Community Building Workshop

Posted by on June 3, 2005

How do we build respect and connection with people who are truly different from ourselves?

How do we communicate authentically with people whose outlooks, histories and cultures are profoundly unlike our own?

How can diversity within a group be harnessed as an engine of collective creativity and wisdom, instead of causing communication difficulties?

What internal barriers to meaningful dialogue do we carry within ourselves, and how do we face and drop those barriers in order to enter into meaningful dialogue?

How can a sense of genuine Community be restored when the wider culture has tendencies towards isolation, fear and materialism?

At a two day Community Building workshop to be held in Philadelphia on June 25 and 26th (Saturday & Sunday), workshop participants will experience and learn the process of Community Building.

Two trained and highly experienced Community Building facilitators will gently guide the group to move towards Community, which has been defined as, “? a group of two or more people who, regardless of their backgrounds, have been able to accept and transcend their differences, enabling them to communicate openly and effectively, and to work together towards common goals, while having a sense of unusual safety with one another.”

“Experiential in nature, the workshops are based on a set of guidelines and principles rather than an agenda or particular procedure. They are gently guided by trained facilitators who take the group through a process that shows how to look beyond the cultural, political and religious differences that prevent us from embracing our common humanity.”

This method of Community Building was pioneered by M. Scott Peck, who with others founded the Foundation for Community Encouragement. It is described in his book, “The Different Drum.”, from where the quotation above was taken.

The Philadelphia workshop is co-sponsored by the non-profit Global Dialogue Institute. It will be facilitated by Ellen Stephen and Phillip Spencer-Linzie. Ellen Stephen was an early member of the Foundation for Community Encouragement (FCE) and served on its board for many years. She is the author of “Vessel of Peace.” Phillip Spencer-Linzie has been a facilitator for FCE for over ten years and worked on several FCE task forces.

Due to generous organizational and individual funding, full and partial scholarships are available.

WHEN
Saturday June 25th and Sunday June 26th 2005, 9.00am to 5.00pm

WHERE
International House, 3701 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104. (This venue is fully wheelchair accessible)

COST – based on ability to pay
$200 per individual or $150 per individual
FULL AND PARTIAL SCHOLARSHIPS ARE AVAILABLE

SCHOLARSHIPS
Please ask about full and partial scholarships. Community Building is intended to be inclusive and we want to accommodate everyone interested regardless of their financial situation.

CONTACT
Jonathan Kahn (workshop organizer) , PO Box 2593, Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004
(215) 552-8708. email: CommunityBuildingPhilly@yahoo.com

ELECTRONIC RESOURCES
The Global Dialogue Institute: http://www.global-dialogue.org
Foundation for Community Encouragement: http://www.fce-community.org
Community Building Info: http://www.communityx-roads.org
Community Building Canada: http://www.mec-quebec.webcentre.ca
Community Building in Britain: http://www.cbib.org.uk