Dr. Jerry Stein dives into Jane Addams’ settlement house movement and it’s impact on modern day community building.

Kathleen Hirsch argues that for communities to thrive, they must be comprised of people who act more like verbs than nouns.

Unanticipated Gains demonstrates that social capital is built less by people’s deliberate “networking” than by the informal institutional conditions of social connections such as within beauty salons, churches, childcare centers, schools and other organizations where people interact and connect routinely.

Miles to Go argues that historical poverty reduction methods were effective due to the geographic and familial stability of the population. Therefore, finding nodes of stability could prove helpful in supporting and strengthening the dynamics of modern day families.

Eric Kandel demonstrates that learning occurs even at the cellular level; responding to information from the environment and being able to remember the information in such a way that survival and continuity are enhanced is a fundamental process of living organisms.

Charles Eastman, a Native American writer and physician chronicles his childhood experiences as a native Santee Sioux Indian, illustrating that learning and knowledge is “scrupulously adhered to and transmitted from one generation to another.”

Malcom Gladwell’s book “Six Degrees” underscores how popular theories like “six degrees of separation” and “the strength of weak ties” have grand implications for how we work in our communities.

Peter Drucker examines the emergence of the information society, showing how recent shifts from material production and distribution to the creation and dissemination of knowledge is impacting the foundation of capitalist systems.

Stanford professor Paul Ehrlich argues that humans evolved over millions of years into “small-group animals” that provided safety, stability and protection from outside forces.

However, modern shifts away from “geographic communities” have led to a general loss of social capital, and thus, directly affected the longterm health and stability of individuals and communities.