Building a community -- Step-by-step mission

To all my friends from World Without Oil, it's been a very difficult and challenging time for me. There have been many interruptions of all sorts that have kept me from writing, and given the growing uncertainty here and in the rest of the world, I want my posts to mean something. When I first starting sharing my knowledge with you, the WWO community, I admit that I was singularly focused on preparations largely for my wife and I. While I knew that community was important, I felt like it was too complicated to get together, especially being brand new in the area, and in the culture. Now, I realize fully that I should have started there first. And, what I am going to share with you know are the steps that you can take RIGHT NOW to start building a community where you live.

This guide is particularly focused on suburban areas where many houses are in a relatively small area with limited amounts of land and natural resources, but will also apply even for more rural settings. No matter what the state of your neighboorhood, it is never too late to start this.

Part 1: Getting the 'lay of the land'

One of the hardest parts of building a community is knowing where to start. One of the unfortunate side-effects of modern, auto-dependent culture has been the walling off of us from our surroundings, both nature and people. We travel from bubble to bubble, insulated in our cars, then insulated in our houses. And ultimately, things outside our bubbles barely register. That's why the very first step to building a community is to look around and know your surroundings. This is a bit of detective work, because you are on the hunt for clues to solve a very specific mystery: how to bring a bunch of people together for the common good. Additionally, knowing your surroundings means knowing what plants and animals are around. Many neighborhoods are loaded with wild edibles, fruit trees, nut trees and fields with edible greens. These can all be cornerstones of developing a solid food security plan for your community (more on that later).

The best way (and sometimes the only way) to get to know your surroundings is by walking around. You'll be amazed at the things you notice once you are looking for them. If you haven't already, check out books from your local library on wild edibles, like Stalking the Wild Asparagus, or the more pragmatic Illustrated Guide to Wild Edible Plants published by the US Department of the Army. Also, learn what fruit and nut trees look like in their various stages of foliage. Additionally, there are numerous berries you can easily identify such as blackberries around. Never try wild mushrooms. Ever. Even hardcore wild foodies don't mess around with these potentially deadly fungi. Stick with things that are every easy to identify such as dandelion, chickweed and field garlic.

On your walkabouts, bring a notebook or journal and make note of where things are at. Also, make note of any neighbors who seem to have green thumbs. Your list should include:

- All fruit and nut trees, as well as their locations
- Any open fields or other open areas that might be candidates for community gardens
- Fields or parks with wild edibles
- Natural water sources or other geologic features
- Boundaries of neighborhoods that seem like logical places to "draw the line" of where you stop trying to involve people
- Extra nice gardens, or people who are growing food (look for veggies or perrenial herbs like rosemary) already
- Churches, schools or community-based businesses
- Solar panels, alternative energy sources, rain barrels, push mowers or other low-energy technologies

You get the idea. These are the resources in your community that can be starting places for sustainability. These are also resources that will need to be carefully protected and managed. For example, if there is a large field where food can be grown, sustainable growing practices have to be incorporated from the beginning! You can't get back precious top soil once it has been blown or washed away. You'll also need to think of how growing operations can be sustained through 100% people-power. There may be a 5 acre field open for growing food, but how will the soil be prepared and de-weeded without chemicals? How will the prepared soil be cultivated and ammended? How will rows be dug and maintained? How will pests be managed? Be VERY careful not to bite off more than you and your new community can chew. Good relationships will be very important, especially as more attention and labor is focused on these new projects. Right now, you are just identifying possible resources, not specific projects per se.

Once you're back home and looking over your notes, think about essential resources that are 100% missing. While Americans these days are very concerned with fat and obesity, the irony is that post-collapse, getting fat will be next to impossible, and without it, you'll die. (The same goes for potable water and salt, especially with iodine.) Are there any nut trees in your neighborhood? Are there any areas where animals might be able to graze? Both of these are good sources of fat. If not, you need to expand your search further out into the area until you can find this. Ideally, everything you consider as part of your community should be within a few hours' walk. Remember though that the further away someone is, the harder it is to stay "in tune". And, walking uses up precious time and calories that in a crunch would be better spent on immediate survival.

All of this up-front planning is not something you necessarily want to share right up front with people as you are community-building. It's a master plan that you can use to help shape the organic growth of things. By taking this challenge you are becoming a natural leader, but others in the community my have designs on leadership too. We'll touch on this in a bit.

So, now you have a map of your area in terms of resources, and some idea about the fundamentals that might be lacking. The next step is to start looking at the human resources in your neighborhood.

Part 2: Human Resources

While it seems kind of funny to think of your neighborhood in terms of "human resources" it is something that everyone did in the old days. Everyone knew who the local experts were because they were the first person you'd turn to when you needed a particular service done. Nowadays most neighbors don't know what their neighbors do, or what they might have as hobbies that might be extremely valuable during a crisis situation. In our first part of this process, we identified the "green thumbs" and now it's time to identify the "gear heads," "tinkerers," builders and providers.

After walking around your area, I am sure you immediately identified certain houses that looked more inviting and welcoming than others. While not always true, it's often the case that these houses belong to older, established community members. They are more likely to know who's who, and have useful historical information about the area. They are also going to be the easiest to approach.

Starting with the most inviting house in the area, make a plan for how to approach them and get to know them. This will depend a lot on your personal style, but some ideas are:

- shared a baked good, home-grown veggies or other treat
- if it is an elderly person, you can offer to help with yardwork or gardening
- ask if a neighbor might be willing "to keep an eye on your place" while you go out of town for the weekend

Sometimes the very best way is the direct approach. Knock on the door with a smile on your face and start up a conversastion. Most people appreciate a good neighbor, and will welcome you inside. If not, then you know that this may be a person to approach later in the community-building as opposed to up front.

If you get a conversation going, avoid bringing up heavy stuff too soon, even if it is staring you both in the face. Being positive and focusing on getting to know your neighbor should be where you start. Ask about who they know, where they came from, how long they have lived here, and what kinds of hobbies they enjoy. Finding common ground is always great.

From this initial conversation, you'll have a new list of things to follow-up on. If the neighbor told you about other people nearby, this can help you decide who to visit next. In my case, I found out from one neighbor that the guy across the street from me is a jazz bass player! That made getting a conversation going a lot easier because we had a common place to start from. In turn, he directed me to a couple living two doors down that enjoys canning and food preservation. There are threads that run through your community, and it's up to you to find them.

Once you have gotten out and met your "easy-to-meet" neighbors, it's time to write up a list of names, skills and interests. When you meet future neighbors, you should continue adding to the list. Before too long, you'll have a list of all the "human resources" in your community.

Part 3: Getting it together

You've done a lot of information gathering and meeting people, and now it is time to start putting it together. There are a number of ways to do this, but the best one is usually in the form of a "block party" where you create invitations, ask for volunteers, and set a date. When times are tough, people will welcome an opportunity to get out of the house and have a party, especially if they can walk to it!

Try and plan activities for the get-together that starts planting the seeds of community. This means you may be acting as a "social director" introducing neighbors with like interests. You may also want to have name tags for people, especially if you're like me and have a hard time remembering names. Also look to community organizations like churches and see if they may want to participate. Just be a little careful about not getting competing ideologies together in your first event.

Try and come up with a list of things you'd like to see happen during the block party like:

- Getting to know neighbors who might not have been in your first-meet list
- Learning as much as possible about existing friendships and especially rivalries
- Bringing up core ideas like "emergency planning", "neighborhood gardens", and community organizing
- Discover what people think about continuing get-togethers
- Identify possible leaders, or people more interested in community

While you'll get some done during bigger events, most of the real work will be behind the scenes and one-on-one. Remember that if it seems like nothing really comes from your initial get-together. Persistence is key to building a community, since you are making something that goes against most-people's grain, and you're doing it from scratch.

Make sure you thank everyone who volunteers, as these are going to be your core team when it comes to getting things done in the future.

Part 4: Organizing and roles

Up to now, people have not necessarily known that you are building a community, yet they do see you are a capable leader, and able to organize. If your block party was successful, chances are the community respects you already and will be open to ideas you raise. The key is to come up with a list of small, very easily-accomplished community projects to build on the foundation you have built. Ideally, these projects would be oriented toward bettering the community, while also planting the seeds of sustainability. Some sample ideas of small but important intial projects:

- Neighborhood litter clean-up, especially streams, rivers or common areas
- Building play structures in a park
- Volunteering as a group at a local homeless shelter or community organization
- If you have artistic folks, play music at a nursing home or put on a community play
- Pick a "house of the month" to help landscape with edible plants
- Have a wild-edibles party where you walk the neighborhood looking for what you identified in step 1

All of these small project require organization, leadership, commitment and time. Each of these skills will be essential to have as the community develops, even if you are not responsible for all of them. You may be a natural leader, but have no organization skills. Remember the human resources part? You'll need to find someone who is a natural organizer to fill that gap. Wherever possible, try and get people to pitch in however they can, even if only for an hour a week. Everyone is busy, and may not have time to dedicate yet, but when crunch time comes, you'll have no shortage of volunteers. If you get good at delegating and coordinating, your role as a community leader will be much easier later.

Another part of developing and executing projects involves clear roles. I encourage you to come up with a list of what roles are needed for your particular endeavor, including for yourself. Clear role definitions are what allow organizations (from business to community) to function smoothly and efficiently. Some sample roles might be:

- Project manager (the person watching the timeline, milestones and tasks)
- Project leader (the person who helps coordinate the actual activities and tasks)
- Volunteer (project participant... also specify what exactly they are volunteering to do!)
- Budget manager/treasurer (the person who handles the money)
- Volunteer coordinator (the person who handles the direct management of volunteers)
- Community outreach coordinator (the person who deals with the public, government and press)

Also, identify how these roles interract with one another, and what accountabilities exist. Obviously the higher-level roles require a great deal of commitment and professionalism. You should choose very wisely when helping delegate these roles. Also, don't be afraid to relinquish control of the project to someone who has more experience or desire to lead. Just make sure that you have a clear set of goals that everyone agrees upon beforehand. This will help you know how successful you are, and also keep everyone focused on the tasks at hand.

If you have a solid, core group of organizers, it's definitely time to start talking about the big picture. You'll want to be very careful how you bring up the topic of community sustainability, as it has many implications that people may or may not be ready to face -- especially in terms of dealing with permanent collapse. Most people can cope with and understand periodic disruptions, like natural disasters, but the community you are building is more permanent than that. You may be surprised by other people in your core group who have thought of the same things, but were unsure what to do about it. I have had this experience many times, especially when I start talking about how unsustainable the pace of our lives has become, and how we are clearly causing irreparable damage to the world around us. In our hearts we know that the way we are living is completely unnatural and dependent on a razor-thin margin. And up to this point, that razor has been oil. But now, the razor is cutting into us and bleeding us dry. A strong and sustainable local community is the answer.

Part 5: Bigger and better projects

By now you have learned a ton about your community... its strengths and its weaknesses, its threats and opportunities. You know who to go to and for what. It's time for your community to graduate to the next level and adopt a community identity and purpose. It's time for you and your core team to raise the flag of sustainability through some key projects.

First and foremost is planning, just like when you started. You want to identify what you want to accomplish first on the "big projects" list. Key things to accomplish might be:

- Food security
- Community skills improvement (especially "archaic" skills such as blacksmithing, animal care, alternative energy development, etc.)
- Community security, defense and safety
- Energy security (renewable resources)
- Community information sharing either through books or electronically

The projects that accomplish this will depend completely on your community. Some places will have an abundance of natural or human resources, and getting large projects going will be very easy. Others, may be less fortunate, and a community garden may be as ambitious a project as you dare try. Just remember to always think sustainably! Everything you do should be something that can be enjoyed by future generations. If you plant fruit trees, you may never taste the fruit, but someday, someone from the community will benefit from it.

Another key to accomplishing bigger projects is making sure roles are absolutely crystal clear. There also has to be some sort of community enforcement in place to make sure people do what they say they will. These are all skills that should have been cultivated in previous smaller projects, so if you're not ready to do a large one, go back a step and make sure to work on it. You don't want your first big project to fail, because it will undermine everything you have worked on thus far. The more you can spread the work out, the better. That's what the community is for.

Once you have success here, it's simply a matter of identifying continuing projects so that the community is as self-sufficient as possible. By this time, people will be reaping the rewards of community in innumerable ways, including:

- Tapping the skills of other community members to problem solve
- Socializing and having fun
- Support for those who need it in times of illness or personal setback
- Lower food costs due to community garden projects
- Increased neighborhood security and lower crime
- A community "tools" pool so no one has to buy their own tools or machinery

In well-developed communities, you may even have things like communal daycare, weekly potlucks and a central guest room/house. There are really no limits on what you can accomplish, it's just a matter of knowing what you want to do and developing a project to get you there.

Part 6: Passing it on

Most communities are going to morph and change over time, so it's important that you have a plan in place to deal with this. A newcomer to the community should be slowly introduced to the "rules" that have been developed. While they are not obligated to participate, they should be shown all the great things that the community has to offer them should they choose to do so. If they happen to own part of the community infrastructure, such as land where a community garden is held, it may pose a serious problem. Make sure you think in advance about these sorts of complications up front. For planning big projects, make sure people are planning on being there for the long haul.

Part 7: Disputes and resolutions

Unfortunately, there will inevitably be disputes, agruments and disagreements within the community, especially when times get tougher. Just as with everything else, the key is planning. You don't want to face such situations unprepared. Ideally, you'll want a solid mediation framework in place. This involves setting ground rules about disagreements as well as identifying a pool of people willing to act as arbitrators. These folks should not have a vested interest (or as little as possible) in the outcome of the decision. Arbitration should be included as a part of all major projects, so that you know how to settle problems and if necessary, disassemble the thing you built. As a rule of thumb, never build anything that you don't know how you're going to disassemble. That is part of sustainability!

In your human resources list, you may wish to identify people who would make good arbiters. Even-headedness and a calm demeanor are essential to help diffuse difficult and tense situations. These are the people you may tend to overlook for other jobs. They may be quiet and keep to themselves. Everyone has a role that they'd be perfect for, it's just a matter of finding it. You may also be helping people discover latent talents they had no idea they even have! Hopefully this is true for you as well.

For ground rules on disputes, you should help the community draft an arbitration agreement. This would be the beginnings of the community bylaws that someday may be rigidly enforced. While such a document is a little complicated, it doesn't have to be filled with legal mumbo jumbo. It just needs to identify possible friction points ahead of time, and what the community will do in reaction to it.

For example, if someone donates land for a community garden, there needs to be a plan for if they decide to sell their place and move away. If an agreement can't be reached, then arbitration becomes necessary between the individual and the community.

Closing

So now you have all the tools you need to start building a community: people and resources. It's how every community in the history of man has formed. Our challenge now is that we're doing it as natural resources are becoming scarcer and scarcer. Also, we're faced with climate change and political instability. But, remember that community is the single strongest thing you can build in the face of crisis. It is a powerful force that can collectively solve problems and challenges that would be insurmountable for an individual. It is ultimately how we got this far, and it may be the only thing that keeps us going.