Such work does not preclude social service work, but it is nontraditional. Much of it makes for difficult outcome measurements. The grief over loss of community referred to by Patty is the central theme of our time. We have clearly moved away from the traditional geographically-based neighborhood, even as we spend millions trying to recreate it. Despite his point that most Americans do not identify with a neighborhood, other roundtable participants argued that neighborhoods remain relevant and may be more important than ever.
Neighborhoods help people cope with isolation.
The primary basis for such linkage so far has been politics. Our job is to look at all the different places in which community lies and figure out how to integrate them. Rather than setting up dichotomies such as neighborhoods vs. communities of affinity, or neighborhoods vs. social service agencies, we should be looking for the interconnections and overlaps. Participants also discussed the need for different definitions of community, even within neighborhood-based work. According to the foundation's Paul Williams, the key is to allow people to define community for themselves and to allow for multiple existences of community.