About the Collaborative Communities Program

The Center for a New American Dream’s Collaborative Communities program aims to help Americans move beyond individual and household action to collective action to address shared social, economic, and environmental challenges. The goal of the program is to inspire, connect, support, and equip our members to create local initiatives that build community capacity and social ties, increase ecological sustainability, and foster greater livability and economic vitality.

Strategies include:

Information & Education: We will review and showcase the best tools currently available and post fun, clear, easy-to-use web resources in five key action areas: Building Social Ties, Sharing Resources,  Strengthening Food Systems, Localizing the Economy, and Engaging Local Government. We will also develop an organizer's kit to help community leaders implement changes at the local and regional levels.

Storytelling & Inspiration: We will provide articles, videos, blogs, and interviews featuring ordinary citizens who are changing their lives and communities, and highlight innovative local practices on the website and in our newsletter.

Networking & Connections: We will create an easy-to-use community web platform for our members to find one other and form local cluster networks to organize activities and generate support for their efforts. 

Support & Capacity Building: We will offer training opportunities, targeted resources, and technical support to leading activists to increase their capacity to provide local leadership; provide ongoing support through webinars and podcasts; create a micro-grants fund to help foster promising initiatives; and explore avenues for encouragement and feedback on actions taken by members in their communities.

To learn more about our Collaborative Communities program, please contact us at info@newdream.org.