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Community Circles: Exercising the Power of Community

Schweigert, Francis J.
June 4, 2015

Source: (2002) Paper presented at “Dreaming of a New Reality,” the Third International Conference on Conferencing,
Circles and other Restorative Practices, August 8-10, 2002, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

We present three kinds of circles used in developing a community plan to reduce poverty. 1.Action Circles to identify causes of poverty and ways to intervene in persistent poverty in the community. 2.Strategy Circles for community decision-making, functioning as a community legislature. 3.Circles of Support and Accountability for any contractors or grantees serving the planning process, to review progress being made, share difficulties in carrying out the work, and seek solutions together. We conclude this session with discussion of community power and a frank examination of the merits and limits of the circle process in this regard. Authors’ abstract

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