Joe Erpenbeck

Consultant and ABCD Institute Faculty Member

Working Together

Projects and Impact

Stories

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Reaching for Happiness

Reaching for Happiness

This week’s New York Times magazine was their “happiness issue.” It contained articles exploring the idea o...

You Belong Here

You Belong Here

You Belong HereThis message and welcome were outside a community center in my neighbourhood. I have always been a fan of side...

Radically Good Coffee and Place to Be

Radically Good Coffee and Place to Be

Several years ago, the Neighborhood Cafe began based on a suggestion from a patron and a partnership with residents, business...

Hospitality : inside and out

Hospitality : inside and out

When I was living in Vancouver we would often go to Bellingham to visit friends and it was always great to visit Nelson&#8217...

Part of the Glue

Part of the Glue

Recently I had the privilege of facilitating a retreat for the Board of an art and nature center. The members began by sharin...

Portraits of a Connected Community

Portraits of a Connected Community

Several years ago a group of community connectors I was part of partnered with several groups in Vancouver to develop and hos...

Possibilities in an Invitation

Possibilities in an Invitation

I have been struck over the past year over the power of an invitation. Invitations can come in many different forms and does ...

Remembering John McKnight

Remembering John McKnight

Remembering John I first heard John McKnight speak about Asset Based Community Development twenty-five years ago to a small g...

“Joe has created a small team of people who are moving from providing service to building community. His work has radical implications for social service and he has the results to show it. Joe’s work is done with great compassion and courage. He directs a group that is applying the asset based principles of John McKnight in new ways. The results he is achieving are significant; his group is directly bringing those on the margin into community...Joe is creating a model for care and inclusion that sets the standard for what is possible.”

Peter Block

Peter Block

Noted Cincinnati Author & Consultant

"Joe Erpenbeck is in my opinion one of the very best, if not the best community connector in North America."

John McKnight

John McKnight

Co-Director The Asset-Based Community Development Institute

"Community development is a big idea, and a thing I’ve enjoyed so much about Joe’s work is that his approachable manner allows everyone to participate and see how they could have a role. I’ve been part of this conversation with groups who have been together for a long time, having the same old conversations, and its been a gift to watch Joe lead - not push - them into the potential of new ideas in an appreciative way. Like many, I did not enter those conversations easily, and, like many, I came to really appreciate his genius (I use this work carefully) for this work."

Aaron Johannes

Aaron Johannes

www.imagineacircle.com