUN: The Key to Community Participation
Our atmosphere’s getting all gunky.And climate change makes us feel funky.But we’ll change our fate!Play Vermontivate!And celebrate with Chunky Monkey!Even if you don’t have a clue what Vermontivate!...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Bringing the Heart & Soul Principles to Life
When the Foundation was first developing its Heart & Soul program back in 2007, we convened a group of thought leaders from various disciplines to help us define how to improve community planning...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Community as Classroom: Learning Through Service in Victor, Idaho
Guest blogger Hannah Orcutt is a former Orton intern now based in the Teton Valley. She recently got in touch to let us know that the impacts of the Heart & Soul approach are still making a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Making Change Through Stories, Large and Small
Storytelling has caught on as a means of social change and civic engagement in the last five to ten years, and has been a popular practice for, well, pretty much forever. Consider the use of slave...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Essex Schools Reflect Town’s Heart & Soul Values
As students returned to school this fall, I began to notice things were just a little bit different.There were all the usual signs of school starting up: sidewalks lined with young walkers, streets...
View Article
