from TAP Connections Vol. 12 No. 3 SUMMER 1996, Copyright MHFA-TAP One Beacon St., Boston, MA 02108-4805, 617 854 1000 shared with permission

Alcohol, Disorder & Crime On TAP Tony Flaherty, Center for Community Recovery Innovations, Inc.

Nationally, HUD is in the middle of an eight year plan to demolish 100,000 high and mid-rise public and assisted housing units (NY Times 6/ 2/ 96). All major cities are involved, and replacements are to be low-rise and scat-tered. The effort is meeting with mixed reviews. Some residents feel it is a good idea; others feel drug havens are just being dressed up. Ex-perts, in turn, counter that success and quality of life will be rest upon joint efforts of management and residents.

HUD Secretary Henry G. Cisneros said, "This has potential to change Ameri-can cities because so many are damaged by the out of control conditions in public housing." I want to believe him, and I know that if HUD, Management Agents, Residents, Housing Authorities, Developers, Social Workers, Gover-nors, Mayors, Cops, and even some robbers, could favorably impact the quality of life in inner-city housing for the poor, they would. But they don't, and won't, because they can't. They can't without addressing the cause of most 'out of control condition'... the community illness of alco-holism or alcohol abuse. This is the cause of most neighborhood crime and violence in our homes. Ironically, the many who will make speeches about "drugs", stay silent on the most accessible drug of all: alcohol. To do otherwise is to be branded a 'neo-prohibitionist'.

In its Spring, 1996 Review, the Brookings Institute published an article entitled ' Broken Bottles: Alcohol, Disorder, and Crime'. Professor John J. DiIulio, Director of the Brookings Center for Public Management, docu-ments the density of beer and liquor outlets in high-crime inner-city neighborhoods with chilling observations. Reading it, I had to wonder if housing advocates might not be afflicted with an insanity similar to that of the alcoholic, who does the same things over and over again expecting different results, when we ignore the pervasive availability of the drug alcohol in a community where rehabilitation efforts are initiated.

I surveyed a neighborhood in which several HUD-foreclosed properties are slated for renovation. This 3.98 square mile area contained no less than 43 legal beer and alcohol outlets. This did not account for clubs, after-hour joints, or "kitchen barrooms". Does such a concentration of alcohol outlets happen by chance? Does resultant numbing and dumbing of the poor legitimatize nightmarish thinking that inner-cities of America are places where occupants can be contained through barbed wires of the mind wound by addiction to alcohol, and consequently other drugs? When you add the sad facts that (1) there are few homes in this country not touched by the shadow of alcohol abuse, (2) there is now little or no treatment, and (3) no accountability for targeting children in alcohol advertising, can we see how effective the alcohol industry's three billion dollar advertising and political lobbying efforts can be in silencing those who suffer from their own or someone else's drinking?

Professor DiIulio's observations, reprinted with permission of the Brookings Institute, follow [" Broken Bottles: Alcohol, Disorder, and Crime", Brookings Review, Spring 1996. Brookings Institution Press:]

If you want to get somewhere, you generally need to know where you are now. Just taking action blindly rarely achieves useful results. You must define your arena and your mission carefully, and then align everything you do with that mission. Remember the "Observer Effect"; just by making a picture of what you have, you begin the healing process.

For needs assessments, you have to document your problems, compare them with services and resources available, and determine what more is needed. This is a typical part of many grant applications. The counterpart of Asset/Strength Assessment is discussed later.

Before money was invented, people still got things done, didn't they? The Indians often lived lives better than ours, and they didn't have any money. They also didn't waste time looking at what they didn't have. Look at what you DO have. That is where you'll draw what you need.

Looking at what you don't have, and feeling bad, or powerless, is like taking a new car, putting it in neutral, and slamming down the gas pedal! VROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM! Lots of noise, but nobody gets anywhere. Get over it. If you're looking at obstacles, you're not looking at your goal.

If you don't have a lot of money, well, you aren't going to spend a lot of time in evaluation and measurement. Keep what documentation you can. If you really want to do something, ask these questions to clarify your goal:

The journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step, and continues step by step by step. Congratulations, by way. You're now a leader. Pat yourself on the back, once-but don't cheat. You are now an anointed leader. This is how it happens.

Bill Cosby used to do a routine on breaking a board with a karate chop. In the Martial Arts, one must first put one's "energy" through the board, i. e. visualize and feel one's hand going through the board, and then let the flesh follow. His routine was of him saying, "OK, I can do it", and the board saying, "Oh, no you're not." The energy always goes first. Thinking only about the board, and your hand, doesn't work. It's the same way with leadership - you have to develop the energy first. Let's talk about leadership energy.

There's an old story about focus on purpose in life.

Isn't that what life is about? Finding your pur-pose, and being totally consumed by it, until you glow with it? Fire in the gut is worth more than money, education, credentials, experience, or any-thing else. Look back on the earlier part of this manual. There's a sea of information, isn't there? Just in case you thought experts have all the an-swers, the following story...

Tina Forrest, mentioned earlier, had no help. She went straight for the pearls, and got them. The previous part of this manual is fine-highlight or underline the pearls. Work only with what looks really useful. Ignore the rest, unless it looks useful later. Following is a discussion of charac-teristics we find in most leaders who started with no resources.

Akira Kurosawa, the Japanese filmmaker, has the con-sistent theme in his movies, that only inside is there discipline, order, and truth. If you're not sure what to do, do anything. One of the most powerful disciplines ever is just learning to use what you already have. Former Saudi ruler Abdul Aziz bin Saud's favorite verse of the Qur'an was "Verily God will not change a people until they first change themselves from within." Vaclav Havel spoke of an internal revolution, a revolution from within. John Adams said that the Revolution was not the war - that the War was only the result of the revolution, that the real revolution took place inside Americans. The only prison you have, the only limitations you have, are your own and other's ideas. The hardest battles and the sweetest victories you ever have will all be inside.

The first step to developing leaders, and leaders of leaders, is to be a leader of leaders yourself. The next step is to practice addictive positive reinforcement. Marva Collins, a teacher in Chicago, whose story is detailed in the book The Marva Collins Way, could take children who couldn't read at all, and have them reading Shakespeare in a year. She did so with constant positive appreciation and reinforcement for even the tiniest steps in the right direction - if a child spelled "CAT" as CIW, she would praise the child for getting it 33% right on the very first try! What you concentrate on grows... and you can build leaders of leaders in a relatively short time doing what she did. Always be positive, that alone will attract people. One maxim will help... feed interest, and move at their pace. Just try not to enjoy it too much. The more you do for other people, the more opportunities will come up to do more.

Becoming a leader is extremely simple. Take all the frustration and negative emotion you've ever had, put it together in your gut, and set it on fire to get things done. Then pretend you are a leader, and that anything can be done. Ask yourself, "How would a leader act? What would a leader do?" and do that. People may challenge your ideas, but they won't generally challenge your leadership. Most people want to be followers, to follow someone else's alignment, to let other people make their decisions.

What does it feel like to be confident, to be a leader, to take positive action? Feel that feeling as often as you can ... by being a leader, and doing what leaders do. Leaders know that there is no such thing as failure, only experience and learning. Leaders know that if they keep asking, and trying out new ways, with a pure heart focused on a good purpose, eventually whoever is in the way will just get disgusted and leave.

If you're not sure where to begin, well, find the area that either fascinates or disgusts you most. That is the area that you already have the most emotional "juice" for, so it will be easy to be ener-gized dealing with it. "Follow your heart" - do what you feel is right, without causing harm to any-one else. Mahatma Ghandi said to do what you must, and worry not about the "fruits". Learn not to fol-low the herd, where that's appropriate. Mice given a choice of 10 tunnels where one tunnel has cheese will figure out where to go. If the cheese is moved, they will figure out a new path. Among hu-mans, only leaders figure out the new path, most people keep doing what they've always done, and won-der why their results are what they always got. You've got to have "fire in the gut", and the curi-osity and open-mindedness of an exploring child, to be a leader.

You will never develop leaders by simply passing out a manual, and hoping other people will do what's right. You develop leaders by modelling exactly what you want leaders to do and be. If you plan to pass this manual out to people you want to be leaders, please understand and practice its contents first yourself. Otherwise, you will find that people will correctly make comments about you talking the talk, but not walking the walk.

Understand what you already have. Perhaps a strong feeling of being overwhelmed by crisis led you to this book. Recognize that you created that feeling. That feeling is not dependent on or caused by your circumstances. You created that feeling, based on your perception of the situation. Your perception, your "map" of that feeling, is NOT the territory. Judging people and situations takes up too much space in the brain. Leaders see potential and possibilities, and tend to be very positive. You must begin to do just that. Developing Leadership is an inside out process; you must begin with your own inner world. Develop "beginner's mind" that doesn't know what can't be done, that is alive with possibilities.

The following stories from the book Chicken Soup for the Soul, by Jack Canfield, nicely demonstrate what quiet, effective leaders in a community can do.

Even the titles feel good, don't they? Theory unapplied and not lived doesn't exist. It is only a seed until it is internalized and acted out. Once you've internalized being more of a leader, really felt it in your gut, you can start helping to develop others. Work with what you have. Figure out who in your community is already doing leader-type things; perhaps they run a cub scout troop, take meals to shut-ins, organize small social events, do something in their churches, - there is a core group of people in your community who do a little more than the bare minimum. They exist.

They may not know they are leaders. Don't tell them, they may resist the idea. Just find ways to help them do a little more, to link up with others who share their interests, help them grow a little bit. If you give them big tasks with no prepara-tion, they'll just walk away-always start from within their experience, and very gradually help them grow in what they're doing. Ask for small fa-vors at first, grow them into team members.

How do you feel when you finish a hard job, and re-alize you did it very well? That's exactly what it feels like to be a leader. Being a leader demands that you use every ability you have, and that you grow some every day. There is no more satisfying job. Everything starts with good leadership! When you hear people complaining about all the problems in the world, in society, and in their community, they seem to always say "somebody else" ought to be doing them. Leaders are the "somebody else" who get those things done, cutting through the frustration and obstacles. Community problems are a symptom of a lack of leadership.

It has ALWAYS been one person who got the major changes started. It starts with the first choice to be a leader. You can do something, however small. You can't solve the world's problems by yourself-but then again, you don't have to, just solve a few problems within your reach.

Good things happen in communities because leaders working with people make them happen. What do leaders do? They choose a goal and take action until the goal happens. YOU are the expert on what you and your community want. No outside expert can do anything more than give you tools to work with, and maybe a little encouragement. Good leaders ask new questions - instead of asking, "Why doesn't anybody care about our problems?", a good leader asks "HOW CAN WE ENJOY HAVING FUN MAKING OUR COMMUNITY A NICE PLACE TO LIVE?" Leaders never ask "why" questions, they know they'll only get fantasies. Leaders ask "How can we ...?" "What would have to happen for X to occur?" and "What can we do to ...?" questions, which are much more productive.

Leaders get people excited about the possibilities, help them choose doable goals, and then keep them excited as they accomplish them. In the old days, they used this metaphor: the body was the carriage, the driver the mind, the horses the emotions. If the horses want to get somewhere fast, well, the driver doesn't have to work very hard. Done right, it may seem effortless. Leaders say, "We CAN do it", and then... DO IT. They don't listen to those who say, "You can't do that." "It's impossible." "Do THEY know what you're doing?" Leaders know that if humans were put on this earth only to do what is possible, that we'd still be living in caves.

CHALLENGE REALITY!

Leaders know that the only poverty is poverty of ideas, and leadership. Leaders know that most facts aren't much more than crystallized beliefs, and that experts are usually expert in all the ways it can't be done. Leaders never take the first "no", or the second "no", they keep going till they get a "YES". Leaders know that no decision or explanation is final. Leaders stay excited, like children, in "Beginner's mind", where all things are possible. Leaders are the "match" that gets the "fire" going.

True leaders see their Self as very much beyond the boundaries of their skin. You are never a prisoner of fate, just a prisoner of the thoughts in your mind... You too can weave gold from straw, and create programs from what started out looking like nothing. Empower your leaders as much as you can. Know them well enough to give them tasks that they are equipped to handle. Give them useful information relevant to tenants-information is a commodity, that adds to their value. ALWAYS follow through with your promises, NEVER make a promise you can't keep. Invest in your leaders-what you put out comes back. If they need $15 and trans-port to get to a job creation conference, whom are you hurting by not helping them out? Your property, of course. Help them see the benefits of leading, to help balance the problems that come with leading.

Before you go any further, define your own goals. There are 3 steps to getting things done when they're a little beyond what you might have thought possible. You MUST have a picture of where you want to go. It is very hard to explain this to people who haven't experienced it yet, but somehow, if you focus totally on your goals, and do what little you can, somehow the Universe just somehow seems to help you, other people join you, or something happens, and somehow the impossible starts occurring. Books fall off the shelf into your hand, people you've never heard of drop stuff off to help you, and so forth. It's downright spooky when it first starts happening, and then you get used to it.

A small businessman, in 1945, who hated his country's government, decided to topple it. He did just what you see above. People thought he was crazy, but they didn't like the government, either, so they did small things to help him. He got help from all sorts of unlikely people. In 1979, he got his wish: the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini took over the government of Iran. Now, he caused a lot of suffering, and we might not approve of what he did when he got power. Still, he inflamed himself with his purpose, and toppled seemingly unbeatable odds, didn't he? I hope that your goals will be more positive, and serve people better. Still, if he could do what he did, you can accomplish more modest "win-win" goals that benefit everyone much more easily and quickly.

If you don't know an answer to the question, well, say "I don't know, but I'd like to learn." If you can't get what you want from someone, say, "Who else do you know who could help me?". You don't get what you don't ask for. Every situation has a useful gift for you in it, somewhere, if you pay attention.

Let's go through this process. Obviously you'd want to write your own ideal day, this is just a model. Sometimes it's very useful to do plan-ning by starting at an imaginary, perfect finish, and working backwards. Work with what you can control: list what you will DO, not what you'll accomplish. Like they say in the Air Force, aim HIGH. If your goal is to climb Mt. Everest, and you only make it to the base camp at 10,000 ft above sea level, well, that's a lot better than aiming to climb the hill in the State Park. Take care of the little things, and the big things take care of themselves.

I wake up as the Sun hits my bed, hearing the birds, singing.

I think about the awards banquet last night, and smile. The mayor, and federal and state representatives were all there, to honor our group, Neighborhood Superstars, for doing the impossible in our community. We welcome attention like that, because it helps us be recognized as movers and shakers, and get more resources. Besides, they need people like us more than we need them. The "conference bird" was good, too. They used to call chicken the "gospel bird" when I was growing up, because that's what we ate when we ate at church, and it may as well be the "conference bird" too.

What have we accomplished in the last 3 years? Let's see, we got the bank to let us use that abandoned branch as a Computer Learning Center for our children, with donated computers, encyclopedias, and so on. We made our own furniture for it, and got some donated, too. Our kids love it, we had to put together another center, it was so popular. They don't even think about roaming the streets anymore. They love the crafts we have now, too. Let's see, they make and sell wind chimes, from electrical conduit pipe thrown out at construction sites, and baskets from waste copper electrical wire. They have that computer repair class, where they get to keep every 4th older computer they fix for us to sell. They carve beautiful stuff from wood scraps from the cabinetmaker's place, too, African designs, Celtic Interlace, Islamic designs. They got an old forge cheap at an auc- tion, and Pete even has the kids doing blacksmithing, now, with leaf springs from cars. He got them into sandcasting, and they make foot treadles for sewing machines, and the woodworking kids make the wooden parts. Those sell well at our fairs. We found we could get cannonbones cheap from the slaughterhouse, and Pete taught the kids to make their own carving tools from concrete nails, and they make beautiful "ivory" boxes. The strangest thing he does is have the kids put chicken wire into water, he says it works best in seawater, but he just adds salt and other things, and then he runs current from a battery charger through the wire, and this concrete stuff starts coating it. He says that we could make all concrete this way, and that it costs 1/10 what concrete does, but I don't under- stand it all. He says the kids teach him more than he does them. He has them build tiny landscapes, with rocks, some Chinese art form, Penjing, I think he said. They're never larger than your hand, except in the Japa-nese Rock Garden we put in. Art doesn't get much cheaper than rocks, and scrap wood, it's cheap, and beautiful. What was it that woman, Bernadette Cozart said, "You have a RIGHT to beauty"? Yeah. I like that. Our neighborhood has a few places of beauty now, people have birthday parties and other small social gatherings in our Oriental garden, and the kids pick up after themselves - nobody dares vandalize OUR garden - because it's OURS, we put it together ourselves. They had to learn calligraphy to do carvings, and it's helped them in school. I never knew the arts made it so much easier for kids to do well in school.

We have our summer crafts fair, with all the ethnic groups doing some kind of presentation. The Quilt guild started it, so they could sell quilts, and it just kind of grew from there. I had no idea there were so many different kinds of quilts. We have our own Storyteller's association now. We do a neat kind of folk dance almost every week, now, through the church, people didn't want to wait a year for another fair. 2 people started their own businesses with money they made at the fair, they're small, but they're off welfare. Another started a grocery coop, so the small stores around here can't rip us off any more, and we get much better food, cheaper. Then somebody got permission to garden on a vacant lot, and they did that Biodynamic gardening stuff, and we had so many veg-etables we couldn't eat them all, we had to start selling them at the farmer's market. We got fast-growing trees, Pahlonia, I think they said, and we sell them to the Japanese. The trees also shelter our vegetable gardens, as they grow. Sure is better than the garbage heaps the drug dealers used to keep here. That one old Chinese guy did Feng Shui stuff, it sounded wierd, but his ideas were all cheap, we followed them, and somehow the park is just a much nicer place to be.

What do they call that program? Microenterprise? Yeah, the one where 6 people get a loan of $500 each, and they repay it as a team, to build small businesses. Mary sells pies, now, Jose' sells oak furniture, beau-tiful stuff. Ian actually does hypnosis, now, I didn't know it was so easy to get certified in that. We hooked up with those Alcoholics Anony-mous groups, we decided to give the old guys as much to do as possible, if they have addictive personalities, well, we want them addicted to doing positive things in our community. They sure seem happier now, they have a place in the community, for some it's the first time. I was sure glad when we got the City to revoke the permits of those 2 package liquor stores, they say 80% of all crime is associated with booze and drugs, and seems like a lot of the troublemakers just went somewhere else when those stores closed down. We had that guy from Ithaca, NY come in and talk about they print their own local money, it's legal, and so we started doing that. Our money honors leaders we want to honor, like Dr. King, and Luis Betances, and it's a work of art. The police we have now say it's like a vacation, in this neighborhood, like we're all on happy pills or something. The Police Department sends out all its new Community Policing officers to our neighborhood first, they want them to see commu-nity done right, and have us train them right, before they go into the worse areas.

We got us a branch of Habitat for Humanity, and when housing is abandoned, and the city can't sell it, they give it to us, we rebuild it, and sell it to our residents. We got the churches involved in redevelopment, they could see they wouldn't survive without it, and they help a lot. We rebuilt one lot as a park, with all kinds of flowers, a stone maze for the kids to walk, huge wind chimes and wind harps, and a pond with goldfish and a Japanese rock garden that looks like one of those landscape paintings, all built because people each wanted something, and we worked together to make it happen. You know, every culture and person has something special to offer, and putting it all together is so beautiful.

You know, people need beauty in their lives, just like they need calcium and Vitamin C. Our community wasn't built to be beautiful, and that doesn't matter, because we've added so much beauty. Seems like everybody has flowers, now, and even perennial herbs, which taste so much better fresh. Seems like since I started eating fresh food, I don't need to go to the doctor nearly as often, and I feel so much better and have much more energy.

It's time to get going now.

I shower, get dressed, look in the mirror one last time, and say, "You are really good, you know that?" [No need to be modest in the presence of greatness] and go. First, it's off to the community college, where we offer to trade having their instructors come to our community center to give job skills classes, for us giving crafts classes to other parts of the city. We don't beg any more, we overcame our poverty with our wealth of knowledge and skills, and we trade for what we want. Then it's off to meet with the community affairs editor of the paper. I'm really glad I got to know her, since we started working together they started writing such nice articles about all the good things in our community. I was just so tired of reading about arrests and drugs, and they were tired of writ-ing about it, too. They feel so much better writing about positive things, and we make sure they have lots to write about. Now it's off to the church; we're getting the priest to let us go out to the suburban churches, and trade folk dance instruction for older computers, bicycles, and other things folks would get rid of anyway. It's kind of like mis- sionary work, too, suburban folks don't have the richness of life we do, some of them are like walking dead people, we help them live life with more fun.

Lunch is always fun. I go to the coop bakery. They got this Persian guy in. He makes bread only from whole grains, and they have a taste that won't quit, you can make a meal out of the bread, it's just delicious. I can't believe people eat Wonder Bread here, it's like tissue paper compared to this stuff. They have this Essene Bread, they say the recipe is in Leviticus, it's kind of heavy, and with raisins, it's really good, like a fruitcake.

In the afternoon, I go to the Farmer's Market, to get some vegetables and fruit. Fresh carrots are sweet, when they're grown right. No grocery store has ever had apples as good tasting as fresh picked. The kids like the sweetpeas I grow in my backyard so much they pick them and eat them right there. Their mommas said, "I could never get my kids to eat anything green til I got them to start growing their own." I have mint and chives, they come up every year, all I have to do is pick them and eat.

Then it's off to the middle school. The kids wanted their own dances, with a Juice Bar, so we told them they could have them if they ran everything themselves, had people in charge of everything, and just had adults around to offer suggestions. There's one at least once a month. I have to make sure that mops and brooms are available, so the kids can clean up afterwards. Our young people want to do things themselves, and it wasn't hard to get them into doing what they wanted. Once that's done, I have a volunteer thing where I do storytelling for the kids in Mrs. Adam's class. It's fun. I used to be a medical records specialist, but since my community group recognized my talents, they pay me the same money just to get things organized in my community. It's not a lot of money, but it's enough. Besides, I have so much fun at it. Just the other day, Robert, who went off to join the Marines, came back on leave. He said he would have ended up selling drugs, and dead, if it weren't for being in this community. Some of his friends ended up that way.

It's really nice, knowing that I've made a difference in other people's lives, that I'm leaving something beautiful behind. I always wanted to do that, and I am.

2. After you write your ideal day, go over it, and relive it, every morning and night. It's always ok to update it, to keep it exciting!

Feel what it feels like to be there, see what you see, hear what you hear, maybe even smell what you smell. This is an alignment exercise, if you do this every day, you align your entire being on making this happen.

3. Take action. Even if it's something really small. And keep at it.

Remember, it's ALWAYS one person who gets things started, and it's always something small they do. Banana Kelly, the Bronx Neighborhood, which at one time was in horrible shape, is much better off now, due to the efforts of one woman. A short story about her is in "The South Bronx bounces back", pp. 100-113, Smithsonian magazine, April, 1995, vol. 26 no. 1, which you may be able to get at your library. That article notes that IT IS ALWAYS ONE PERSON WHO GETS GOOD THINGS STARTED, and that she started out by doing something very small. Isn't that interesting... Following are 3 stories of leaders doing something small, that grew far beyond what they ever expected.

Not making a decision is a decision itself. The military teaches officers to make decisions, whether they are right or wrong. They might not be right; so what? so you make new decisions. A plane off course 95% of the time can still make it to its destination with course corrections. A magnet attracts things to itself because its particles are aligned. Align head and heart, and focus on true purpose. The surer of your purpose you are, the less the negative things others do affect you. How well does mud stick to the headlight beams of a car? You can be that focused. The Covey Leadership Center [800 292 6839] and Franklin Quest [800 979 1776] crystallize values into daily task planning as follows:

This is exactly what a well-run business does: it defines its mission, and then puts together a business plan. Think of some great leaders you admire whose behavior was exactly in line with their values, even when it was difficult: Ghandi, the Rev. Martin Luther King, and many others may come to mind. If it feels boring, you didn't do it right. Find what really turns you on, and you'll never feel bored again. YES, it's that simple. It may not be easy when you first start out - it IS that simple.

Someone once said that healing is just remembering who you really are. Leaders are community healers. In the old days, Native Americans would go into the Wilderness on a Vision Quest, seeking a vision of their life's purpose. They would take that vision and put it on a "Medicine Shield", or Coat of Arms. In a preliterate society, that was their nameplate, and how people knew them. A Vision must feel right, and be something you would enjoy pouring heart and soul into. You may not be able to go into the Wilderness, but you can still reach deep into yourself for your lifepath. You will know without a doubt when you're on your lifepath, and it will be easy to take on the most daunting obstacles.

I had a teacher once, who was an ambulance driver in Los Angeles for a time. He said he never met anyone who was ready to go. You can use that: if you had just 24 hours left to live, how would you spend it? Write a list, right now. THEN DO THOSE THINGS-they're obviously very important to you. Then... you have 24 more hours to live... and 24 more... and eventually a week, and a month... your time on the planet is probably not infinite. What do you want to weave into the fabric of life? Because you are leaving an effect-you can't help it. What do you choose to leave behind for others? The Iroquois nation considered the effect of their actions on the next 7 generations. What effect do you want to have? Your daily choices weave that effect, whether you choose to be aware of it or not.

A useful value discussion is in Chapter 15 of Awaken the Giant Within [Anthony Robbins. Fireside: 1991]. Covey's books deal with that, and also Mission Statements. Tad James [800-800-MIND] has a good discussion of timelines in his book Timeline Therapy and the Structure of Personality. Alignment exer-cises for groups, useful for Mission Statement cre-ation, are treated in the book Thoughtstorm [Publ. Star's Edge, 237 N. Westmonte Dr., Altamonte Springs, FL 32714.]

When you're focused and persistent enough, people you've never heard of will help you, in ways you may not even be aware of, just because they like what you're doing. They'll give you useful and not so useful advice, and material. You'll attract what you need. People will show up, books will fall open to useful information, situations will happen just as they need to. As they say in the Orient, " When the student is ready, the master appears". The master doesn't have to be a person, it could be a book, or an idea.

If you really hate where you're at in your life, there is an out. Do the best possible job right where you are. Years ago, I had a job paying $5 an hour, as a student. I told my boss I'd give him $7.50/hour of value. I later told him that I'd overcome a limitation in my thinking, and he'd get $15/hr of value from me. I made it - 3 people were hired at $5/hr each, to do the job I did, when I left. I'm sure they did the job better than I did, of course - yet I made it. Within 2 years I had a job pay-ing... $15/hr. I was paid to get myself ready for it. That's a pretty good deal.

I read many books on chipping flint to make arrowheads. I read pages and pages of theory. It was really complicated. Then someone showed me how to do it - he took 2 minutes, and I understood the process, and DID IT. I couldn't carve a beautiful Clovis point, but I could chip out an arrow-head. The moral is, JUST DO IT. Have you ever watched a weasel walk? Or even a cat? That is energy in motion. The Weasel, or Cat, doesn't think, doesn't read, doesn't worry about what it doesn't have or what people are going to do or say, doesn't make excuses or play games like humans, it just DOES.

Olympic athletes talk about the "zone" of performance, where the only existence is in doing. The Japanese have called this "no-mind". Some performers talk about a "Stage self", almost a higher or larger self, that operates them when they perform. Some craftspeople and musicians talk about becoming one with the task or music, of the task or music expressing as them. Some public speakers note that they ask the Universe, or God, or whatever, to speak through them to say whatever the audience most needs to hear, and "something" takes over, and they give speeches beyond their abilities. You have a unique purpose and energy. No one else can take responsibility for what you must do.

If you lack education or credentials, well, that just means it's easier for you to DO WHAT YOU MUST. Leadership has always been mostly self-trained. Schools train sheep, not stallions. Boredom only comes to those who aren't in alignment with their purpose. Everybody has their problems, everybody is "broken". So what? Operate from your strengths. Turn your weaknesses into strengths. Bruce Lee had one foot an inch shorter than the other, and used that to deliver devastating kicks. Milton Erickson, the gifted hypnotherapist, was gifted precisely because his polio-induced handicap forced him to become extremely observant.

Consider the elephant - when it has to go somewhere, it just does it. It doesn't worry about anything. If you understand nothing else, well, you can follow the Way of the Elephant. In the Army, there's something called Reconnaissance by Fire. Basically, that's firing in the bushes and seeing what happens. Something might come out, somebody might respond, or nothing might happen. The point is, you don't know till you try. Edison was reportedly very proud of having found 10,000 ways not to build a light bulb. You won't have that level of frustration, yet isn't it interesting that he kept trying, even after having "failed" 10,000 times?

You certainly want to avoid offending people, there's no profit margin in that. Let's say, though, that your worst fears have come true, and some-one high and mighty comes down to really chew you out for not following some procedure, and they really tear you up. There's a keen response you can give, first given by a Sufi poet in Iran, allegedly said by a drunk to a Mullah who was condemning him, "I am all that you say I am. Are you all that you seem?"

Every single leader the world has ever seen had to start right where you are right now. All they had to do was make choices, and follow up on them. The path you are walking has the tracks of many great leaders who started out with precisely what you have right now, or even less.

Following is a general description of what leaders starting out with little or no funding have done.

Bernice Johnson, a 75 year old Bronx resident, once told John Kretzmann, "We're in a prison, John. We're in a prison of other people's ideas of who we are. Before I say one word, they think they know all about me, because I come from the Bronx." Most efforts to address community problems have concentrated on weaknesses, the "map" everyone "knows", of unemployment, gangs, crime, welfare, illiteracy, and so on. The most insidious part of this "map" is that people begin to believe it, for what we concentrate on grows... Leaders get resources from outside by denying their community's strengths, by and emphasizing lack. Downright evil, isn't it?

Traditional community development looks at problems and needs: crime, gangs, broken families, unemployment, illiteracy, lead poisoning, etc. Solutions generated for this very negative "story" are patchwork solutions and services, encouraging dependency on outsiders. Residents become "special needs" that only outside resources can "treat" or "fix".

Yet weaknesses are only part of the truth, possibly the least important part. Kretzmann's book, Building Communities from the Inside Out, in-spired by Bernice, is a book of success stories by people who looked instead at the strengths of troubled communities. Even the most troubled neighborhoods have individuals and organizations with resources that can be used more effectively. The key to healing communities is locating and "mapping" local resources, building relationships and connecting them, and harnessing them to heal the system they form. Then and only then should outside resources be used. Without this internal capacity, outside resources can't be effectively used. It's very much like weaving a bas-ket... which is much stronger than the sum of the individual parts - because the RELATIONSHIP between the parts is much stronger.

Proactive community leaders mobilize residents and groups to have fun fixing their own problems. These efforts usually start with one or two local people trying new things. Building Communities... tells how to start regenerating the community without outside help, using resources already present. There are 5 steps for a leader who wants to activate a community:

The above format is scattered; a format should be developed for the unique interests and concerns of you and residents. Our thanks to Kim Pietrorazio of Konover Residential Management, in Rocky Hill, CT, for this concept, who surveys the interests of every incoming resident, to guide her company's efforts to meet resident interests. Consider: if you had a new tenant who just happened to love running parties, wouldn't you want to know that as soon as possible?

The hive is for bees what community is for humans. A community system is a group of related parts. A relationship is only as good as the communication, so anything you do to improve communication improves the community system. Focus and alignment on a purpose results in extra energy, ecstasy for individuals, and synergy for groups. It starts with a leader's focus and alignment. Leaders feed interests, and "bridge" interest and resources. This is a great area to see possibilities where no-one else does.

Networking and coalition building - which is focusing and aligning people who share common interests and goals on a purpose - is the only way drug prevention activities can succeed. No one organization has enough resources. Once the network mechanism is up and running, it can be expanded to do many more things in the community.

Any number of groups from the community might get involved, such as schools, the local police, religious groups, adult and youth groups, block clubs, recreation programs, parent-teacher organizations (PTA's), cultural groups, summer youth programs, ethnic groups, entertainment groups, medical groups - the list is endless, and we've cited long lists before.

A drug prevention network, or Safe Neighborhood Action Program, develops and sustains partnership among community anti-drug leaders. The partnership brings together people, resources, knowledge, skills, and enthusiasm, and by doing so, boosts each person. Using partnership lines of communication, community residents exchange information, learn new things, give/receive help, and meet community needs and feed community interests.

There is an old tale of someone who visited hell. He found that people had 6' long spoons, couldn't eat with them, and so fought with them. He went to heaven-where they had the same spoons, and were feeding each other. Which kind of community do you want to live in? Leaders start with feeding others' interests, at a pace they can handle. Leaders "con-nect" the network, as in the following story.

A survey was done recently in both Houston and Seattle, according to Newsweek. More than 80% of the people surveyed in Houston said they would leave the city if they could. In Seattle, it was reversed - more than 80% said they'd stay. What sort of people are in each place? Each nasty or nice transaction with people affects their attitude towards where they live or work. Every positive transaction has a "ripple effect".

Communities are a rich tapestry of individual actions. One personal note of appreciation is worth a ton of junk mail - the personal connection, which you have, is worth more than credentials, in your community. Also, people tend to follow the current. Each action you take is a model for others to follow. If you've ever been in some Canadian cities, you know you just somehow can't litter, because the streets are so clean. If you start doing really neat things, other people may get the idea also. It starts with the first small steps. How could you have fun taking small steps to help create a better community where you live?

There are many different ways of handling conflict. The book The Evolution of Cooperation details a number of very interesting events in history. Koichi Tohei commanded a Japanese military unit in China during WWII. He decided the most responsible thing he could do was to keep his men alive. He succeeded. His unit lost no casualties to enemy fire. First he had to win their trust. He said he got spiritually "centered", and stayed standing to issue commands only when it felt safe, while his men were hiding in trenches from enemy bullets. He got their respect. Then he convinced them that there really wasn't any need to kill enemy troops, unless attacked directly. When they caught prisoners, they would release them unharmed at night and point them back to their own lines. Enemy units knew their unit, and wouldn't attack them. Now wouldn't that make an interesting movie, maybe more interesting than the usual revenge fantasies popular in movies like Rambo? [Koichi Tohei formalized the Japanese martial art Aikido, which was founded by Morihei Uyeshiba. Aikido is a system of using the enemy's energy against him, and indeed welcoming enemies and experience as part of life. It involves using the "force" of Star Wars fame, known as "ki" in Japa-nese. It doesn't use the adversarial paradigm we know and love in this country, it is a more coopera-tive, holistic approach.]

Why fight? Why not figure out what interests you have in common with others, and find ways you can work together to make it better for everyone? The only hard part is changing the way you think. Once you do that, everything else is easy. Diversity is something to welcome. The great creative cities and cultures of the past were always extremely diverse, almost hybrids of cultural ideas. From Muslim Spain, where the Renaissance started, to Venice in the late Middle Ages, where double entry bookkeeping was invented, to Norman Sicily, to Khublai Khan's Chinese capital, to Timbuktu, to modern-day Singapore, diversity has always been critical and essential to societal creativity. Joseph Needham has catalogued hundreds of Chinese inventions "hy-bridized" to Western use, from gas used for heating to oil well drilling to tempered seven tone music. Cultures that have enforced uniformity, though, from the Inquisition to some of the former Iron Curtain countries, paid a very high price in cultural stagnation.

Leaders welcome diverse members of the community as very useful parts. The most creatively useful ideas sometimes come from people and situations you least expect them from. Synergy comes from alignment. An aligned community of 3 people doesn't have 3 times the brainpower, it has 9 times the brainpower. Fighting keeps the community from using its power. Remember the person who irritates the heck out of you might just be unfocused. Perhaps you can focus their energy. All enemies are potential allies.

Sometimes people find themselves in a position of leadership without having done it before. We all have to start somewhere, and even the "experts" started without experience too! The following will help you to avoid conflict:

Interpersonal conflict arises from poor or absent communication communication communication communication communication, and dif-fering perceptions, perceptions, perceptions, perceptions, perceptions, values, and values, and values, and values, and values, and wants and needs wants and needs wants and needs wants and needs wants and needs. There are four stages of group development. One of them is interpersonal conflict! The four are:

Leaders can minimize conflicts and help teamwork happen with these rules:

Some ways of handling conflict ways of handling conflict ways of handling conflict ways of handling conflict ways of handling conflict are:

Welcome conflict as a chance to improve your skills. It has been said that some people must have been put on this Earth to help us develop our patience. See this kind of person as a resource. Those people who really bother you have unfocused energy; if you can help them focus on getting things done, they will be your most energetic people. Sometimes just waiting quietly is the best thing you can do. That is a useful skill to practice.

The difference between a leader and a manager is the difference between the prophet and the priest. The prophet goes up into the hills, and comes down on fire with the vision, the priest deals with the bureaucracy. Each has their place. It is important to recognize that Leaders are not managers! Here are some differences:

Leadership means sharing excitement and focus on a shared vision of what is possible, and empowering others to make it happen. It means helping others see and get excited about their own potential, and purpose in life, to the point where they take action themselves. A real leader's main problem is slowing people down so they can do things in sequence, efficiently.

Problems are actually growth opportunities in disguise. Think of them as puzzles to be figured out, or a mountain to climb, or as some form of fun activity that you could really enjoy.

When you have an insoluble problem, fill your mind with all the details of the problem, especially just before bedtime. Then forget about it totally. Have a notebook ready for when ideas for solutions come through. Write them all down. If you need to, do something totally unrelated to the problem - and let that suggest a solution.

The City of Baltimore used to delight in its ethnic celebrations. William Donald Schaefer, formerly the mayor of that city, said you could measure the hope and health of a community by the number of flowers visible in front of the houses. Some native peoples would say that you can measure the health of a com-munity by the beauty and energy of the singing of the women as they worked. In our culture, women for the most part don't get to sing at all as they work... Some would measure community health by the level of development and beauty of whatever is unique about it. We might say that the health of a community is precisely equivalent to the health of the hopes and dreams of its residents.

Traditional community reinforcers worldwide included activities like FOLK DANCING and STORYTELLING. [Re-source organizations include PINDUP, 444 NE Ravenna Blvd, Suite 306, Seattle, WA, 98115-6467, and those listed in Encyclopedia of Associations, in your library, such as Folkalliance, POB 5010, Chapel Hill, NC 27514-5010, (919) 962-3397, Performing Arts Foundation [formerly Folk Dance Foundation], 500 Riverside Dr., New York, NY 10027, (212) 316-8430, Lloyd Shaw Foundation, 2924 Hickory Ct., Manhat-tan, KS 66502 (913) 539-6306]. NAPPS, the national storytelling association, POB 309, Jonesboro, TN 37659- 0309, is useful, and offers trainings in many parts of the country. Storytelling is a great way to "find your voice". Just try not to have too much fun at it. Useful books include Just Enough to Make a Story [N. Schimmel. Berke-ley, CA: Sister's Choice Press, 1982] The Family Storytelling Handbook [Riverside, NJ: MacMillan Publishing Co., 1987]].

You might want to spend some time thinking about how to reinforce the sense of community in your area, with simple things like that. You could deepen the bonds of community with friends and family by celebrating birthdays, or seasonal or religious holidays. You could even create your own traditions. If you are part of an organized group, you could have celebrations, retreats, and other get-togethers that recognize group transitions and anniversaries. This might include recognizing joint achievements, learning from mistakes, just playing, and redefining your group vision and goals.

Australian aborigines recognize two broad classes of time: what we call normal waking consciousness, called "whitefella time", and Sacred time, or the "Dreamtime". Linear, "whitefella time" is deadening without the balance of circular, cyclical time. The Apache name for linear time, where Western people live, can be translated "Land of the Living Dead". Originally, celebrations were sacred, occurring in sacred space and time, and vivifying, or re-cre-ative, not recreational. Holiday doesn't have the oomph of its original meaning, Holy Day, does it? Western culture has forgotten the value of sacred time. Some might consider celebrations frills and extras. The rite of passage to manhood for adoles-cent boys, in New Guinea, was abandoned in the 1970's, for just this reason. It only took 2 years for street gangs to form. In nature, restful inner processing is absolutely necessary after every ac-tive outward production. This is as necessary for a community as sleep is for an individual. Do you remember the scene in Crocodile Dundee II where Mick asks the gang what they did last night, and the pre-vious night, and so on? Communities are what they do. If they do nothing together, they are little more than laboratory rat cages for people.

Perhaps we unconsciously create crises to experience a sense of community because we've given up these positive community activities. Individuals doing that get a "Secondary Gain" - their problems have a secondary reward, like a person who is always sick because that is the only way they can get attention. We don't have a similar term for community problems. Maybe we need one. Our communities certainly present a number of challenging growth opportunities for any leader willing to take action.

This manual can only offer ideas. This section is short, because each community will be different in whatever it does. Wouldn't it be boring if each community did everything in exactly the same way? You may come up with some really unique ideas that will be the next generation's inspiring success stories. Perhaps you will invent something as earth-shaking in community building as the stirrup, which led to the armored knight, castles, and feudal Europe. Whatever your community is, it has some unique characteristics that can be developed in a fun way to make it a better place to live. One useful book:

CITY COMFORTS: How to Build an Urban Village [CITY COMFORTS PRESS, 5605 Keystone Place North, Seattle, WA 98103 http://www.citycomforts.com/]

In some insurance companies, they have "tigers" doing telephone sales. They actually thank people for their no's, as they know that they need 50 no's to get to a yes. Being a leader is a lot easier than that! Think big! Maybe you have a counterpart at the property across the street. Introduce yourself. Try out your innovative ideas, see what works.

None of the programs or ideas here are mandatory. They are only suggestions. Your level of focus attracted this manual to you, and will continue to attract more and more useful resources to help you with your goals. You have to tailor your work to your community. It is difficult to see and touch leadership "soft skills" from a distance - a politician can see "bricks and sticks" put up, but can't see the social "glue" that holds the community together. You have to market yourself. You have to project "image". If you don't toot your own horn, no-one else will. Remember that even actions that seemingly accomplish nothing always have a meta-communication - they show that a leader is at work. Make sure your political representatives and local newspaper community affairs editor know of your problems, and of your success stories.

Ultimately, a leader is a bridgebuilder and a healer. You will make a difference in people's lives. Even if it seems you are battering your head on a brick wall, you are making a difference. Fire yourself up with whatever you need to, be it the inspirational stuff earlier, or whatever you use. One manager who thinks like a leader starts out with the mirror exercise - she looks at herself in the mirror each morning, and says, "Well, you lookin' good, today, girl, feel that energy movin' through you!" You may want to have motivational posters and reminders in your office. Nothing beats someone fired up towards a goal - not education, not position, not money, nothing. Put that fire in your gut every day. It can be done, and you can have fun doing it. How much fun is too much fun?

Talk to your people! Go to your public library! We only list a few sample ideas, there are many more. Every activity is an opportunity to develop resident leadership skills-get as much mileage as you can out of events. If the leader is doing everything, there's a problem. Learn to delegate to interested people. You'll be far more effective.

Consider setting aside space for a learning center. The number of people who use computers and computer-based communication in the United States has increased dramatically in recent years. Not only do more personal, commercial, and government transactions take place online, but the ability to use a computer is necessary for employment in nearly every vocation.

HUD's Neighborhood Networks Computer Learning Center concept is a community-based initiative that establishes computerized teaming centers in HUD-insured and assisted housing. Neighborhood Networks takes a bottom-up, individualized approach to community development. Any HUD development, or any organization that serves HUD residents, is welcome, and of course anyone can use HUD's information. Property owners and housing residents are encouraged to form partnerships with members of their community to develop and sustain a center that best suits their own needs. The types of programs and services offered at a Neighborhood Networks Center could include typing, word processing, and computer training; general education and job training; access to job data banks; access to information on health and community resources; access to potential collaborators and clients in the development of microenterprises; and participation in online civic and government forums. Interested property owners would submit a business plan to the asset management branch of the local HUD field office in whose jurisdiction the property is located, as noted in HUD Notice H95-81, available from (800)767-7468. Neighborhood Networks is not a grant program, so local support is vital. Local businesses, government, educational institutions, private foundations, and other community organizations donate computers and software, and may provide some capital funding.

In addition to community resources, property owners may use funds from their residual receipts accounts and reserve for replacement accounts to the extent that these funds are not required to meet the anticipated needs of the property. They may also borrow funds from financial institutions as long as the loan is not secured by the property. In some circumstances, HUD may fund part or all of the costs from rent increases.

Specific information on Neighborhood Networks is contained in Notice H95-81 and 96-83, available free from 800 767 7468. The Lansing, Michigan Housing Commission also produces an excellent manual and video. A Neighborhood Network How To manual is available for $20 from 800 MULTI 70, or free from the web page address for HUD's Neighborhood Network: http://www.hud.gov/nnw/nnwindex.html For further information on starting a Neighborhood Networks Center call the asset management branch of the local HUD field office nearest you. You can also contact:

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Housing - Multifamily, P. O. Box 6424 Rockville, MD 20850-6091 phone: (800)685-8470 fax: (301)251-5767 Internet: neighborhood-net@aspensys.com

Remember your survey of residents, and nearby organizations. You may be able to get volunteers to help tutor. Peer and older student tutoring can also work well. Your school may be willing to help.

Be sure to at least ask area churches to solicit their members for donations of dictionaries and encyclopedias, and perhaps even computer equipment. If a resident gets a rent reduction for teaching classes, have a written contract!

CLASS IDEAS [Preferably on-site where possible - ask your Extension Service, at the State Land Grant college, for ideas on trainings.]

The key point with all of these is finding activities that generate positive emotions for people in groups.

There are teenage leaders! Find them wherever possible, empower them, and let them do as much of the work as possible. Develop a Liability Waiver or parental authorization form. You may be able to use what your school uses. Just have one.

What unique, really fun activities that really define and strengthen your community will you, working with residents, come up with? How much fun can people have doing jobs they love? Perhaps you'll share your success stories, to make it easier for others.

*Zapp! The Lightning of Empowerment, William C. Byham. Ballantine Books, 1994.

*Creating Community Anywhere, Carolyn Shaffer-Tarcher, 1992.

*The Quickening of America, Lappe and DuBois.

The Different Drum, M. Scott Peck New York: Simon & Schuster, 1987

The Journey to the Ancestral Self, Tamarack Song. Station Hill Press, 1994.

Systemantics, John Gall. Ann Arbor, MI: General Systemantics Press, 1986.

Standing By Words, Wendell Berry. Berkeley, CA: North Point Press, 1983.

Neighborhood Planning -- A Guide for Citizens and Planners, Bernie Jones. American Planning Association, 1313 East 60th Street, Chicago, Illinois 60637.

Fight Back: How to Take Back your Neighborhood, Schools, and Families from the Drug Dealers, Michael Levine NY: Dell, 1991.

*Building Community from the Inside Out, John McKnight. ACTA Publications, 4848 N. Clark St., Chicago, IL 60640.

Streets of Hope: The Fall and Rise of an Urban Neighborhood, Peter Medoff, Holly Sklar. Boston: South End Press, 1994.

The Living Economy, Ed. Paul Ekins. London: Routledge, 1986.

Putting Democracy to Work: a practical guide to starting and managing worker-owned businesses, F. T. Adams. Barret Koehler, 1987.

Economic Empowerment through the Church, Gregory Reed. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1994.

Organizing: A Guide for Grass-Roots Leaders, Si Kahn. NY: McGraw-Hill, 1982.

A Catalog of Manuals, Reprints, and Training Materials, Peace Corps publication RE014, Peace Corps, 1990 K St NW, WDC 20526 Similar publications available from VITA, 1600 Wilshire Blvd, Suite 500, Arlington, VA 22209

Starting and Managing a Nonprofit Organization, Bruce Hopkins. NY: John Wiley & Sons, 1993.

Successful Fundraising/Grass Roots Fundraising, Joan Flanagan. Chicago: Contemporary Books, 1993.

*Tools and Tactics for building neighborhood organizations, Citizen's committee of NY, Inc., 305 7th Ave., NYC 10001, (212) 989-0909. $12.

New Community Networks: Wired for Change, Douglas Schuler [comnets@u.washington.edu] Addison-Wesley, 1996

"The South Bronx bounces back", pp. 100-113, Smithsonian magazine, April, 1995, vol. 26 no. 1.

Youth Leadership in Action: A Guide to Cooperative Games and Group Activities Written By and For Youth Leaders (Kendall-Hunt Publishing Company, 1995, 182 pages). 1-800-338-8290

*Stand Up and Be Counted, Judy Knipe, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992.

What you can do to help the homeless [volunteer ideas that are good in any community]. Kenyon, T. L. Hew York: Simon & Schuster, 1991.

Getting to Yes, Roger Fisher, W. C. Ury. Penguin, 1982.

The Evolution of Cooperation, R. Axelrod, NY: Basic Books, 1984.

Sarvodaya Shramadana [literally, "Everyone Wakes Up by Sharing Energy"] article in The Next Whole Earth Catalog, publ. 1982.

Thoughtstorm, Star's Edge, 237 N. Westmonte, Altamonte Springs, FL 32714

Community work requires sharing ideas; it's an important skill.

The Alternative Printing Handbook, The Printer's Devil, C. Treweek. Islington Bus Col, Palmer Place, London N7 8DH ENGLAND, 7 pounds. Joe Singer. Mother of Ashes Press, POB 135, Harrison ID 83833-0135, free on request.

The Samisdat Method, M. Clifton, POB 129, Ridgeford, VT 05476-0129.

How to Do Leaflets, Newsletters, and Newspapers, N. Brigham. NY: Kampmann, 1982.

Food affects behavior. For example, cultures that produce epic poetry consume dairy products. How do you change a hardened criminal into a useful citizen? Take away his candy bars. This is not a joke, it's part of a quiet change in the diet of incarcerated persons in many parts of the country. It's the result of a groundbreaking study of what happened when the diet of 276 teenage boys in a Virginia detention center was altered to exclude the huge amounts of white sugar they'd been eating. After fruit juices replaced colas, and carrots replaced cookies, antisocial behavior dropped 48% Thefts fell 77%, and assaults dropped 82% Staff members who provided the information didn't know there was a study underway. While everyone is responsible for their own behavior, crime may well have a bio-chemical basis. A study of 318 Ohio convicts found 252 of them were malnourished. Those who remained on a new, healthy diet after leaving jail had few problems with the law. And, in Pierce County, Washington, adult offenders fed nutritionally wholesome food as part of an experimen-tal program returned to crime 1/3 as often as the fellows who'd continued on the standard jailhouse fare.

Alexander Schauss' book " Diet, Crime, and Delinquency", states that malnutrition is the prime cause of criminal behavior. The Myth of Health in America (Fry, 1976) cites statistics like the following: only 1.5% of the U. S. population can be considered healthy. The U. S. is 89th among nations in death rate. Cancer is the number one cause of disease-related death of children.

Perhaps the most interesting part of America's chronic borderline malnutrition is increasingly mineral deficient food, which comes from min-eral deficient soil, which is "addicted" to agricultural chemicals. Con-sider what happens to pregnant women when they need a nutrient: they get cravings. But isn't this true for everyone? What exactly are the "munchies"? One reason Americans tend to be obese is that if the body doesn't get the nutrition it needs, it craves more food. If the only food available is empty calories, well, that's what is eaten. One could consider what role such cravings have in sub-stance addiction, too. By comparison, Stone Age Nomadics courses recom-mend 2/3 cup a day of wild foods, as any more makes one feel stuffed. America has the good fortune to have access to many diverse ideas. One of those is traditional Indian [Ayurvedic] and Oriental medicine. In Ayurvedic medicine, there are 3 major classes of foods. They are:

Oriental medicine would regard Tamasic foods as undesirable, also. You could watch the evening news, and the accompanying commercials. You could realize that Heart Disease, which is caused mostly by diet, kills more Americans than firearms, cars, and several other causes put together. You could note the interesting rise in immune deficiency diseases, and perhaps draw your own conclusions. Alcohol and drugs are involved with over 3/ 4 of all crimes. We may never be able to address domestic abuse, for ex-ample, without first addressing problems of alcohol.

Sometimes residents subsist on fast food because getting good food in some areas is difficult. One solution is to form cooperative groceries. This not only provides better food at lower prices, it also puts money in people's pockets, as well as offering them an opportunity to take more control of their lives. We believe that the following folks may be a helpful resource. There are other such cooperatives nationwide, you might try Encyclopedia of Associations in your Public Library.

Northeast Cooperatives 49 Bennett Dr. POB 8188 Brattleboro, VT 05304-8188 (800)334-9939, x358

Co-Op America 2100 M. St. NW Suite 403 WDC 20037 (203)872-5307

Co-Op Resource Center 1442A Walnut St. Berkeley, CA 94709 (510)538-0454

What other cooperative ventures could you set up?

Father Thomas O'Brien, in his book "You Can't Do it Alone", and elsewhere, notes that addicts worldwide have a spiritual hunger for the kind of energy that healthy communities used to provide. The Wampanoag storyteller Manitonquat noted that when Mother Theresa visited America, she noted that people weren't starving for food, but they were starving for love. That "craving" is closely related to the "craving" for substances. Tony Flaherty, of the Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency's Tenant Assistance Program, noted that the alcoholic's thirst for spirits is actually an unfocused thirst for "spirit". Religious organizations offer some resources. The Foundation for Community Encouragement, 109 Danbury Rd, Suite 8, Ridgefield, CT 06877, FCEonline@aol.com, and CommuniTeam, Inc., PO Box 407, Frenchtown, NJ 08825 e-mail: 4tr@blast.net offer training in this area. We cannot do it justice in this manual, yet it is a critical part of the total picture of a healthy community.

There is plenty of other material on violence in media, and other places in our culture, which we omit for space reasons.