Master List of Community-Building Resources
Oh, hey there! It’s Jillian, the founder of The Joy List.
I’m also the author of a book called Un-Lonely Planet. These are the resources that I used in my research on loneliness, the decline of organized religion in America, and how to create spaces that foster connection. I hope that it’s useful for your gatherings!
Have something that you’d like to add to this, or a suggestion of how to make it more useful? Email hey@joylist.nyc. I look forward to hearing from you!
Now, onto the knowledge:
Books
The Art of Community by Charles Vogl
Community by Peter Block
The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker
Awakening Together: The Practice of Inclusivity and Community by Larry Yang
Teaching Community by bell hooks
Tribal Leadership by Dave Logan, John King, and Halee Fischer-Wright
Tribes by Seth Godin
Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging by Sebastian Junger
Organizing For Social Change by Kim Bobo, Jackie Kendall, Steve Max
The Art of Community by Jono Bacon
Lost Connections by Johann Hari
The Modern Utopian: Alternative Communities of the '60s and '70s by Richard Fairfield
Bowling Alone by Robert Putnam
Better Together by Robert Putnam
Braving the Wilderness by Brené Brown
Dare to Lead by Brené Brown
Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? By Beverly Daniel Tatum
A Religion of One’s Own by Thomas Moore
The Vanishing Neighbor by Marc Duncelman
A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster by Rebecca Solnit
Loneliness by John Cacioppo
The Anatomy of Loneliness by Teal Swan
Belonging: Remembering Ourselves Home by Toko-pa Turner
Emotional First Aid by Guy Winch
Team Human by Douglas Rushkoff
Podcast Episodes
Is Modern Society Making Us Depressed? Ezra Klein Show feat. Johann Hari (Notes)
Brandon Stanton of Humans of New York (Tim Ferriss Show) (Notes)
If you build it, will they come? This American Life
David Brooks on Youth, morality and loneliness. Conversations with Tyler
The Takeover Reply All
Dual talk: Josh Korda and Noah Levine on Healing Through Community: Dharmapunx
Touch Hunger Horizontal With Lila
Podcast Series
Community by Co-Matter
Church planting 5-part series by Gimlet
The Lonely Hour by Julia Bainbridge
Get Together by People & Company
Articles
A New Reports Offers Insights on Tribalism in the Age of Trump George Packer, The New Yorker
Americans Strongly Dislike PC Culture Yascha Mounk, The Atlantic
The Big Business of Loneliness, Laura Entis, Vox
Why You Need a Network of Low-Stakes, Casual Friendships, Allie Volpe, NYT
Memetic Tribes and Culture War 2.0 Peter Limberg and Conor Barnes, Medium
Work + the loneliness epidemic. Vivek Murphy, Harvard Business Review
Americans are lonelier than ever — but 'Gen Z' may be the loneliest. Vivian Manning-Schaffel, NBC
The Average American Hasn’t Made a New Friend in 5 Years, Zoya Gervis, NY Post
Loneliness threatens young as well as old Sean Coughlan, BBC
Good genes are nice, but joy is better. Liz Mineo, Harvard Business Review
To beat loneliness, we must connect. Charities can show how. Laura Ferguson, The Guardian
Breaking Faith Peter Beinart, The Guardian
How to redesign cities to fight loneliness Tanzil Shafique, Fast Company
A Really Good Thing Happening in America (Collective impact case study) David Brooks, New York Times
More People Feel a Sense of Belonging at Work Than Their Neighborhood or Place of Worship, Andrew Littlefield, Convene
What does dying and mourning look like in a secular age? Tara Isabella Burton, Vox
A Guide To Conquering Remote Work Loneliness from Remote Workers Around the World, Buffer.
The most popular course at Yale teaches how to be happy. We took it for you. Adam Sternbergh, The Cut.
Professional relationships are broken, but we can fix them Jillian Richardson, Convene
These Are the World’s Happiest Places Dan Buettner, National Geographic
Utopia Now Eric Reece, The Atlantic
It’s Getting Harder to Talk About God, Jonathan Merritt, The New York Times
Finding Roommates After 40, Amy Sacka, Topic
Religion-free church lifts your spirits Hayley Jarvis, Brunel University
If you’re wondering why you’ve lost friends in adulthood, this is probably why Jackie Luo, Vox
Why We Are Feeling Lonelier Than Ever Zat Rana, Medium
Loneliness peaks at three key ages, study finds Susan Scutti, CNN
The 7 P’s of Community David Spinks, CMX
A Response to “Loneliness is Tearing America Apart” The New York Times
Evangelicals of Color Fight Back Against the Religious Right, Eliza Griswold, The New Yorker
Studies
Exploring Teen Mental & Emotional Well-Being from Hope Lab
Untethered by David Hsu
U.S. Loneliness Index by Cigna
Americans Divided on the Importance of Church by the Barna Group
Small networks and high isolation? A reexamination of American discussion networks, Matthew Brashears, Cornell
Social Isolation in America: Changes in Core Discussion Networks over Two Decades, Multiple Authors
Does Collective Impact Really Make An Impact? Stanford Social Innovation Review
Care of Souls, Harvard Divinity School
How We Gather, Harvard Divinity School
Something More, Harvard Divinity School
December Gathering, Harvard Divinity School
Faithful, Harvard Divinity School
Sleep loss causes social withdrawal and loneliness, Nature Communications
The Souls of Poor Folk, Poor People’s Campaign
Organizing: People, Power, Change by Marshall Ganz
A Training Program In Spiritually Oriented Leadership by Routledge Handbooks
Full ebook here
Rooted in Resilience: Mapping the Horizons of Social Justice, Spirituality, and Healing by Faith Matters Network
Principles of Reimagining the Civic Commons, Civic Commons
10 Keys to Wellbeing, UC Berkeley Greater Good Project
Community Guidebooks
Healing Justice Practice Spaces: A How-To Guide, Just Healing
A Guide for Movement Chaplains, Faith Matters Network
Collective Care in the Face of Violent Trauma, The People’s Supper
Conversations About Masculinity: How Mentors Can Support Young Men of Color
Redefining Manhood: How to Promote Healthy Masculinity Among Boys
The Circle Way Pocket Guide: How to host your own The Circle Way circle
Facebook Groups
Videos
Worksheets
Projects
Cities of Service: Step-by-step guidance for city leaders and citizens who would like to build comprehensive service plans and/or implement a particular citizen engagement initiative in their city.
The Circle Way: The Circle Way gathers people into a circular shape with participants at the rim and the purpose in the centre. Each person has a voice and everyone can see and hear one another. Social agreements and practices help facilitate respectful conversation.
Art of Hosting: The Art of Hosting is a highly effective way of harnessing the collective wisdom and self-organizing capacity of groups of any size. Based on the assumption that people give their energy and lend their resources to what matters most to them – in work as in life – the Art of Hosting blends a suite of powerful conversational processes to invite people to step in and take charge of the challenges facing them.
Sister Song: Reproductive justice for women of color
The Fellowship Initiative: Mentoring for young men of color
Ebooks
10 Steps to Inclusive Culture Design by Aaron Rose
Gamestorming by James Macanufo and Sunni Brown
Courageous Conversations: Centering Relationship and Community Care in Social and Political Justice by CTZNWELL
State of Communities 2018 Report by Co-matter
Other Resources
Spiritual Practice Toolkit: A full-on encyclopedia of spiritual practices
Online Community Resources: Research papers for community managers
Facilitating a Group Conversation from The Conversation Factory
Feverbee community consultancy
Greater Good Magazine by UC Berkeley
Dare to Lead Hub from Brene Brown
Freedom Road Consulting, which trains religious leaders how to get involved in social justice
Building Communities in the Post Social Media Age from Co-Matter
*I am an Amazon affiliate. If you purchase a book through one of these links, I will receive a percentage of that sale. This money will go towards supplementing the costs of The Joy List and my dark chocolate addiction.