This is where I develop, prototype, and test community program ideas, publicly, with honest labels. Nothing here is called “proven” until it is. Concept, prototype, pilot, evaluate, refine.
I keep this section honest by naming where each idea actually is in its development lifecycle. Nothing here is marketed as evidence-based, validated, or available for licensing unless it has genuinely reached that stage.
A different approach to social isolation and belonging.
Creating somewhere for people to attend does not automatically create meaningful connection or belonging. Many community programs rely heavily on participants sitting together, talking, attending a drop-in, or being expected to socialize spontaneously.
Community Connection would explore a different approach, one built around shared experiences and doing things together, rather than forced disclosure or artificial vulnerability.
The current design concept is a structured 6–8 week program that could include some combination of:
The model would deliberately avoid forced disclosure, artificial vulnerability, and reliance on spontaneous socializing as the primary connection mechanism, because in practice, those approaches leave out many of the people who most need what programs like this offer.
Here is the planned arc:
Only after that process would it make sense to talk about a packaged or licensable model. This page will be updated as the project moves through each stage.
If your organization has a community it serves that is struggling with isolation, or you fund work in this area and want to talk about supporting a pilot, I’d like to hear from you.
Start a conversation →A series of short pieces that identify community and social-impact problems and propose new ways of thinking about them. These are ideas and concepts, not finished programs, meant to show how I think about gaps and possibilities. Pieces will be published here as they’re written.
A different approach to social isolation and belonging. (Draft in progress, see the full project above.)
What might better transitional support look like after someone moves from emergency or supportive housing into independent housing? (Coming.)
How might we design adult life-skills programs around the actual tasks people struggle with? (Coming.)
New pieces are added as I write them. Have a gap you’d like me to think about? Get in touch.
Each piece follows the same shape: what we currently do, what may be missing, what if we tried something different, a potential model, and the questions that would need testing before it could be trusted.