In Robert Putnam's book, Better Together:Restoring the American Community, he profiles a group in the Rio Grande Valley that proposes "The most dangerous thing we do is talk to our neighbors." In the chapter leaders and organizers go on to say that "Relationship-building is a way of looking at the world, not just a strategy." and "Relationships are not just the engine of reform, they are one of the goals of reform."Why is the conversation between neighbors so powerful? Why are those bulding community and social capital from within communities focused on building individual relationsihips? What are the advantages of this approach which starts with the people in a community and connecting them, versus starting with the issues of a community?Share your stories, successes and challenges.

updated by @ron-dwyer-voss: 10/24/16 05:35:55AM

Hi Ron,Great point about starting with relationships rather than issues in a community.One community that I am working with had this same insight. They are interested, long term, in improving the school district in their community and in turn improving the overall "livability" of their neighborhood. One small step they thought their neighborhood association could take on is to restore a historic home that once served as a reading center for the school district (complete with retired teachers in the community volunteering to tutor kids!). Rather than tackle the "issue/project" first, they had the insight to just get people together, start getting to know each other and about the historic home. So, they decided to start a community garden on the land surrounding the historic home. They received permission from the school district to use the land (the district can barely maintain the property). In their first season, they attracted more than 30 neighbors who signed up and maintain their own garden plot at the community garden. As folks get to know each other through the gardening they have continued to move forward their ideas about rehabbing the historic home and now have more support and resources through the relationships they built gardening together.The community garden may well replace those bowling leagues Putnam talked about!Do others have examples of community gardens and relationship building?