This blog is the first iteration of what has now become www.OneCommunityGlobal.org, please visit that site for all the most current details on this project.
"In order to change an existing paradigm you do not struggle to try and change the problematic model. You create a new model and make the old one obsolete. That, in essence, is the higher service to which we are all being called."
~ Buckminster Fuller ~
Purpose
Prototype Community and Culture for Global Change
Vision Statement
At One Community our vision is to be a genuine community and create a thriving culture of seamless spiritual growth, personal expression and financial abundance; built on the cooperation and communion of impassioned individuals living their gifts.
Mission Statement
One Community is a template for world change by demonstrating abundance beyond self-sustainability and inviting others to experience and learn from our example. We accomplish this through being the change we wish to see in the world; sharing responsibility for, and working with, our environment while living and sharing our gifts and passions as a community with each other and humanity through entrepreneurialism and an open invitation to the world.
Core Values and Beliefs
To accomplish our mission One Community bases its culture and actions on the following core values and beliefs:
Accountability for the Future
At One Community we view our work as the highest purpose life can hold - doing everything in our power to ensure an amazing place of beauty, love, growth, expression and spirituality for our community, our children, our grand children, our children’s grandchildren and beyond.
We therefore hold ourselves accountable to each other, our community, humanity, and our planet for doing whatever we can to bring about this creation and this future for One Community first and then globally. We are clear in our purpose and in our vision and committed to the accomplishment of both as part of our personal and spiritual path of growth and evolution.
Creating the Future
We know we are creating the future right now, so we choose to do so consciously.
Future Context for Today’s Actions
One Community is dedicated to being conscious of how today’s decisions may affect the future of all the individuals involved, as well as the community, the culture, and even the world.
Moving Towards Vision vs. Moving Away From Problems
One Community's decisions will aim towards our vision for the future, rather than away from the negative realities of today (problem-solving). We will encourage others (and remind ourselves) to avoid problem-solving approaches and encourage the potential in others (and ourselves) to instead aim our efforts at identifying the deeper learning gained from our challenges and how these learnings contribute to the accomplishment of our purpose.
Short Term Results vs. Long Term Impact
At One Community, the best decisions will favor long-term contributions to our mission, our culture and our community over short-term expediency for One Community or an individual.
Asset-Based Approaches
To build something amazing, we must build it upon a strong base. We know that our culture and our community has an abundance of gifts, talents and strengths upon which to build the future we envision - resources that may be overlooked in the quest for dollars and high-profile allies. Clear, concise and heartfelt communication shall be the foundation for accessing the abundant resources contained within our culture and our community as we stay grounded and clear in our vision and purpose.
We are Passionate People with a Vision
One Community sees passion and vision as powerful assets and we create an environment for the expression of this energy and emotion through spiritual exploration and illumination, artistic creation, and personal and cultural expansion and expression. One Community is designed so that each individual is encouraged and rewarded to generously share his or her special gifts in helping to create, grow and empower the community. Contribution through personal passion is our greatest resource.
The Wisdom of Our Community
We encourage our community to draw on their own wisdom and experience, acknowledging that most often, those community members have the answers inside them, waiting to be tapped.
Seeing All Our Resources and Gifts
One Community encourages our community and culture to see and express the abundance of resources they already have within, helping them identify ways to build upon that asset-base and share it with each other and the world.
The Assets of the Individual
In doing our own internal work, One Community, as a culture, will be mindful to share our gifts and seek methods of exportation. We will encourage individuals throughout the community to use and build upon the gifts of one another and share their methodologies and philosophies to expand the strongest asset we can have - the passion, creativity, and ingenuity of the group, as well as the individual, to create something beautiful.
Interconnected and Interdependent
We know that none of us exists in a vacuum - that individuals, organizations, communities, and countries are all interconnected and interdependent. None of us can create significant impact on our own; our potential is greatest when we work together.
Non-Competitive Approaches
At One Community, our approaches and actions discourage competition, as competition precludes working together with those who care about the same things we care about. We seek to do our own internal work in a way that is as cooperative and open as possible, and we encourage our community to do the same.
It’s Not About Us
One Community is a culture not a concept or an individual. The best decision will be the decision that provides the best end result for the community. If it is not good for everyone affected, it is not good for One Community.
"Community Joy"
Any action taken at One Community will treat all parties involved with respect, compassion, generosity, humanity, honor and grace. All the while, creating a joyful and fun environment for all to grow. Life is serious enough; we strive to combat seriousness with playfulness as we achieve our dreams. If we aren’t having fun, why are we doing it?
Everyone Working Together
One Community will encourage all strata of the Social Sector to work side by side, to share in each other’s wisdom, and effect greater change. One Community will further encourage reaching beyond the sector, to ensure the whole community shares ownership of and responsibility for the “now” we are contributing to and the future we are creating.
Systems vs. Individuals
We believe systems fail before individuals fail, and that blame is often mistakenly aimed at individuals rather than at faulty systems. We stand for a community of leaders and recognize that modifying non-working systems, rather than condemning proactive leadership, is the most empowering for the individual and the good of the whole.
Proactive Systems Aimed at Success
At One Community, our approaches aim beyond individual people and individual symptoms by identifying the systemic roots of those "problems," and working to change those systems by utilizing all “problems” as feedback for improved systems.
Sustainability vs. Fear of Survival
One Community's efforts will focus on building sustainability and growth into the community and culture’s systems; to prevent the ongoing concern for short-term survival that prevents individuals, families and collectives from focusing on and creating the abundance and future they are capable of creating. The community is designed to create an environment of maximum potential and growth because basic survival needs are provided for from the start.
Programs with Lasting Impact
Because the purpose of One Community's community and culture is global transformation, each venture undertaken will be designed with a ‘prototype mentality’ for duplicable results and constant attention to increased efficiency and ease.
Always Practical
We know that people become engaged when they believe change is possible, and when they believe their individual actions can indeed bring about that change. We further know that without practical tools for accomplishing those tasks, individuals are likely to downplay their vision for the future as little more than a pipe dream.
Always Practical
As One Community presents practical approaches for creating the future of our world, we will always be mindful to ensure those approaches can easily be understood and adopted by average community members sitting on average boards. We will further be mindful of developing and presenting approaches that do not require hiring outside consultants to figure out how to implement them and create usable and easy to understand templates to model after.
Go Where the Work is Being Done
For the greatest likelihood of success, every individual in the community must be aware of his/her potential for creating significant impact. One Community will therefore make its work as accessible as possible, for as many people as possible, in as many ways as possible.
Always Learning
And finally, because the community is designed to be infinitely diverse and constantly growing and evolving, we will always encourage a culture of ongoing learning through participation and sharing of ideas, for ourselves, for community members, and for the much larger community called “Humanity” that we all serve.
