As an example of the above mentioned need, here is Challenge #1, from the section "A Ten Point Assessment of the Most Difficult Challenges of Our Times" (in the document "An Assessment of the Most Difficult Challenges of Our Times):

"1) Community building associated with energy descent (see Challenges 4, 5, and 6) (as a result of either wise decisions, key supply shortages, or lack of other options) may or may not be accompanied by an exponential increase in compassion for our fellow human beings. Without such an exponential increase, an increase in the need for emergency assistance to people with basic human needs [as a result of migrations from areas where carrying capacity has been exceeded (areas such as mega-cities), for example (see Challenge 8)] may coincide with a decrease in our capacity to respond to such emergencies." (link to "Ten Point Assessment...")

Highlights from "The IPCR Community Journal" at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ipcri/ will be posted here.

Spring 2007

Winter 2006-2007

Spring 2005

1. The IPCR Community Journal

2. The IPCR Community Journal #2 (link to blog)

(with many resource links)

Links

Welcome to the website
of The IPCR Initiative

The IPCR Initiative is an accumulation of documents, resources, and observations brought together to support the propositions that we-- collectively-- have both the need, and the potential, to be

a) much more organized and deliberate about "... bringing to the fore what is often hidden: how many good people there are, how many ways there are to do good, and how much happiness comes to those who extend help, as well as to those who receive it."

b) much more multi-faceted and participation-friendly in our approaches to peacebuilding, community revitalization, and ecological sustainability

c) much more resourceful in the use of the storehouses of accumulated wisdom and "embodied energy" which are now accessible to us

The three most important documents of The IPCR Initiative are:

1) “The Twilight of One Era, and the Dawning of Another” [34 page paper (12 page “Notes and References” section)]-- an introduction to Community Visioning Initiatives (and the “1000Communities²” proposal), which highlights the role of education and the need for “teacher-leaders”, and which can do much to re-energize constructive, practical, and solution-oriented discussion, and promote new approaches to partnership formation and coalition building.
2) "1000Communities²", a 161 page proposal advocating Community Visioning Initiatives, "Community Teaching and Learning Centers" with ongoing workshops, and "sister community" relationships as a way of generating an exponential increase in our collective capacity to overcome the challenges of our times
3) "Brief Descriptions of The Eight IPCR Concepts": (Community Good News Networks, Community Faith Mentoring Networks, Spiritual Friendships, Questionnaires That Can Help Build Caring Communities, Community Visioning Initiatives for Peace, Spiritually Responsible Investing, Ecological Sustainability, and IPCR Journal/Newsletters).

All IPCR Documents

1. "The Twilight of One Era, and the Dawning of Another"
2. "1000Communities²"
3. "An Assessment of the Most Difficult Challenges of Our Times"
4. "Peacebuilding in its Most Compassionate Form"
5. "Brief Descriptions of The Eight IPCR Concepts"
6. "The IPCR Workshop Primer"
7. "The IPCR 'Building Caring Communities' Questionnaire"
8. "23 Different Ways of Describing The IPCR Initiative"
9. "Inspiring Role Models and Service-Oriented Initiatives"
10. "Spiritually Responsible Investing: Integrating Spiritual Wisdom into the Everyday Circumstances of Community Life"
11. "Spiritual Peacebuilding: 47 Quotes and Proverbs"
12. "An Arrangement of Quotations from 'Sathya Sai Speaks (Vol. 1-15)'"
13. "The Spirit of the Sacred Hoop"

1. Open Letter for Outreach Package (11" x 17" format-- display size)
2. The "1000Communities²" Proposal: Creating a Multiplier Effect of a Positive Nature   (11" x 17" format-- display size)
3. 9 Different IPCR Business Cards (which can be glued to the front of a file folder)
4.  Six Pages Excerpted from The IPCR Journal/Newsletter Fall, 2008
          (p. 1, 2, 6,13, 23, and 31) (the file folder can be a "display container" for these excerpts)

Current Educational Materials Outreach Package

Summer 2008

Free Access to All IPCR Documents

Fall, 2008

December, 2008

1. Transitioning from Less Solution-Oriented Employment to More Solution-Oriented Employment

(An Introduction to "The Spirit of the Sacred Hoop")

February, 2009

1. Community Visioning Initiatives "For the Duration of the Emergency"

January, 2008

1. Lester Brown: "Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing for Saving Civilization"
2. Notes from Summary of UN Human Development Report 2008

October, 2009
1. New IPCR Document "The Twilight of One Era, and the Dawning of Another"

“The job fairs which come at the end of the Community Visioning Initiative process provide opportunities for all key stakeholders in the community (businesses, organizations, institutions, government, etc.) to demonstrate their upgraded awareness—and their interest in the welfare of the community—by offering and facilitating new employment opportunities… and thus helping with a just transition from patterns of investment which in only limited ways represent solutions to prioritized challenges to patterns of investment which in many ways represent solutions to prioritized challenges.” (from p. 10 in “The Twilight of One Era, and the Dawning of Another”)

December, 2009
1. "Call for Papers": Requesting Assistance with Creating an "Introduction Section" to a Document Titled "Calling 'the better angels of our nature...'" (outreach post; abridged version)

All documents, information, resources, etc. created by The IPCR Initiative are viewed as resources which ought to be made as accessible as possible to people who can make good use of them. Here is a link to the complete text of The IPCR Initiative Copyright Policy.