Proposal for new section in small to mid-sized town newspapers: the Neighbor to Neighbor Community Education (NTNCE) Project

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Press Release in “Letter to the Editor” format)
May 6, 2015
Contact: Stefan Pasti
Cell: (703) 209-2093 (US)
stefanpasti@gmx.com
(511 words)

Proposal for new section in small to mid-sized town newspapers:
the Neighbor to Neighbor Community Education (NTNCE) Project

I am writing to share information and resources with you about a proposal for a new section in local newspapers, especially newspapers associated with small and mid-sized towns.

The new section (the Neighbor to Neighbor Community Education section) would be used to highlight and accumulate stories, personal experiences, and other forms of reader contributions which identify helpful people and valuable resources, and reinforce important community goals.

A form of community service work

The Neighbor to Neighbor Community Education (NTNCE) Project is an example of community service work which can be done by local newspapers, which:

a) highlights what is valuable and important in everyday community life
b) encourages positive neighbor to neighbor relations
c) provides records of community life which can be used by future historians
d) helps increase consensus for a local specific, commonly agreed upon definition of “the greater good”.

Why is this Neighbor to Neighbor Community Education (NTNCE) Project Needed?

We now live in the most complex cultural landscapes ever created on Planet Earth.

Access the search engines on the Internet; Wikipedia; YouTube; Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.); professional networks, etc. on Ning Platforms; iPhones and iPads; television networks; cable networks; newspapers; and radios mean that however carefully schools—and other educational institutions—attend to their social responsibilities, there are countless ways in which unworthy features of our complex world can counteract, rather than reinforce, important educational goals.

It is in such a context—in the most complex cultural landscapes ever created—that the Neighbor to Neighbor Community Education (NTNCE) Project suggests there is a profound need for not just schools (and other educational institutions)—but all citizens—to recognize their social responsibilities to identify and reinforce only those cultural “building blocks” which help create and support commonly agreed upon definitions of “the greater good”.

Thus, rather than confining our definition of civic duty to voting in elections, or to contributing to the service work of one organization (important as such civic duty and community service work is), many people may—as a result of the NTNCE Project—come to the realization that even the smallest events in everyday community life can be positive contributions to:
 
1)  the education goals of the local public school system
2)  increasing consensus on a local specific, commonly agreed upon, and revitalized “moral compass”
3)  the greater good of all residents in the local community and region

Supporting Documents for NTNCE Project

There are currently 3 supporting documents for the Neighbor to Neighbor Community Education (NTNCE) Project:

1) this Press Release (in a Letter to the Editor format) (463 words)
1) a 6 page Project Overview (1,916 words)
2) a 16 page Project Proposal

These NTNCE supporting documents can be accessed at the Neighbor to Neighbor Community Education (NTNCE) Project webpage, at the website for The Community Peacebuilding and Cultural Sustainability (CPCS) Initiative (at www.cpcs.co ).

Seeking Pioneers

The NTNCE Project is hoping to find managing editors, publishers, and whole communities who would like to be among the pioneers experimenting with this new approach to the community service role of newspapers.

For a Greater Common Good,

Stefan Pasti, Founder and Resource Coordinator
The Community Peacebuilding and Cultural Sustainability (CPCS) Initiative
www.cpcs.co

_______________________________

The Neighbor to Neighbor Community Education (NTNCE) Project is a part of The Community Peacebuilding and Cultural Sustainability (CPCS) Initiative (at www.cpcs.co ). The CPCS Initiative provides research for critical challenges alerts, and support for collaborative problem solving initiatives which seek to maximize citizen participation.

Stefan Pasti is the founder and resource coordinator for The Community Peacebuilding and Cultural Sustainability (CPCS) Initiative (at www.cpcs.co  ). 

Mr. Pasti’s most recent critical challenge assessment/solution guides include: “IPCR Critical Challenge Assessment 2011-2012: Summary Report” (444 pages; January, 2012); “Invitation Package for Possible Board of Advisors” (589 pages; November, 2013); and “An Assessment of the Most Critical Challenges of Our Times” (36 pages; May, 2015) [Note: both the compilation of quotes, and the source references in this shorter document are all in one place--and the source references are recently confirmed.]
 
During November-December, 2014, Mr. Pasti created key documents for The Recalibrating Our “Moral Compasses” Survey Project, which include a 74 page prospectus, a 13 page overview, and a 5 page “Project Overview and Invitation to Collaborate”.  Those key documents are accessible at the ROMC Survey Project webpage, on The Community Peacebuilding and Cultural Sustainability (CPCS) Initiative website (at www.cpcs.co ).

Postscript: I was looking for an "Education" section of the forum to post this in--seems like it would be helpful to have such a section.

I hope the above idea is helpful in some way to the efforts of Village Vancouver. I post here at Village Vancouver because it seems to me that Village Vancouver and also Cascadia in general, can create a cutting edge regional model for resolving many of the critical challenges of our times. SP