Wonderful things are happening!

The new Community Magic web site is up and running. You’re looking at it now!!!

The web site has a listing of Workshops on using Freecycle.org and Craigslist.org
See the Free Trainings tab on the Community Magic web site. Our thanks to Philadelphia Fight for hosting the current set of workshops for October, November and December. We’re seeking additional sites around the City. Please let me know if you can recommend a computer lab for this purpose.

Here is a rundown of recent activities:

• I had a chance to be interviewed at the Macro Mingle Party http://macropub.com/ held at PhillyCAM.
• I was invited to speak briefly at a meeting of a network of “Meals and More” providers hosted by Tracey Williams of the Mayor’s Office of Community Empowerment and Opportunity. http://sharedprosperityphila.org/hunger-and-food-access/
• I was invited to speak at a meeting of the Northwest EPIC community organization by Juanita Dennard, the group’s Coordinator. http://dhs.phila.gov/intranet/scintrahome_pub.nsf/Content/Prevention+-+Truancy+Prevention+-+Stakeholders
• Ran a table at the Philadelphia Home Grown Music Festival http://philadelphiahomegrownmusicfestival.com/

I’ve been rewarded with enthusiastic responses from the people I’ve met at these appearances. The ideas behind Community Magic are universally applauded.

Fiscal Sponsorship
The best news is that Community Magic is being adopted by a wonderful local charitable partner. Watch for the official announcement coming soon.

Stan Pokras, Instigator
stan@communitymagic.org
267-968-0407

It may make sense to include a skills and services blog so that people can post what they do.

This site is getting close to being complete. Of course it will always be under some form of enhancement. But for now, I’m looking for more places to speak. It’s time to spread the word about being helpful.

If you know of an organization that would like to have me speak about teaching Freecycle, Let me know.

Thanks,

Stan

This month’s Philly Net Tuesday was about “Free Stuff for Nonprofits and Good Causes”

You can see a video made during this event featuring our own Stan Pokras. Two new potential Community Connectors, Yvonne and Christine appear in this video as we met for the first time.

I’m learning to set up this site to serve the Community Connectors. My role as an Instigator for a network of helpful people, means that I work to build services and tools that allow Connectors to become aware of the needs and offers of the people they are trying to help. By building a menu system that lets Connectors enter and view the needs and offers posted by other Connectors, we can move forward in having a helpful network…

Stan

I’ve been intrigued with the power that social networking can have ever since I ran an information store on South Street here in Philly in 1970. My interest began when I first heard about a marvelous publication known as the Whole Earth Catalog. That was in 1969 the same year I went to Woodstock and to my very first Philly Folk Festival. The title of the Catalog created an image in my mind that humanity needs a whole earth catalog of people.

My store was called Everything for Everybody after a small operation in New York created by Jack Scully. Scully was an ultimate visionary. As a Catholic Worker type (I’m still not sure he was actually a Worker) he apparently could see that the needs of the poor and the needs of the wealthy when matched to each other can connect to create what we now call social capital: real wealth generated by human resources applied to benefit people from all walks of life.

This site is my most recent effort to instigate a network of hundreds, or thousands of people right here in Philadelphia, who are both willing and able to listen to their neighbors and help them to serve each other in appropriate ways while safeguarding everyone’s privacy.

Join me, and join the network of connectors as we build a more sustainable social economy here in our great city.

Stanley R. Pokras, The Instigator