Empowerment Institute Resources
“For those of us in the community-capacity-building sector, David Gershon is not only a dear and trusted resource, but also a living reminder that the work to which we have dedicated our lives can have important tangible outcomes. Building capacity among community members is a complex and intense process that often progresses at a glacial pace. Social Change 2.0 enables community organizers to take this work to the level of craft. Reading this book re-energizes our conviction not only that this work is important, but that it really is possible to help communities transition to a new paradigm. Thank you, David, for your life's work!”
– Daniel Homsey, Director of Strategic Initiatives and the Neighborhood Empowerment Network, City of San Francisco
“Social Change 2.0 is the call to a new generation of leadership, a generation that feels instinctively what David teaches explicitly: that the progress of our society requires us to rebuild our communities house by house and neighborhood by neighborhood. And this book shows us how! If enough change agents apply the highly effective strategies and tools in this book, it will be a game changer for our world.”
– Rob Garrity, Executive Director,Massachusetts Climate Action Network
“In Social Change 2.0 David Gershon presents an inspiring vision and a realistic roadmap for how we can reinvent our world through empowering grassroots leaders. The proven strategies, practices, and tools Gershon provides are powerful and will deliver results. I wish I’d had access to them when I was mayor.”
– Graham Richard, mayor (2000-2007), Fort Wayne, Indiana, and author of Performance is the Best Politics: How to Create High Performance Government
Chapter 1
The World at the Brink: Creating a Better Game Than War
First Earth Run Video. This fifteen-minute inspirational video takes you on a journey around the world with the torch of peace as it engages with world leaders and citizens in over sixty countries. It is available for free download or purchase. Visit www.empowermentinstitute.net/dream.
First Earth Run Photo Gallery. This 105-picture photo gallery captures some of the people young and old, political leaders, special moments and places among the sixty-two countries, twenty-five million people and forty-five heads of state that celebrated the torch of peace’s journey around the world. It is an immersion in the feeling of the people as they participated in this creation of eighty-six days of peace on earth. Visit www.empowermentinstitute.net/dream.
A Dream for Our World, by David Gershon, High Point. This book expands on the story told in Chapter 1 and includes the seven unitive practices that grew out of it, photos, and communications from world leaders. Visit www.empowermentinstitute.net/dream for free download or to purchase the book.
What’s Working in the World. These guidelines explain how to select and honor outstanding projects of cooperation solving local challenges in your community. Visit www.empowermentinstitute.net/dream.
Chapter 2
Environmentally Sustainable Lifestyles in America: Psst—Save the Planet, Pass It On
Green Living Handbook: A 6 Step Program to Create an Environmentally Sustainable Lifestyle, by David Gershon, Empowerment Institute. The program focuses on solid waste reduction, water, energy, transportation efficiency, green purchasing, and empowering others. It can be done by single households or EcoTeams. To learn more or to purchase the book, visit www.empowermentinstitute.net/glh.
Sustainable Lifestyle Campaign. Using the Green Living Handbook as its behavior-change tool, the campaign helps a community conserve its natural resources and protect its environment through empowering residents to create more environmentally sustainable lifestyles. It can be implemented by local government, a community group, or a business. To learn more, visit www.empowermentinstitute.net/slc.
Journey for the Planet: A Kid’s Five Week Adventure to Create an Earth Friendly Life, by David Gershon, Empowerment Institute. This is a children’s sustainable lifestyle program. It can be done by children on their own or as part of a classroom or youth organization. A twenty-six-lesson teacher’s curriculum is available to support the program. To learn more or to purchase these books, visit www.empowermentinstitute.net/journey.
Water Stewardship: A 30 Day Program to Protect and Conserve Our Water Resources, by David Gershon, Empowerment Institute. This program helps households develop practices to use water more efficiently and reduce pollutants emitted into local water bodies. It can be done by single households or EcoTeams. To learn more or to purchase the book, visit www.empowermentinstitute.net/wsp.
Water Stewardship Campaign. Using Water Stewardship as its behavior-change tool, the campaign helps a community or watershed conserve its water resources and reduce pollutants going into local water bodies through empowering residents to create water friendly lifestyle practices. It can be implemented by local government or a watershed organization. Visit www.empowermentinstitute.net/wsc.
Citizen Sustainability Assessment. This tool for creating a sustainable community strategy enables a municipality or community group to assess the effectiveness of government policies and programs from the point of view of residential resource conservation and environmental protection. To use this free web tool, visit www.empowermentinstitute.net/csa.
Chapter 3
Neighborhood Livability in Inner-City Philadelphia: Against the Odds
Livable Neighborhood: Making Life Better on the Street Where You Live, by David Gershon, Empowerment Institute. This program is divided into four topics: neighborhood health and safety, neighborhood beautification and greening, neighborhood resource sharing, and neighborhood community building. The program also explains how to create a block-based team. For more information or to purchase the book, visit www.empowermentinstitute.net/lnp.
Livable Neighborhood Campaign. Using Livable Neighborhood as its behavior-change tool, this campaign helps blocks improve their safety, health, and overall livability. It can be implemented by local government, a community group, neighborhood or block association. For more information, visit www.empowermentinstitute.net/lnc.
Chapter 4
Disaster-Resilient Communities in New York City: All Together Now
All Together Now: Neighbors Helping Neighbors Create a Disaster-Resilient Community, Empowerment Institute. This program helps individuals prepare for emergencies and create disaster-resilient blocks and buildings. It can be done by individuals or a team. The version of the book created for New York City is available for free download; visit www.empowermentinstitute.net/atn.
Becoming Resilient, Empowerment Institute. This is an abbreviated version of the All Together Now program designed for single households. The version of the program created for New York City is available for free download; visit www.empowermentinstitute.net/atn.
All Together Now Disaster-Resilient Community Campaign. Using the All Together Now and Becoming Resilient behavior-change tools, this campaign helps buildings or blocks become more disaster resilient. It can be implemented by local government, a community group, a building, or a block association. For more information, visit www.empowermentinstitute.net/atn.
All Together Now Video. This is a ten-minute inspirational video about the All Together Now program that took place in New York City. To view it, visit www.empowermentinstitute.net/atn.
All Together Now Community Organizer Materials. These are the materials for starting a building, block, and neighborhood level disaster-resilient community initiative. The materials created for New York City are available for free download; visit www.empowermentinstitute.net/atn.
Chapter 5
Creating the World As We Wish It: The Practice of Empowerment
Empowerment: The Art of Creating Your Life As You Want It, by David Gershon and Gail Straub, High Point. This book, considered a classic in the field of personal empowerment, guides readers through a self-transformation program to envision and create what they wish to achieve in seven key areas of life: relationships, sexuality, money, work, body, emotions, and spirituality. To purchase the book, visit www.empowermentinstitute.net/eb.
Empowerment Workshop, led by David Gershon and Gail Straub. The purpose of this training is to support individuals in creating their life as they most want it. The workshop focuses on seven areas of life—relationships, sexuality, money, work, body, emotions, and spirituality. To learn more, visit www.empowermenttraining.com/ew.
Art of Empowerment: A Professional Training in Facilitating Human Potential, led by David Gershon and Gail Straub. This training provides the knowledge and skills to use the empowerment methodology in social change, educational, organizational, and therapeutic settings. To learn more, visit www.empowermenttraining.com/aoe.
Empowerment Institute Certification Program, led by David Gershon and Gail Straub. The institute provides change leaders and social entrepreneurs with the training, coaching, and tools to integrate the Social Change 2.0 framework into their social change initiative. Participants can also become certified in leading one of Empowerment Institute’s turnkey personal development programs—Empowerment Workshop and Empowerment Life Coaching; community transformation campaigns—Sustainable Lifestyle, Livable Neighborhood, Water Stewardship, Cool Community, or Disaster-Resilient Community; or organizational transformation—The Empowering Organization. For more information visit www.empowermentinstitute.net/ei.
Chapter 6
Changing the Game: The Craft of Transformation
Empowerment Institute Certification Program. See Chapter 5 in this resource section for a description of the Institute. For more information, visit www.empowermentinstitute.net/ei.
Changing the Game: The Craft of Transformative Leadership, led by David Gershon. This two-day training described in detail in Chapter 6 is customized for an organization or community. For more information, visit www.empowermentinstitute.net/ctg.
Chapter 7
Improving the Performance Capacity of Society:
Designing and Implementing a Transformative Social Innovation
Empowerment Institute Certification Program. For more information, visit www.empowermentinstitute.net/ei.
Chapter 8
Synergy as the Accelerator of Social Change: The Art of Building a Unitive Field
Empowerment Institute Certification Program. For more information, visit www.empowermentinstitute.net/ei.
Chapter 9
Taking a Social Innovation to Scale: The Leverage of Disproportionate Influence
Empowerment Institute Certification Program. For more information, visit www.empowermentinstitute.net/ei.
Chapter 10
Building Leadership Capacity to Change the World: A School for Transformative Social Change
Empowerment Institute Certification Program. For more information, visit www.empowermentinstitute.net/ei.
The Empowering Organization, led by David Gershon. This training is designed to help an organization increase its performance capacity through empowering employees to develop their full potential. The training is customized for an organization. For more information, visit www.empowermentinstitute.net/eo.
Chapter 11
Empowering a Climate Change Movement: Low Carbon Diet and the Cool Community
Low Carbon Diet: A 30 Day Program to Lose 5,000 Pounds, by David Gershon, Empowerment Institute. The book shows readers how to reduce their CO2 footprint and help their workplace and community do the same. To learn more or to purchase the book, visit www.empowermentinstitute.net/lcd.
Cool Community Capacity Building Program. This customized program, including social architecture design consultation, training, coaching, and monthly master classes, builds the capability of local organizers in bringing Low Carbon Diet to scale in their community. It can be designed for single or multiple community participation and initiated by a local government, nonprofit organization or business. For more information download the Cool Community Capacity Building Flier.
Empowerment Institute Certification Program. Offers two global warming certification programs for practitioners: Cool Community Leadership Program—builds transformative leadership capabilities to implement a community campaign; and Low Carbon Diet coaching—a turnkey four-session coaching program to help households reduce their carbon footprint. To learn more, visit www.empowermentinstitute.net/ei.
Cool School Program. This program can be used as part of a Cool Community campaign to empower children ages 8 to 12 to reduce their personal carbon footprint. It uses Journey for the Planet: A Kid’s Five Week Adventure to Create an Earth Friendly Life and a teacher’s curriculum. (See Chapter 2 in this section for a brief description of the books.) To learn more or to purchase the books, visit www.empowermentinstitute.net/journey.
Cool Community Corps. This is implemented by colleges and high schools to support students in participating in a Cool Community campaign. For a description, download the Cool Community Corps Flier.
Cool Corporate Citizen. This program, using Low Carbon Diet, helps employees of a company reduce their carbon footprint and then translate this carbon literacy into helping the organization reduce its footprint. Motivated employees, through the organization’s volunteer program, are then supported to participate in a Cool Community campaign. For a description, download the Cool Corporate Citizen Brochure.
Global Warming Café. This workshop engages participants in a conversation about global warming and then invites them to take personal action to reduce their carbon footprint using the Low Carbon Diet. The Global Warming Café Organizers Toolkit is available for free online and provides everything needed to host and promote a café. To view, visit www.empowermentinstitute.net/lcd.
Cool Community Teletraining. led by David Gershon. For those interested in empowering residents in their community to lower their carbon footprint using Low Carbon Diet, this two-hour free training is an opportunity to learn how to mount a Cool Community campaign. To learn more and register, visit www.empowermentinstitute.net/lcd.
Low Carbon Diet CO2 Calculator. To calculate your CO2 footprint, visit www.empowermentinstitute.net/lcd.
Chapter 12
Transforming the Paradigm of War: The Emergence of a Unitive Consciousness
A Dream for Our World, by David Gershon, High Point. See Chapter 1 in this resource section for a description. To purchase the book, visit www.empowermentinstitute.net/dream.
A Dream for Our World Web Initiative. The goal of this web-based transformative strategy is to disseminate the First Earth Run story and set of seven practices to accelerate the growth of a unitive consciousness on the planet. To participate, visit www.empowermentinstitute.net/dream.
First Earth Run Video. See Chapter 1 in this resource section for a description. To learn more, visit www.empowermentinstitute.net/dream.
First Earth Run Photo Gallery. See Chapter 1 in this resource section for a description. To learn more, visit www.empowermentinstitute.net/dream.
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