Nurture Development

A Tribute to John McKnight (1931-2024) *The Weaver of Weavers* Four score and thirteen years Of weaving, The forest loom lumbers, Snugly around small Bounded places. Life shaped him and he shaped life. A circle of friends around the world, Hold gently a silk thread, Hosting unseen connections, A paper boy in rural Ohio, Through to an Adobe in Cuernavaca, Where a prophet foretold the limits of Kings’ horses and men. Life shaped him and he shaped life. Do not for others what they can do for themselves, America, burning again, new dreams emerging, again, As the Blue Planet, unfinished, gasps: “I can’t breathe”, and Is revealed. Life shaped him and he shaped life. The weaver too was weaved, From the Great Depression, Korea and Selma, From Bobby to George, The Moon landing and the fall of the Berlin Wall, He cheered as a former student proclaimed “Yes We Can!” He’s lived through a Plague and traveled the world. Life shaped him and he shaped life. He paid attention, always curious, About the edges, the forest’s fringe, Where strangers are sent, and labels afixed. Where carelessness comes home to roost and where surprises also, Spring. Life shaped him and he shaped life. He was courageous and fiercely kind, Forever featuring the handmade and homespun, Backgrounding Caesar;  While foregrounding his neighbor. With Covenanter’s resolve and Irish wit, He made the invisible power that surrounds us, visible, And vibrant, and beautiful. Life shaped him and he shaped life. He was a weaver of weavers, Neighborhoods; his precious loom. Life’s functions the threads, And the tapestry he helped us see, Is a cultural womb; for the birthing Of the beloved Community. Life shaped him and he shaped us all for the better! We. Will Weave onwards. Goodbye dear friend, rest well. Cormac (In loving memory of John L. McKnight, 1931-2024, November 02)

Being a good *guest* in the neighbourhood and figuring out how you can be useful and fit into what matters locally to those who are residents there is the intent of ABCD. When as professionals, we say we are members of the community, does that mean we sleep there; we are residents of that place? Sometimes, as professionals, it’s a good idea to ask yourself how you can be a “Useful Outsider”. By better aligning my professional support with what the community cares about and wants to work on, I become useful. So ABCD for me as an outsider is really about relocating authority to residents. That's not the same as putting a burden on residents to do my work, but it is about me not appropriating resident-led functions. I wonder if sometimes people who are paid to serve communities are saying “we are members of the community too”, because they are trying to hold on to authority that belongs elsewhere. They are in essence saying our opinions matter just as much as residents'. The underlying question must be about power relations. What is being “assigned” and what is being “assumed” in any given dynamic? If there is power asymmetry than that must be made explicit. Of course, if you are a professional who says my main allegiance is to the communities I serve, then that's a great expression of allyship. Local doctors who practice in a neighbourhood are indeed in that sense members of the community. But if they don't live there they may say I am a local guest in the health journey of this community, but I also recognise I don't live here and that there is important health creation work that people who do live here must do together to be well. “This neighbourhood is as much a unit of health as each of my patients & I care deeply for this place.” The police officer who serves in the neighbourhood may also volunteer to support the local soccer club, but if they don't live there they too will take care to emphasise the irreplaceable role that residents who do live there have when it comes to local safety. Remembering it is a misuse of power to solve a problem that doesn't belong to me. If everybody paid and unpaid says we’re all members of the community, then how do we know what is residents’ work & what is the work of paid professionals? In the final analysis, if you are saying “I am a member of this community too”, then ask yourself, if you have to choose between being loyal to the institution you are employed by or the neighbours you claim to be in community with, which would you choose? Perhaps the truth is that you are minding the gap between these two overlapping domains. I find even when I am visiting with my neighbours it remains always a good idea to figure out how to be a good guest in their lives. That practice has served me well. As has being a useful outsider. On occasion I have been invited to become an “Alongider” and that has been my greatest honour. But even then I take care not to do for communities what they can do best for themselves.

We Will Prevail When potholes come and they're ignored By salaried strangers On rainy days we will sail endangered Rubber ducks by the thousands In those tiny pools of neglect And with mischievous fun we will prevail When policy makers and culture fakers Say: "they rank lowest, are poorest, have least." We will reveal a feast of gifts, skills and passions: from murder mystery to local history And with defiant theatrical swagger we shall prevail. When the helpers come with assessment forms and needs analysis We will ask 'why, don't our assets look big enough in these?' 'Give us your salaries and leave us in peace' But with the best of them who hear us into full expression, we will prevail. When pandemics come We’ll stand together while staying apart, Flourishing forward fairly, We will prevail. Cormac Russell

The Connected Community - Discovering the Health, Wealth, and Power of Neighborhoods www.TheConnected.Community

Done to the people: Done for the people; Done with the people; Done •by• the people. What courage is required to enlarge the ‘by the people’ space? Of central importance for practitioners is serving while walking backwards. Not 2 effect abandonment but nurture abundance. #ABCD

Lately, I am increasingly focused on supporting institutions in transitioning to more community-centred practices and building a lasting legacy. To achieve this, we must support and encourage the next generation of ABCD and strengths-based facilitators/trainers. With this in mind, we successfully conducted our first *Train the ABCD Trainer* courses in Plymouth, Bolton, and now Bristol this year. The feedback we received has confirmed the success of our vision. We look forward to extending our reach to ten new organisations/cities/counties in 2025. We invite expressions of interest from organisations working in an ABCD-like way and want to take the next step to build local capability to promote and sustain the community-centred practice. We hope to facilitate train-the-trainer courses in the UK, Europe, Singapore, and Canada in 2025. If you want an exploratory conversation and course descriptor, please email me at cormac@nurturedevelopment.org. Best wishes, Cormac

Imagine a world where every institution, whether within the spheres of commerce, government, or civil society, had an active policy to reduce unilateral dependence on their service, by increasing interdependence in community life, with services playing a supplementary role. #ABCD

Come join me and other professionals working in citizen space over 8 weeks while we explore and discuss how this can be achieved in health, social work, policing, urban design etc. Find out more here: https://lnkd.in/eZXNNPZV Our last open course in 2024!

‘What you seek, is also seeking you.’ Rumi