Matt Bell’s Post

Planting roots for a family legacy! 🌳🏡 When building a family home, consider the quality of local schools. Let's craft a dream space where education blooms alongside every cherished moment. 📚🌟 #FamilyHomeEducation #DreamsWithDepth #kingfoundation #landforsale"

On this Labor Day, more often than not, we are continuing to grapple with shoestring resources that typically accrue for community organizing and capacity building efforts within public agency led processes. All in service of improving and strengthening our cities and regions: better access to food, homes, transit, parks, schools and jobs, stronger adaptation and resilience preparation to the ill effects of climate change and other emergent community needs. It doesn’t have to be this way. As novel examples illustrate well across several community constellations in California alone—Allensworth Progressive Association in Allensworth, 40 x 40 Council in Oakland, Santa Ana Shared Financing Collective in Santa Ana and others—communities are flipping the script and orchestrating the future of their own neighborhoods. When we as communities assert power and articulate our collective visions we can attract resources in abundance. This is no mirage! This is a snapshot of an alternate reality that can be true for more communities and must be a reason to not mourn but celebrate today—the promise held within community’s collective labor. #CommunityVision #CommunityPower #AbundantResources #LaborDay

Day 3 of a #sharednarrative for #Plymouth: Some stats and data. The City of Plymouth was established in 1928, bringing together the three historic towns of Devonport, Stonehouse & Plymouth. The new city retained the feel, and sense of belonging, of many of the original 'villages' and distinctive neighbourhoods. A city of 264,000 people:- “enough to create a buzz and not enough to feel overwhelmed”. Home to three universities; and unlike bigger cities, there are few big corporations: rather the majority of businesses are small and medium enterprises (SME) "#BritainsOceanCity" is defined by two rivers, on the east and the west, the sea to the south and Dartmoor to the north. It hosts - along the Tamar River - the largest organisational naval base in Western Europe. More than 40% of Plymouth is designated green space. It has has 13 local nature reserves, 120 wildflower meadows and 950 hectares of accessible green space. With 93% of the population identifying as White British (compared to 84% across the country), only Sunderland has a higher proportion identifying as White British than Plymouth among cities with populations of over 150,000 Nearly 15% of Plymouth's jobs are in the manufacturing industry, with the Marine and Defense Sector accounting for 20% of Plymouth's GVA and 18.1% of total employment. 35% of the working population work in publicly funded jobs. Illustration by the amazing @Joe Meldrum: https://buff.ly/3yG5JWh with thanks to Plymouth Social Enterprise Network for allowing us to use it. Full Plymouth Octopus(POP) narrative: https://buff.ly/4dQZbD1 POP learning and thinking: https://buff.ly/4fZAcPG Dark Matter Labs @Annette https://buff.ly/3YSF4Ac Sky Space Team Development Cic @Jen https://buff.ly/3yMsPK #BEMOREPLYMOUTH #fairer #greener #futurism #regenerativefutures #learning #sharednarrative #plymouth #systemconvening #community #grassroots #funding #grantmaking #collaboration

Day 21 of a #sharednarrative for #Plymouth: Our dreams must grow out of those most impacted by historic and current harm. Marginalisation, minoritisation and exclusion are not inevitable aspects of how we work, they are the direct result of how we organise our systems and organisations. Being in the minority does not need to lead to marginalisation. It is hugely complex, but these violences cause harm and trauma especially if this is generational and rooted in a colonial past. Violence is a strong word, but is used intentionally to reflect the emotional and physical reality of people who are systematically marginalised. To be able to re-design our systems and organisations to intentionally include we not only need to voice of the majority, but that of the minority too. We must hold the tensions between giving a primacy to these voices, but not to infantilise or idolise. Together our experiences will create a future where this does not happen - and the leadership that can carry us forward. What would Plymouth need to do to be a city where we have ceased violences and started to heal from them - unleashing the knowledge and leadership that can help us design the future? Full Plymouth Octopus(POP) narrative: https://buff.ly/4dQZbD1 POP learning and thinking: https://buff.ly/4fZAcPG Dark Matter Labs @Annette https://buff.ly/3YSF4Ac Sky Space Team Development Cic @Jen https://buff.ly/3yMsPK #BEMOREPLYMOUTH #fairer #greener #futurism #regenerativefutures #learning #sharednarrative #plymouth #systemconvening #community #grassroots #funding #grantmaking

Okay, I admit it -- proud Mom moment here But I promise there's a message here for job seekers Or anyone with a dream And a goal Isaac loves camp and bringing those opportunites to as mamy kids and families as he can Having worked in and managed several camps, he knew what worked, what didn't And what was missing He developed a new program Planted seeds Wrote a plan Made connections Baby steps led to an extremely successful program It's the same with job search (See, I told you there would be a tie-in) Decide what you are looking for Develop your plan Build your network Work your plan And keep working it It may take time, And that can be really frustrating You can't control the outcome, But can control what you do So keep at it If something isn't working, Take a break Regroup, Re-evaluate, Build on the feedback you receive Reach out for help and support! And keep going! Okay, back to the proud Mom for a minute Take a look at this video to see the kind of experiences he creates for kids Keep an eye out for the boy in the pickle 🥒 costume He's one of my grandkids 😊 What's your passion? How are you working at bringing that idea or that goal into reality? How can I help? ----------------- I’m Linda Brubaker, the “Career Search Doctor” Ready to look for your #nextforeverjob and hire your next boss? With 20+ years of recruiting and hiring experience, and 7 years as a #jobsearchcoach I’ll help you Leverage Your Skills and Build Your Career To see more of my posts, ring my bell 🔔

Day 18 of a #sharednarrative for #Plymouth: There are more possibilities in play! Stonehouse: Building on everything that is great about Stonehouse, this aims to be a ambitious neighbourhood scale demonstration of what a regenerative, healthy, economically vibrant neighbourhood could look like. Led by Nudge Community Builders, it specifically wishes to bring focus onto 3 critical aspects to unlocking this future: * property and land ownership for wealth retention; * what a financial ecosystem needs to look like to lubricate and help fuel the future to emerge; and * how we organise ourselves that unlocks our humanness. National Marine Park - https://buff.ly/4cCP0Ri Plymouth has been awarded £11.6 million from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to develop the UK’s first National Marine Park with a forward-thinking approach to urban planning and environmental sustainability. This could enable us to deeply consider our natural assets at a city level and what it would really take to steward them healthily in collaboration as a city. Freeport - https://buff.ly/4dtJQse The Plymouth and South Devon Freeport is aiming to attract investment into marine, defence and space technologies (inc military vehicles and submarines) and significant investments are planned in Plymouth in areas of , construction and ocean technologies – how will these investments truly account and solve for the material and environmental constraints and the externalities (indirect impacts) that are associated with them? Full Plymouth Octopus(POP) narrative: https://buff.ly/4dQZbD1 POP learning and thinking: https://buff.ly/4fZAcPG Dark Matter Labs @Annette https://buff.ly/3YSF4Ac Sky Space Team Development Cic @Jen https://buff.ly/3yMsPK #BEMOREPLYMOUTH #fairer #greener #futurism #regenerativefutures #learning #sharednarrative #plymouth #systemconvening #community #grassroots #funding #grantmaking

Reviving East Oakland: A $100 Million Plan for Change 🖤💚🤍 Reading this article warmed my heart, as it reminded me of the Oakland I grew up in—deep East Oakland, a place that once thrived and now struggles under the weight of systemic issues. While I’m now in Brooklyn, the parallels between these communities are undeniable. Both have been shaped by the same structural forces that have caused so much pain, yet both hold immense potential for rebirth. The $100 million Rise East initiative, led by community members with deep roots in East Oakland, is a powerful testament to what’s possible when we invest in our people and our neighborhoods. The energy and determination to rebuild and transform is palpable—and it's a reminder that we have the power to shape our own futures. As the author mentions, this is more than just a financial investment—it's about reclaiming the spirit and resilience that once defined our neighborhoods. We’ve rebuilt our communities before, and we will do it again, showing the world what we’re capable of. Let’s support efforts like Rise East and all initiatives that prioritize community-led solutions. Together, we can rewrite the narrative and create lasting change. Check out the full article here: https://lnkd.in/eAE6paQa #communities #thrive #rise #eastoakland #brooklyn #investment

Congrats to our friend Rocket on his Ted Talk "Vermont: The Value of Hardship" for TEDx Hartland Hill's series, The Art of Living! What a refreshing take on the inherent BENEFITS of hardship: innovation, accountability, and cooperation - these are KEY qualities of Vermont living! Here at BRIC in Springfield, we're acutely and continuously aware of the myriad of challenges that rural life presents in the face of our community development efforts. If we're being honest, the list of obstacles and setbacks we encounter day to day often feels endless - like pushing a boulder up hill (both ways!) in the snow. Anyone boots on the ground doing this type of work knows it's not for the faint of heart, and in fact we often joke that you have to be a certain sort of glutton for punishment in order to ever actually make any progress. We know what we're doing is difficult, and that we're pushing against the odds with the things we're trying to accomplish - and somehow this awareness actually BOLSTERS our determination. The spirit of resilience and ingenuity is STRONG in Vermont. It's an inherent part of our identity. Whether it's snowstorms, early frosts, catastrophic flooding, workforce and housing shortages, food insecurity, busted leaking pipes - whatever the hurdle, Vermonters SHOW UP. We imagine possibilities, we work together, and we GET SHIT DONE. In spite of the challenges, there's nowhere we'd rather be! We believe in the power of our communities, we root for the underdog, and we WILL prevail. Thanks for the food for thought, Rocket! And for all that you're doing to help affect positive change here in Vermont! Check it out: https://lnkd.in/egRhvQgW #vermont #tedx #tedxhartlandhill #rurallife #ruralinnovation #community #CommunityDevelopment

Powerful evidence from a new study by Andre M. Perry of The Brookings Institution shows that the recent collaborative investments in Detroit are indeed delivering a model for equitable neighborhood redevelopment. "Our analysis did not find investment-induced displacement in Livernois-6 Mile; rather, the largest displacement was due to the loss of investment between 2005 and 2015. The area remained overwhelmingly Black, with no significant spikes in median income." And not only did the investment not lead to displacement, but instead increased feelings of hope. "Almost every person we interviewed used the word “hope” when discussing the area’s current or future situation." https://lnkd.in/g_ZCe7cx #equity #development #research #detroit #publicspace #philanthropy Invest Detroit City of Detroit Live6 Detroit The Kresge Foundation THE JPB FOUNDATION Knight Foundation William Penn Foundation Jermaine R. Ruffin Alexa Bush Caitlin Murphy Michael Smith Chanale Greer Taqee V. Kim Tandy Diva Darnetta Banks I'Sha Schultz-Spradlin Devon Buskin

As we celebrate the future of our nation, let's not forget to build a strong foundation for their tomorrow. Invest in properties that will shape their communities, provide safe and nurturing environments, and create opportunities for growth. Remember, the properties we invest in today will be the homes, schools, and playgrounds of our children's future. Let's build a legacy that will make a difference in their lives. #HappyChildrensDay #RealEstateInvestor #BuildForTheFuture #LegacyBuilding #BigMoversRealtors