As we were putting this second issue together, the theme of Community as the Solution organically emerged.

We discovered close comparisons in the making, in a variety of flavors:

• social networking and online education;

• faith-based versus politically based social work;

• for-profit and not-for-profit strategies;

• the environments in which we were reared versus the environments we try to make now;

• building new organizations versus adapting and evolving existing ones;

• and personal versus institutional/professional relationship building.

The question that we could single out, being approached from several directions, was this: how do we form communities specifically to generate the sustained creativity we need now, to get from 2020 to 2024?

A parallel question arises: who is invited, or who has access, to participate creatively, and how do we ensure their opportunity?

Inclusivity highlights that challenge, the one of distinguishing between qualifying people and empowering them.

It’s a pair of concerns that need not be separate and conflicting, and instead need to accomplish the opposite – combining and enhancing each other, in new and better ways than before.

Malcolm Ryder (West ‘72) Contributor