Click above to see Susan Cook-Scheerer of Rogers Daytime TV interview Paul Born about Community Conversations and Creating Vibrant Communities. (Feb 25, 2009)
Click above to see a CTV interview featuring Paul Born and Frances Westley as they share their insights on poverty reduction. (Mar 3, 2009)
Watch this video with Paul Born as he visits with the residents of More Than a Roof. Become inspired by their stories and spirit of community building. (June 15, 2011)
Reviews
"I work from the firm belief that 'Whatever the problem, community is the answer.' Community Conversations teaches us how to make that statement true. The stories, examples and processes gathered together in one lovely book hopefully will inspire you to become active in creating the conversations that will weave our communities into health and new capacity." ~ Margaret J. Wheatley, author of Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future and other books.
“Paul Born's Community Conversations draws from decades of experience to illuminatethe strong and effective ideas that emerge when diverse participants meet together over well-mediated conversations. The book is replete with inspirational stories and how-to tips, delivered with clear writing, gentle humour, and reflective commentary that provide powerful insights into community-based dialogue.” ~ Mark L. Winston, Academic Director and Fellow, Centre for Dialogue, Simon Fraser University
Featured Review
Published in makingwaves Magazine
"Evidently, transformation is not so much about organizations as it is about citizens coming together to share their vision, to learn, and to create. Not new to any of us. Like building coalitions, it is part of the community development air we breathe.
I appreciate Born’s efforts to break collaboration down into its constituents, and to elevate its skills and knowledge to an art form deserving of our close attention. We need to walk the talk more often, in more meetings, and in more projects in order to instill the skills of listening, creativity, non-judgment, visioning, and collaborative leadership (and “follower-ship”) at every level of community life.
Born offers the most practical tools and suggestions for what it is we need to do or ask in order to realize these prerequisites (for transformation) in the communities where we work. Born offers many examples from his experience in Vibrant Communities that illustrate his contention that our dialogue or conversation design and facilitation skills are really central to planting all of these prerequisites in groups and communities."
Select quotes from makingwaves magazine article, Seven Prerequisites of Transformation, volume 20, number 1
"Paul Born has done a masterful job of demonstrating the power of community conversations. The combination of first hand stories, concepts that make sense and practical advice will make this a favourite book for community leaders, facilitators and activists." ~ Brenda Zimmerman, PhD, Director, Health Industry Management Program - Associate Professor of Strategy/Policy Schulich School of Business Co-author of Getting to Maybe, How the World is Changed
"I love Community Conversations because I think it will be helpful to our ever emerging Canadian Community for Dialogue and Deliberation, amongst other communities. It is an easy read, packed with such simple yet strong lessons which we all have acquired in our practices yet tend to forget or let slide to the sides of our frames of action let alone reference." ~ Sandra Zagon, Past-Chair, Canadian Community for Dialogue and Deliberation
"Community Conversations dispels the notion that 'talk is cheap'. Talking or good conversations are essential to rethinking our analysis, our partners and our actions as we tackle our tough social and ecological challenges. You can imagine yourself as an impresario of good conversation after reading this book." ~Al Etmanski, Founder of the Plan Institute
"Paul Born is a change maker. If you want to understand how to make change happen, explore the techniques he uses to enable communities to take charge of their own future." ~ Judith Maxwell, Senior Fellow, Canadian Policy Research Networks
Offical Community Conversations Press Release - Paul Born's Book Launch (March 3, 2009, Waterloo, ON)
Community Conversations media kit - Includes press release, flyer, reviews, order form, Paul Born's bio, high resolution photo, high resolution book covers, articles, and blog entries Note: Download times may variety based on connection speed. (Highspeed is approximately 15–30 seconds)
Community Conversations book Cover (Low Resolution)
Community Conversations book Cover (High Resolution)
~ Michelle Colussi, 
