Community Links: ParadeGround 21st Century

We support community building. These links are being added to our blog:

The virtual "town square," for Wallingford at AmericanTowns.

The people's stories organized & distributed by People's Press.

And the Record-Journals Forum for Opinion sharing about Wallingford.(registration required to participate).

We make TV on Monday...

April 5th our guests are Thomas Jastermsky and avid supporters of a local initiative with a global reach that got its start on our Parade Ground: Holy Joe's Cafe. Join us to discover how sharing a cup of coffee can bring a sense of peace in places of war.
More info: http://www.holyjoescafe.blogspot.com/

April 12th our guest is one of the communities spiritual mothers, Nancy Freyberg of Parents & Kids Foundation. A candid conversation about making connections in the service of others. So many of you have broken bread with her...community meals and generational stories.

April 19th our guests, Sally Smith and Betty Berger, have stories of about making dreams come true and the inspiration that now create everlasting smiles for Seniors by making fresh memories.
More info: www.seniorshavedreams.org

May 3rd our guest will share the latest about Relay for Life - how Wallingford participates in an international movement to end cancer.

Six Mondays starting April 5th - Community Connections

The volunteer team is finalizing plans for a 6 week series to begin April 5.
The theme for this mini-series: Making Connection in the Service of Others

The conversations will reveal local stories about non-profit or community organizations connecting & serving people and using new technologies to get the word out. The discussion will make global connections to these local stories (i.e.outreach, one of many, research).

The idea for this series came from a review of the Community Bulletin Board which has included slides about Support Group for more than a decade. Two were for Gaylord: Cancer Survivors and Sleep Apnea. In addition to Gaylord we have reached out to Parents Kids Foundation, Seniors Have Dreams too, Holy Joe's Cafe, Mid-State, Regency House, Al-anon, Mental Health Association of CT, Relay for Life and CT Celiac Support.

So we are asking and hope to have the schedule confirmed soon.

literally and figuratively working on Community Building

The volunteers at WPAA Community Building TV are now both literally and figuratively working on Community Building.

Here is a thought ... if every truck you see delivering Internet purchases were purchased through iGive hundreds of dollars a day would be coming back into your community to help with Community Building.

A civic conversation program - a gap exists

Community Access TV is called vanity TV by some, the electronic soapbox by others and sometimes the church channel given the predominance of religion oriented programming. I like the change Wallingford's Public Access Channel is trying to make to become WPAA Community Building TV.

The Community Building theme evolved when the organization sought to find and own an in-town building to control long-term expenses. The 1st location sought was literally OnTheParadeGround and is the inspiration for this program's concept: a regular program about bringing sunshine to local topics of interest. .

Absent from locally produced programs has been one that features facilitated civic conversation related to Wallingford specific issues. My original post in March 2008 was too optimistic because the community does not understand why they have a community TV station.

So I remind anyone that makes a connection with this blog that this the kind of program needs a host and crew that can put the community before their personal interests. It is a show that needs a team of people that can see the potential of community building.

Anyone out there interested in being part of such a team can be connected through wpaa@7towntv.org

I am looking forward to being a guest on this show when I return home.