Other useful resources – Ērā atu rauemi whai take

Let us know if you think there are more resources or links we could add.

ABCD Institute The Asset-Based Community Development Institute (ABCD) is at the centre of a large and growing movement that considers local assets as the primary building blocks of sustainable community development. ADCD draws upon existing community strengths to build stronger, more sustainable communities for the future.

The Ākina Foundation (formerly the Hikurangi Foundation) supports and grows social enterprises and helps ambitious communities deliver solutions to climate change, resource limits and environmental degradation.

Art of Hosting is an approach to leadership that scales up from the personal to the systemic using personal practice, dialogue, facilitation and the co-creation of innovation to address complex challenges.

Aspen Institute  is an educational and policy studies organisation based in Washington, DC, USA. The Institute is a nonpartisan forum for values-based leadership and the exchange of ideas.

Bank of I.D.E.A.S  operates from the basic assumption that communities do not develop from the ‘top down’ or from ‘the outside in’. It believes that communities need to build from ‘the inside out’, and for their residents to invest in themselves, ideas, assets, capabilities and resources in the process.

Canada’s Caledon Institute of Social Policy closed its doors in 2017, but all of their resources are now housed at the Maytree Foundation. These resources include rigorous, high-quality research and analysis; discussion on poverty and social policy; and concrete, practicable proposals for the reform of social programmes at all levels of government and of social benefits provided by employers and the voluntary sector.

Canadian Center for Community Renewal (CCCR) is committed to crafting solutions and adaptations to the critical challenges stemming from climate change and peak oil. Their priority is working with communities to increase local resilience, especially capacity to equitably meet local needs for food, energy, finance, shelter, and sustainable livelihoods.

Cities reducing poverty In this podcast, Mark Cabaj speaks about Cities Reducing Poverty,
a resource from the Tamarack Institute, which profiles six Canadian cities as they worked collaboratively to reduce poverty as part of Vibrant Communities Canada. This work is distilled into a set of powerful lessons for any city eager to address the complex issue of poverty.

The Collective Impact idea provides a useful framework for community change and is situated within the broad frame of collaborative efforts focused on systems and policy change. Tamarack actively works with collaborators including the Collective Impact Forum and the Harwood Institute in the United States; Inspiring Communities in New Zealand and Collaboration for Impact in Australia to intentionally build the field of practice in Collective Impact and collaborative community change efforts. The Real Challenge for Collective Impact provides a critical interrogation of Collective Impact, including many more useful links.

Community Research is a comprehensive, diverse and easily accessible free collection of lived experience, research, knowledge and resources for a fairer and more equitable Aotearoa. A hub for researchers, iwi and community organisations to share their ideas, and practice.

Groundwork is run by Jen Margaret, a dedicated Treaty advocate and educator. She enjoys working with individuals and organisations to deepen our understanding and application of the Treaty. 

Impact Blues Terry Smutlyo sings about the differences between outcomes and impact.

Inspiring Stories is a charitable trust based in Wellington, operating nationwide, with the vision to see every young New Zealander unleash their potential to change the world.

Maytree Foundation is a private foundation that promotes equity and prosperity through leadership building.  It invests in leaders to build a Canada that can benefit from the skills, experience and energy of all its people.

Ministry of Awesome exists to water the seeds of awesome in Christchurch. This is a space for everyone’s awesome ideas to flower!

Neighborhood Empowerment Network The NEN’s approach is a fusion of modern community development strategies with classic health, public safety and emergency management goals. Specifically, the NEN leverages techniques such as place based planning, human centered design, asset based organising and servant leadership to engage communities and ensure the transfer of ownership back to the Neighborhood of their resilience.

Neighborhood Matching Fund The City of Seattle’s Neighborhood Matching Fund was created in 1988 to provide neighbourhood groups with Council resources for community-driven projects that enhance and strengthen their own neighbourhoods. All projects are initiated, planned and implemented by community members in partnership with the City. Every award is matched by neighbourhoods’ or communities’ resources of volunteer labour, donated materials, donated professional services or cash.

New Economics Foundation NEF is an independent think-and-do tank that inspires and demonstrates real economic well-being. It aims to improve quality of life by promoting innovative solutions that challenge mainstream thinking on economic, environment and social issues by working in partnership and putting people and the planet first.

Our Amazing Place  The OAP Community Treasure Hunts are free community events running throughout New Zealand that seek to connect people to their local communities. People, places, businesses and services are all profiled and discovered in a fun treasure hunt trail around a local neighbourhood. The treasure hunt trail features a number of stations which each have a challenge, activity or task that must be completed to gain a stamp for their ‘passport’. The participants then head to a final destination for a celebratory event of people, place and prize draws!

Philanthropy New Zealand PNZ is the peak body representing and supporting philanthropy and grant-making in Aotearoa New Zealand. Their members include trusts, foundations, community groups, individuals, investors, local government and iwi. They facilitate collaboration and offer practical guidance for anyone with an interest in giving to make the world a better place.

Pomegranate Center  works from the belief that the future depends on our ability to work together to find the best solutions, to use resources wisely, and to learn to see our differences as gifts. With a unique style of community-building that combines a creative approach with effective community planning, broad public participation, hands-on learning and leadership development, beautiful places are created, the economy grows, health improves, resources are better used, crime goes down, and people are happier.

Project for Public Spaces PPS is a non-profit planning, design and educational organisation based in New York that’s dedicated to helping people create and sustain public spaces that build stronger communities. Their pioneering place-making approach helps citizens transform their public spaces into vital places that highlight local assets, spur rejuvenation and serve common needs. PPS has projects and training programmes operating worldwide.

Take Part is a learning approach in the UK  that helps people develop the skills, confidence and knowledge to become more active in their communities and influence public policies and services. Their site includes a great range of resources around active citizenship.

Tamarack is a Canadian Community Engagement Institute that develops and supports learning communities to help people collaborate and to co-generate knowledge that solves complex community challenges. Their deep hope is to end poverty in Canada.

The Barefoot Guides have been written by community development practitioners mainly working in South Africa. They are written in very accessible language, with great stories to illustrate their messages. Their second series focuses on building a strong learning orientation into community change work.

The Plexus Institute is a community of diverse people committed to fostering the health of individuals, families, communities, organisations and the natural environment by helping people use concepts emerging from the new science of complexity.

Tipu Ake ki te Ora Lifecycle is an easily applied, and action-focused leadership model that exploits Kiwi style teamwork. It provides new tools for organisations that wish to grow into dynamic living entities, rather than just behaving like machines.

Transition Towns initiatives are part of a vibrant, international grassroots movement that brings people together to explore how local communities can respond to the environmental, economic and social challenges arising from climate change, resource depletion and an economy based on growth.

The Treaty Resource Centre works with organisations wherever they are on their Treaty journey.

Vibrant Communities is an initiative, championed by Tamarack, and focused on significantly reducing the human, social and economic cost of poverty by creating a connected learning community of 100 Canadian cities, each with multi-sector round tables addressing poverty reduction. Their goal is aligned poverty reduction strategies in cities, provinces and the federal government, resulting in reduced poverty for 1 million Canadians.

Village Planning Porirua  This award-winning programme is a groundbreaking partnership between Porirua City Council and its communities. It puts communities in charge of developing a vision for their neighbourhoods and then partnering with Council to make it happen. This vision is brought together through community consultation and developed into Village Plans, which lay out the community’s goals and aspirations for the future of their neighbourhood.