Archives › Social and economic development
Relocating or traveling for service boils down to lending your skills and experiences to the development of those around you and the place you now call home. One couple no longer in the “résumé-building phase of life” is doing just that. Tony and Toni Goggans moved to tiny Florence, Colorado, from the Colorado Springs area [...]
Life in Baltimore, Maryland, a city of row houses, centers on people’s front stoops. So when Baha’is began sharing the Faith’s teachings in the Collington Square neighborhood three years ago, all eyes were on them. They’d have to demonstrate to residents of one of the city’s poorest areas their love and sincerity. The catalyst, Tod [...]
That Baha’is strive to live the teachings of Baha’u’llah in the workplace as in other areas of daily life is no surprise. But how can that bring real transformation of individuals and institutions? Mainly in situations that require thought, consultation and often prayer about the fair thing to do, say business consultants Jason Combs and [...]
“Uncompromising in defense of the truth, yet infinitely gentle in manner, ['Abdu'l-Bahá] brought the universal divine principles to bear on the exigencies of the age.” So wrote the Universal House of Justice in its message at Ridván 2011. Stories in the January/February 2012 issue of The American Bahá’í detailed what many of our brothers and [...]
Make friends. Build trust. Learn people’s needs. Be flexible. These are critical to the success of any social and economic development project, say three longtime practitioners who participated in the Baha’i Conference on Social and Economic Development. And just might aid the rest of us when opportunities for social action arise naturally from our neighborhood [...]
Baha’is who engage in social action alongside members of other faiths say a posture of mutual learning and respect is leading to more effective service. “In a nutshell,” says Noel Jost-Coq, “[these other faiths] have been walking the walk for decades, and we are infants. We have the [Baha'i] writings, but that alone doesn’t make [...]
“Nurturing Human Potential” is not just a conference theme for the several hundred people who gathered in Orlando, Florida, Dec. 15-20. It’s their daily mission, one they gained a greater capacity to serve through the culture of learning fostered there. The Baha’i Conference on Social and Economic Development was the 19th sponsored by the Rabbani [...]
By Tom Mennillo Cecile Bigatin and her handicrafts have become a fixture at the annual Baha’i Conference on Social and Economic Development in Orlando, Florida. For five years the Savannah, Georgia, Baha’i has set up in the area where composer/musician Jack Lenz sells CDs and DVDs. Soon “oohs” and “aahs” are heard as conference-goers run [...]
H. William (Bill) Richter, an electrical engineer, inventor and businessman, devoted 18 years of his retirement to development work for the Baha’i community and the general population of the Caribbean island of St. Eustatius, alongside his wife of 68 years, Marjorie. Bill passed away at age 92 on November 3, 2011. He had resided most [...]
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in the United States, roughly 13 to 17% of Americans (approximately 35.9 million adults and 12.9 million children) are living below the federal poverty line at any given point in time, and roughly 40% fall below the poverty line at some point within a 10-year time span. To bring [...]
Calling all media storytellers, writers, bloggers, photographers, and Public Information Officers U.S. Baha’i Media Services and the Office of Communications invite you to participate in a “Media Boot Camp” at the Social and Economic Development Conference in Orlando, FL from December 17 – 20, 2011. This boot camp will help you hone your skills as [...]
In guidance pored and prayed over these past months, the Bahá’í community was issued a clear challenge: Increase “well beyond all previous numbers the ranks of those who, alive to the vision of the Faith, are laboring so assiduously in pursuit of its God-given mission.” (Universal House of Justice, letter of Dec. 28, 2010) That [...]
As Bahá’ís strive to build community along lines specified in recent guidance, one challenge is how to respond to those who ask for “scientific” evidence supporting the processes of transformation advocated by the Faith. A new website (www.crossroadsofpeace.org) created by the Bahá’í Chair for World Peace at the University of Maryland may serve as a [...]
A Baha’i pioneer to Fiji, Austin Bowden-Kerby, is one of 12 finalists selected out of 250 applicants for a prestigious international award through National Geographic’s Changemakers, for his innovative social and economic development project Coral Gardens – Living Reefs, a project that is helping transform tourism, increasing fish stocks, alleviating poverty, and conserving coral reefs. [...]
Walk with me — learning together with newly awakened
“I want meaning more than things in my life. I want my neighborhood to be a better place. And for the first time I can do something about them.” If an inhabitant of a neighborhood were to utter such words it would delight any Bahá’í engaged in the process of expansion and consolidation. Delight, yes. [...]
Know the code — defining ‘dynamic coherence’
dy·nam·ic – adjective – Constantly active or changing; characterized by action or forcefulness; not static; vital, energetic, vigorous, robust co·her·ence – noun – the state of cohering or sticking together; logical and orderly and consistent relation of parts; balance, harmony, symmetry, unity What does the Universal House of Justice mean when it says, in the Ridván [...]
A process of learning — workshops model best practices
A process of learning we can all emulate marked workshops offered at the Bahá’í Conference on Social and Economic Development. They covered such topics as community health; taking moral leadership to neighborhoods; educating school teachers about the oneness of humankind; service through the arts; providing legal assistance to the poor; spiritual parenting; and spreading prosperity. [...]
Arenas of service — talks light way to vital pursuits
Seeking an arena of service? Keynote talks at the Bahá’í Conference on Social and Economic Development would seem at first glance to spotlight action at the national level and beyond. But look closer and you could see inklings of how we at the grass roots can identify similar needs and pursue similar objectives. An exploration [...]
Intersections — where SED, social action cross paths
Intersections. Of our social and economic development knowledge base built over the years and the emerging social action in neighborhoods. Of inner (personal) and outer (societal) transformation. They appeared at virtually every juncture of the recent Bahá’í Social and Economic Development Conference in Orlando, Florida. In adult, youth, junior youth and children’s programs devoted to [...]
Civil Society, Technology, and Development
In the recent blog entry from Baha’i Coherence, An Exploration of Our Conceptual Territory, the subject of how to best achieve sustainable development while building a new world civilization is explored.
Course unfolds in a series of videos placed on the Chair’s YouTube channel.
Retired educators swing into action to help Springdale, Arkansas, youths of Marshall Islands origins get into and thrive in college.
Addresses and workshops at the Baha’i Conference on Social and Economic Development and sessions of the preceding seminar for experienced practitioners wove a tapestry of the conference theme on development and growth.
Experienced practitioners participating in a seminar preceding the Baha’i Conference on Social and Economic Development showed how their endeavors connect to wider Baha’i efforts to build community.
Workshops at the Baha’i Conference on Social and Economic Development reflected language, approaches and processes that will continue to develop as opportunities for social action and wider public discourse arise.
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