Princeton’s Civil Society and Community Building online course

Posted by on January 24, 2003

Princeton Project 55, in association with the Alumni Council, is pleased to announce a new on-line course entitled ?Civil Society and Community Building.? The course explores both the theory and practice of building ?social capital.? The course is designed for anyone interested in strengthening communities and community institutions, whether as a professional, a volunteer, or a concerned citizen. We hope that the course will continue to develop a community of Princeton alumni and friends committed to building a robust civil society.

The course will be offered this spring beginning February 3, 2003. To register, please go to <a href="https://tigernet.princeton.edu/Education/civilsoc.asp">https://tigernet.princeton.edu/Education/civilsoc.asp</a>.

Tuition is $100 per household or organization ($75 for alumni in the Class of 1998 and younger). Registrants receive: Two audio tapes; Course syllabus; Packet of course readings; Access for an unlimited number of people to the e-mail discussion group. The course is designed to be used flexibly by participants who may have a variety of time constraints.

This 14 week course will begin with a brief theoretical overview for the course and to the concepts of social capital and civil society. It will then move quickly into discussion of various approaches to community building including: asset-based community development, community organizing, settlement house and service delivery models, community economic development, faith-based strategies, and market-sector approaches. Readings will include several case studies and articles by John McKnight and Jody Kretzmann, Michael Porter, Jane Addams, Saul Alinksy and John DiIulio, among others. We will then spend two weeks examining how public policies and regional dynamics affect the building of communities and the creation of social capital. Finally, the course explores some of the key challenges of implementing community building/change strategies, including diversity, evaluation and leadership.

An optional weekend in Chicago will be offered for a modest additional fee of $85 ($65 for alumni in the Class of 1998 and younger) for those interested in exploring course themes in the context of an urban laboratory. The site visits will occur in the North Lawndale neighborhood, one of the
featured course cases.

To learn more about the course and to view a summary of the syllabus click the following link <a href="http://www.project55.org/asc_overview.html">http://www.project55.org/asc_overview.html</a>.

For other questions about the course or registration, feel free to contact Lindsay Michelotti at civ@project55.org or (609)921-8808, x6.