Catalytic Communities Announces Upgraded Site: Creating a Global Network of Community Solutions

Rio de Janeiro October 19, 2005 Frustrated with the poverty-stricken conditions in which the children of her community, Acarí, in the North Zone of Rio de Janeiro lived, Ivanilde Araújo Pinto began sharing her knowledge with them beneath a tree in the community. A piece of wood served as a blackboard and a chunk of charcoal as chalk. This was 20 years ago. Today the Little School of Love operates out of a community church and is proud of its notable accomplishment: not one of its kids, after 20 years of service by Ms. Pinto (50 children per year have been served), has returned to the streets.

Ms. Pinto's example is not uncommon. Thousands of other community-driven efforts are succeeding in addressing local challenges in Rio de Janeiro and across the world. "These amazing people are out there and no one knows about them. As a result, they get very little support and have a hard time maintaining their efforts," explains Theresa Williamson, Executive Director of Catalytic Communities, "And the work of people like Ms. Pinto, if publicized, can inspire innumerable others to develop projects to better their own communities."

For this reason, since 2000, Williamson has been developing Catalytic Communities (CatComm), a not-for-profit to bring visibility to initiatives like Ms. Pinto's and many others, around the world. Today CatComm is announcing the launch of its upgraded Website, www.catcomm.org, where visitors can consult, include, or search projects like the Little School of Love in its Community Solutions Database (CSD), which now features over 100 projects from 8 countries on 5 continents.

CatComm's Community Solutions Database is the only database of projects where community organizers themselves, no matter their location, can include their own initiatives and revisit them on a regular basis. It is the only database of projects where those projects are extensively detailed, including images, documents and links. It is the only database of projects where each project is translated across three languages, English, Spanish and Portuguese, thanks to CatComm's network of volunteer translators. "In the future we plan to expand into even more languages," Williamson tells us.

"There exist excellent general search engines, like Google. We aspire to be pioneers by offering the principal source to search for community solutions", expains Rosa Zambrano, coordinator and editor for CatComm's Spanish-language site.

"Include your project, grow your network," Roseli Franco, coordinator and editor of CatComm's Portuguese-language site, explains to Rio's community leaders.

"CatComm's site can be a useful tool for all of us," says Williamson, "For community groups and beyond... as an important source of positive news stories for the press, and of learning opportunities for translators and community outreach volunteers. Don't forget to tell others about it!"

Check out the CSD...

Catalytic Communities spent its first years building a strong base in its pilot city, Rio de Janeiro. There, the organization runs a unique technology hub, the Casa do Gestor Catalisador ("Casa"), where ideas like Ms. Pinto's can germinate and be strengthened. The Casa offers a space for the exchange of information, contacts, publicity and support among community efforts. At the Casa community organizers have access to meeting space, a location to demonstrate their work, computers with high-speed Internet access, tools for the preparation of project proposals and graphic materials, and a number of other capacity-building resources. Volunteers from various universities, journalists, representatives from NGOs, and the organizers who use the space have offered workshops for the strengthening of the local grassroots. In just two and a half years of operation the Casa received 1100 people from 72 city neighborhoods, 7 other municipalities in the state, 4 other Brazilian states, and 17 nations who are now a part of the CatComm Network. The Casa is now beginning to work with similar-minded spaces in other regions to develop a global network of such spaces.

Sandy Aguiar, the organizer of a health program named AUAPARN, talks about his experience with CatComm: "Through coexisting at the Casa we have been able to see that among organizers so much can be done and there is so much to know and to exchange amongst us, strengthening in this way the process of citizenship that each organizer develops in his/her respective segment of society. During the period that I have frequented CatComm, I have met a range of people from diverse projects. The opportunity to exchange comes about spontaneously. I have already received email from people who want to come see our Association, after having seen the material we posted on the Internet through CatComm. There have also been cases of interest among organizers from diverse segments in meeting one another to present their project, as the Casa proposes."

More testimonials...

In addition to working to drastically improve the clarity, user-friendliness, and navigability at www.catcomm.org, CatComm also sought to improve the level of interactivity with the launch of its new site. The CatComm Forum is a dynamic space for exchange among community organizers and others who would like to interact with them. The Forum begins with the following themes: Communications, Culture and Leisure, Education and Skill-building, Community-building, Infrastructure, Environment, Health, Ending Violence, and Business & Economy. Users of the Forum can post questions or make suggestions to other users within any of these themes.

With the goal of enriching the site's content, CatComm is also relaunching the CatComm Journal, a journal with content for communities and organizers. The journal offers community testimonials, interviews, community literary art, academic writing and numerous articles reflecting on society and work for the public good.

Components of CatComm's original site, including the Capacity-building section and the Mural, can also be found on the new site. Capacity-building is comprised of resources to build the capacity of community organizers to act. The CatComm Mural is a space for the posting of up-to-date information on community events and opportunities for organizers (like courses, workshops, conferences, and funding opportunities).

Check out the new site...

Catalytic Communities counts on the efforts of community organizers, outreach and translation volunteers, individual funders, and many others to amplify its effects and reach communities worldwide.

"There are communities in the world with stories to tell, experiences to share, things to say. Help us share them!" asks Zambrano, "Volunteering with us is very important! Volunteers have been fundamental for CatComm's advancement. The organization's philosophy of action and growth is through networks, where the more collaborators and volunteers are involved, the greater the impact of this work is for the communities we support."

CatComm maintains itself mainly through the donations of individuals who believe in the potential of this work on a cumulative level. To read about the victories achieved by the community groups CatComm supports, and that one by one change the world for the better, visit CatComm's new site's Victories section. Donations can also be made through the new site.

Catalytic Communities' annual budget is less than US$100,000. "CatComm does all this with very little. Supporters have often told us it is one of the most efficient social investments around," Williamson proudly announces. "In fact," she challenges, "if everyone who reads this line visits our Website and donates $10, then asks a friend to do the same, our 2006 budget would be cared for. And there is no limit to the number of communities we will be able to support with this new site in 2006."

In the end wouldn't the world be a better place if in every corner we could find a Little School of Love?

Remember, Catalytic Communities is made possible thanks to contributions from people like you. Please consider supporting our ongoing efforts to provide communities across the world with free and powerful tools to learn from and network with one another across borders. Click here to donate to Catalytic Communities today.