Community means many things, and different things to different people. To us, community is a social environment – one with common, and nurturing, bonds. We believe such bonds are both the ends and the means of our work.
For some people, community has been a negative experience. Unhealthy community dynamics can undermine a family’s efforts to change their circumstances. Enmeshment with dysfunctional relatives, environments generating numerous adverse childhood experiences and intergenerational trauma – substance abuse, criminality, domestic violence, hunger or poor nutrition, contempt for education and so on – can lay traps and landmines all around a person at the same time he or she attempts to take steps to become a better parent, return to school or improve a child’s diet and fitness.
“If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.” ~Mother Teresa
We believe that individual transformation is most likely to succeed when supported by transformative community. This involves establishing a new suite of connections – yielding positive social capital that produces sustainability.