When more than 350 nonprofits in poor neighborhoods and communities respond to a federal RFP that will provide "Promise Neighborhood" planning funds for only 20 of them, it's an opportunity for movement building and lessons learned. Maybe it's also an opportunity for innovation development.

Knowing what network members want from each other and want to give to each other, and delivering on these "value propositions" makes or breaks a network. "If there's no value," says Bill Traynor, one of our favorite network builders, "people will start to exit. It's a self-regulating system." That's pretty straightforward, but actually understanding and monitoring the members' value propositions (VPs) is quite complicated. A member may embrace more than one proposition; different members may embrace different propositions; and what members care about may change over time. Given this complexity and dynamism, it's worthwhile to check in on a network's value propositions fairly regularly, not just when starting up the network.

Monitoring changes in a network’s member-to-member connections is integral to network evaluation, especially when a network’s performance depends on its evolution (e.g., from low levels of connectivity to higher levels of connectivity, conversion of weak links to strong links, etc.). One way to display information about a network’s evolution is to create network maps  We use special mapping software to analyze and visually display the information that we gather about network connections and changes over time. We’ve found that network maps generated in this way reveal patterns that are hard to “see” in the raw data and that are difficult to summarize narratively. (Read more about netwotk structure/shape.)

A mayor draws a circle on a map of the city; inside the perimeter are 10 failing schools, so designated by the state and federal governments, containing roughly 5,000 children, most of them living in poverty. What should be done? What are the causes of the failure? What are the solutions—what will work? How much will it cost?

We're often asked to help an existing network to plan its future. ""What should we do next?"--to strengthen or expand or sustain the network. Helping networks answer the question--devise their strategies--depends on developing an understanding of the network's condition. Here are some of the basic questions we ask the network (by interviewing its coordinators and stewards and surveying its members).

When I ask the latter question to audiences during my talks on sustainability, almost invariably no one raises a hand. On the rare occasion when someone does, I ask to meet with him or her after the talk to find out what they know.

"Community transformation" is becoming a new buzzword for place-based social change, especially for those of us working in failing cities and neighborhoods. Is it different from--better than--"community development" or "community building"? That depends on what it means.

This word just in: "Net Gains: A Handbook for Network Builders Seeking Social Change" has been selected as a "top resource" by the Social Planning and Research Council of British Columbia and the Canadian Cancer Society’s Community Capacity Building Strategy, which have developed a community development resource website for British Columbia.  The Community Development & Capacity Building Resources website will be a centralized, online, interactive repository of excellent community development resources. The selection process involved consultation with a CCBS Advisory Committee and participants of the Community Developers’ Conference:  Training and Support for the BC Community Development Movement that was held in Vancouver in May 2010. "Net Gains" was identified to be a top resource by the selection process participants.