Creating Learning Communities

Table of Contents

Community Learning Centers

Arranged According to Location
In the USA
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Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas,
California, Colorado, Connecticut,
Delaware, District of Columbia,
Florida,
Georgia,
Hawaii,
Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa,
Kansas, Kentucky,
Louisiana,
Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana,
Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York State, North Carolina, North Dakota,
Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon,
Pennsylvania,
Rhode Island,
South Carolina, South Dakota,
Tennessee, Texas,
Utah,
Vermont, Virginia,
Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming.

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USA
Alaska

AUTODIDACTIC PRESS
PO Box 872749
Wasilla, AK 99687-2749
907-376-2932
URL: www.autodidactic.com
Charles D. Hayes, Publisher/Author

A small press and web site dedicated to the proposition that lifelong learning is the lifeblood of democracy and a key to living life to its fullest. We advocate the philosophy that an education should be thought of not as something you get but as something you take. Our web site offers self-education with the resources aim of inspiring adults to create and carry out a lifelong learning philosophy. Self-University Newsletter is free online for those who wish to teach and encourage the value of self-education. In each issue of the newsletter, author Charles Hayes features contemporary books in the context of lifelong learning. The web site offers a Self-University Campus page as an avenue to other learning resources and is constantly updated.

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USA
California

California Athletics for Home Schools
Director: Todd Nash
732 Via Barquero
San Marcos, CA 92069
(760) 727-3604
Fax (760) 727-0147
E-mail: CalAthletics@aol.com

Description:

A Home School Athletics League has been formed for 2001-2002 school year! Founded by Todd Nash, a San Diego home schooling father and national champion athlete, California Athletics for Home Schools will give opportunities for home schooled children to participate in elementary age athletic fundamentals classes (ages 5 - 14) and in competitive sports (ages 12 - 18).

Athletic Fundamentals Classes (Ages 5-14): Offered in most areas of Southern California, these classes will be structured with less emphasis on playing games, and more time spent teaching and practicing the fundamental skills needed to compete in the sport. Classes will meet once a week for 8 weeks.

We will offer Fundamentals of Soccer in the fall, Fundamentals of Basketball in the winter, and a class in the spring to be determined.

Jr. High/High School Competitive Athletics (Ages 12-18): The athletic league for Jr. High/High School aged children will offer 3 sports next year. All sports will be offered for boys and girls. In the fall we will offer cross-country. Boys 12-13 will run a 2-mile race while boys 14-18 will run a 5K race. Girls age 12-18 will run a 2 mile race. There will be a variety of meets offered from Sept - mid November. In the winter (mid-November through February) we will organize a basketball league for all of Southern California. Grades 7-9 will play in the JV league, and grades 10-12 will play in the Varsity league (boys and girls in separate leagues). We will play a regular season of 8-10 games, and finish the season with a state tournament. Track & Field will be available as a spring sport. Meets will be available in most counties of Southern California with all CAHS track & field athletes competing in one meet at the end of the season for a home school state championship.

Uniforms and Awards: CAHS will have a variety of uniforms available for purchase. Uniforms are not required for elementary classes or individual sports, but a minimum uniform will be required in basketball. All High School Varsity level athletes who compete in a sport within the California Athletics for Home Schools league will be eligible to earn a Varsity Athletic Letter. There will also be trophies and medals for placing in the state level competitions. Letterman jackets will also be available through CAHS for those qualifying for a high school athletic letter.

For more information about any of the athletic fundamentals classes or competitive sports, or to place your name and information on the interest list, please send the following information to California Athletics for Home Schools, preferably via email (to CalAthletics@aol.com):

Name, address, phone number, children names, birth years, ages, email address, your home school support group, your ISP (or if you file your own affidavit), and classes or sports you are interested in.

Updates on each sport will be emailed to you as they develop. If you are unable to email, you can call or mail your information to the address above.

**Email and web access will be critical to participation in the league. The CalAthletics website will post all pertinent information, and be used for registrations and updates once it is operational.

Todd Nash

California Athletics for Home Schools

(760) 727-3604

Center for Cooperatives,
University of California
E. Kim Coontz , Academic Coordinator
One Shields Ave.
Davis, CA 95616 USA
Phone: (530) 752-1366 , Fax: (530) 752-5451
E-mail ekcoontz@ucdavis.edu
URL: http://cooperatives.ucdavis.edu

Kim is a cooperative specialist for parent cooperatives. She also works with worker, consumer, and marketing cooperatives. The Center for Cooperatives is a university outreach center dedicated to cooperative education, research and development assistance.

DROPOUT
1114 21st Street,
Sacromento, CA 95814
E-mail: dropout@emrl.com

Pam Davis publishes a very alternative newspaper called "drop out".

She is a teacher who left teaching public school to help dispossessed teens find their way. She is a helping teens who the system and their families have failed.

She originally published the 'zine out of an alternative bookstore, which was sort of a gathering place for teens.

E. Kim Coontz
ADDRESS Center for Cooperatives, University of California
One Shields Ave.
Davis, CA
95616 USA
Phone (530) 752-1366
E-mail ekcoontz@ucdavis.edu
URL http://cooperatives.ucdavis.edu

Kim is a cooperative specialist for parent cooperatives. She also works with worker, consumer, and marketing cooperatives. The Center for Cooperatives is a university outreach center dedicated to cooperative education, research and development assistance.

FAMILY PLAYCE
3590 Peralta Blvd.
Fremont, CA 94536
Contact: Marcia Williams
Phone: (510) 818-9864
E-mail: edfamhere@aol.com

"FAMILY PLAYCE is dedicated to providing a respectable and creative learning environment in which the family can flourish, allowing originality, independence and self-expression for each individual incorporating with respect the curiosity of children and the wisdom of adults in a diverse program of imagination and discovery."

Family Playce serves as a Community Center for Homeschooling families and offers programs ranging from providing learning experiences for children during the day and after-school Art or Theatre programs for children, to progams such as authors speaking , floral design, and forums for the general public.

A small core group sets the atmosphere. There is no paid help but a lot of volunteers that enable Family Playce to stay afloat. The core group brings in others, all the center can handle currently, by word of mouth advertising. On a typical weekend the center had a small Fall Festival. Children had worked for several weeks on game booths, plays and activities.

The Center , that has been in its current location only since September 1999, has a Resource Lounge with a sofa and books and magazines on Mothering, Parenting, Education and, of course, Homeschooling. The house is set up in multi-purposes areas that can be used for various activities. The kitchen is used for art or science. Oneweek we disected a fish eye! Another room is set aside for the toddlers, but the older kids love it in there. There is as much time spent in that room by ten year olds as there is three year olds! It's that type of happening that takes place at Family Playce.

Another such happening is the play of the boys. A large percentage of the boys between the ages of 10 and 13 were called "Hyper" by the schools. The parents were told "Your child cannot come to school unless they are on Ritalin (or other drugs)." The center encourasges children to be be themselves. And allows them to express themselves within learning experiences of thir own choosing. Drugs are not used.

Children love this learning center. They never want to leave when it's time to go. The participing families feel that the current schooling system makes alternative learning centers absolutiely neccessary. They are needed not only for learning but also to assure family rights, community solidarity, and the moral/value condition of our society.

INTERNATIONAL HEALTHY CITIES FOUNDATION
Public Health and Urban Planning
University of California at Berkeley
410 Warren Hall
Berkeley, CA 94720-7360
PHONE: 510 642-1715
FAX: 510 643-6981
Leonard J. Duhl, MD, Executive Director
E-mail: len-duhl@socrates.berkeley.edu
URL: www.healthycities.org web site in multiple languages.

Healthy Cities is a worldwide program (7500 communities), concerned with participation in a holistic and equitable way. It involves maximizing the assets of the people and community.

Healthy Cities and Healthy Communities is a process to increase the competence of communities (its citizens, organizations and institutions) in improving their quality of life and health.

To do so requires all sectors to come around a "common table" and search for solutions that fit at "win-win" value system. Working on whatever is of concern, starting with easily achieved programs, they learn skills to deal with more and more complex issues.

Further information is at www.healthycities.org. Click the tutorial button, for a short description of the process that is now taking place in 7500 communities worldwide. All are different. There is no central organizer, but communities help each other, and share expediences. The Community Toolbox is another important resource at http://ctb.lsi.ukans.edu

Karen M. Funk, Director
Bayside Children's College
1025 Center St.
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
Phone: 831-454-0370
E-mail: karen@baysidechildrenscollege.com
URL: http://www.baysidechildrenscollege.com

Description of Services: Will provide consultant services to anyone starting up a school, charter or private or group of homeschoolers,of any grade levels K to 12. Have established school in Santa Cruz for ages 5 to 18--personal choice and personal attention is emphasis. See website above for details about this prototype school. I have been in education for 40 years, have BA, MA (Ed.Admin.), and am candidate for EdD.

Merrill L. Tew
6979 Palm Court #112-C
Riverside, CA
2506 USA
909/788-5506
E-mail: mltew@pe.net
URL: http://www.pe.net/~mltew

Semi-retired college educator and alternativeeducation advocate hosts a web site which contains resources for optional learning methods. An advocate of transformation in education.

See: "Tew's News and Views" Alternative/Home School Resources on my web page, "Yearn to Learn"

Occidental Arts and Ecology Center
Dave Henson, Director
15290 Coleman Valley Road
Occidental, CA 95465
(707) 874-1557 x204 / fax: (707) 874-1558
E-mail: dhenson@oaec.org
URL: www.oaec.org

Dave Henson is the Director of the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center, an 80-acre organic farm, ecology education, and residential training center in Northern California. Dave offers workshops and consulting services in a wide range of areas including:

For intentional communities and education centers: Finding and Buying Land; Legal and Financial Structures for Intentional Communities; and Starting and Sustaining Intentional Communities;
For environmental and social justice groups: Community Mapping; Power Analysis; Campaign Strategy; Non-Violence Direct Action Preparation; and Rethinking Corporations, Rethinking Democracy;
For any group: Organizational Development and Strategic Planning; Effective Decision Making and Group Facilitation; and Conflict Resolution.

Email for OAEC catalogue.

PACIFICA COMMUNITY CHARTER SCHOOL
3754 Dunn Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90034
Contact Person: Janin Paine
Phone: 310-845-9405
E-mail: recruitment@pacificaschool.org
URL: www.pacificaschool.org

Pacifica Community Charter School is an alternative, humanistic, parent-participation elementary and middle school on the west side of Los Angeles. We offer a constructivist/ experiential project based education that integrates state curriculum standards. We are committed to child-initiated, non-coercive, curriculum. We actively provide a voice for children in most decision making processes. We promote and teach non-violent inter-personal communication with peaceful conflict resolution & problem solving. Our community is dedicated to an awareness and understanding of social and environmental justice in our curriculum and in our lives. Our funding, as a charter school, is almost the same as any other public school, although, for now, we need to rent our own site. ( There is a new law that will effect charter sites going into effect in 2003)

Paths of Learning Resource Center
Robin Ann Martin, Coordinator
P.O. Box 703,
North San Juan,
CA 95960.
E-mail: robin@PathsOfLearning.net
URL: http://www.PathsofLearning.net

Robin Martin coordinates the Paths Of Learning Resource Center, sponsored by the Foundation for Educational Renewal. As coordinator of the Center, she offers free networking and resource advice via e-mail for pointing you towards the organizations, authors, and resources best suited for creating more holistic and humanistic alternatives in education. Robin is now completing her doctorate in education from Iowa State University.

SOUTH STREET CENTRE
POBox 227
Boulder Creek CA 95006
Tel: (831)228-2540
E-mail: southst@cruzio.com
Contacts: Betsy Herbert & Estelle Fein

South Street Centre was founded in 1987 to provide a form of learning opportunity that recognizes all stages of a person's growth. It honors and supports parents in their role as caregivers and mentors of their children by providing counselling, guidance, resources, materials, and inspiration for parents and children to design their own forms of self-learning. The Centre is housed in a rented house with cozy corners for the family sharing that is key to the centre's program. Afternoon teas for parents provide information and assure parnent's involvement in their children's learning process. The facilities are open to meetings and discussion of the full range of communty issues and any other topics on the minds of the homeschooling and other families who are members.

1761 Vallejo, Suite 302
San Francisco, CA 94123-5029 / USA
E-mail: info@syntonyquest.org
http://www.SyntonyQuest.org
Alexander and Kathia Laszlo, Co-Founders

Syntony Quest is an evolutionary learning organization dedicated to helping those who wish to learn how to cope with change and uncertainty in ways that foster community and sustainability. It responds to this challenge by tapping the creative potential of individuals and groups and facilitating the emergence of Evolutionary Learning Community through conversation, design, and action.

Syntony is a purposeful creative aligning and tuning with the evolutionary flows of which we are a part. It involves a conscious �listening� to the rythms of change and an intentional learning of how to play our own melody in ways that harmonize with the larger evolutionary piece. Syntony is the process of finding and creating meaning and evolutionary opportunity, both individually and collectively. The syntony quest engages those who seek to journey toward a sustainable and evolutionary society in partnership with Earth.

Our purpose is to catalyze learning processes that empower individuals and groups to develop the competencies necessary for the co-creation of sustainable and evolutionary futures.

Our activities include:

design of Evolutionary Learning Communities

community development projects

provision of learning resources

action-research on new educational models

workshops and seminars on systems thinking and its application to social and environmental concerns

Syntony Quest is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt public benefit organization.

THE INSTITUTE FOR SOLAR LIVING
POBOX 836
HOPLAND CA 95449
(707)744-2017
E-mail:

ISL provides workshop throughout the summer for citizens and future citizens of all ages interested in creating a petroleum and grid free world based on solar energy . Classes are held in the Real Goods� Solar Living Center that demostrates the power of solar living as well as teaching the techniques of Sutainable Waste Water Design, Solar Electric System, Constructing a Cob House, and other topics for lifestyle of less stress on the environment.

THE MIND-BOOK, A DESIGNERLY TOOL FOR LEARNING TO LEARN IN THE AGE OF INTERNET
310 Cedar St. # 5 -
Santa Cruz CA 95060
Contact: Silvia Austerlic
Phone (831) 426-0690 or
E-mail silvia@got.net

"If you don't have a dream, how can it become true?
If you don't share your dream, how can it become real?"
Mission Statement:

Because the computer revolution is so new, many effects are still to be discovered. A computer is a tool that can manipulate data; however, knowing which key to press is important but not enough. Computer literacy means that we need to understand the foundations over which computer systems are set up, and how they work. Also, we need to reflect with others about their both positive and negative cultural impacts; and find ways to balance them, so we take advantage of their beneficial introduction in our lives, families, and communities.

When a computer is used for learning, the meaning of learning is changed. The use of computers in education and schools is generally based on the now outdated view of human begins as rational information processors, which continually reinforces erroneous *mechanistic* concepts of thinking, knowledge and communication. We seem to forget that all meaningful knowledge is always *contextual* knowledge; and much of it is tacit, non-verbal and experiential. We humans share an abstract world of language and thought through which we bring forth our concrete world together in the process of communication. In this sense, language is always *metaphoric*, conveying tacit understanding shared with a whole community within a particular culture.

The ability to *abstract* is a key characteristic of human consciousness; and because of that ability we can make use of mental representations, role models, symbols, myths, and information. In order to make visible and embody our concepts, we need to give them a context where they can exist by its own right, a place to play.

The MIND-BOOK is a low-tech, user friendly visualization tool, that can be integrated to support any on-going learning, creative or even therapeutic process. The mind-book offers a tangible frame of reference where to make visible our own meaningful connections, and produce new ones, by playing with verbal and non-verbal symbols.

The mind-book aims to facilitate experiential thinking processes through joint productive activity among students and instructors/learning process facilitation. This is not a realm in which right and wrong apply. SYMBOLIC MEANING, INTUITIVE THOUGHT and EXPERIENCIAL LEARNING are brought to the present by the students' memory, attention and imagination; all perceptual aspects of design intelligence. Viewing design as a form of intelligence invites us to understand *genius* as the ability to work with our own perceptions, and put into effect what we have in mind.

For the students, the mind-book is a designerly tool to help them visualize their own perspective in the context of a broader learning context, explore their imagination, clarify their personal interests, and give shape to their own ideas. It connects teaching and curriculum to their experiences and skills to school, home and community. During the learning process their voices are shaped by their stories, which are meaningful in terms of personal histories, local culture and universal knowledge. For instructors, the mind-book is a visualization method to better understand and evaluate the students' learning processes, and assist them to accomplish a more complex understanding by building from their own individual performances.

It is complementary with other techniques of learning and evaluation. Alexander Laszlo, Ph. D. President Syntony Quest's comment on the mind-book: Website URL: http://www.SyntonyQuest.org "I believe the difference and value-added on a Mind-book over any other form of journaling comes with the intention the user has in mind and with the fact that it is meant to be associative and non-linear. Most scrap-books or memory-books are also associative, but they do not amount to much more than a collection of artifacts. In other words, they are not "more than the sum of the parts." By combining intentional disposition and associative receptivity, the Mind-book is at once synergetic and emergent. As such it can help surface life patterns, it can heighten awareness of one's own creative dynamic, whereas journals can only do shadowy approximations of these things. (29 Sep 1999):"

Vic Desotelle
2870 S. Palisades Ave.
Santa Cruz, CA 95062 USA
Phone: 831-465-0377 ph
Fax: 509-753-7406
E-mail: desotelle@skybiz.com
URL: http://www.inKNOWvate.com
Family: http://skyboom.com/desotelle

My focus:

organizational geometries that can enhance learning (relationships), sustainable business development (creativity that accounts for next generation needs), and cultural mythologies (transparent values that make us do what we do)

Waking the Village
1172 Delaware Avenue,
West Sacramento, CA 95691,
Phone: 916-372-6272,
E-mail: wakingthevillage@hotmail.com
URL: www.netsamurai.com/village

Waking the Village (WTV), is a nonprofit, and was founded in Sacramento, California by Bridget Alexander and Blithe Raines, two teachers eager to inspire and educate at-risk and homeless youth. In the summer of 1999 WTV recruited and trained 18 at-risk youth to cylce across America. The youth left behind drugs, alcohol, fighting and aimless days to face the challenge of cycling 2,300 miles! Along the way, the group performed good deeds in each state. The journey was a success and revolutionized the lives of the riders. Since the end of the journey, WTV has been mentoring youth and envisioning a residential school. Currrently, the organization is raising funds, and seeking a coalition of hard-working, good-hearted people ready to dedicate their lives to building a vibrant, nurturing community to help children, youth and families. We need experts in a wide variety of trades, sages, teachers, artists, farmers, carpenters, counselors, coaches, chefs, and patient elders to guide us all! We would love to hear from you if you are interested in being a part of our community and founding coalition.

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USA
Colorado

TURNING THE WHEEL PRODUCTION
1123 Country Road 83,
Boulder, Colorado 80302
Tel: (303) 449-5720 E-mail: ttwheel@aol.com
URL: www.turningthewheel.com

Turning the Wheel Productions is an intergenerational dance/theatre company committed to the collaborative creation and performance of works of art that are rooted in and restorative for the communities in which they perform and teach. Founded in Boulder, Colorado in 1989, Turning the Wheel has taken on the challenge of making art accessible to people of all ages, experiences and cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds, while building systems that support healthy community. They have developed a model for using creative expression and performance as a way of addressing community problems and issues in cities across the country.

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USA
Connecticut

Family Fun Abilities
E-mail: trade@familyfunabilities.com
URL: http://www.familyfunabilities.com

Offers family fun and family health resources for families with disabilities.

Family fun abilities offers a wide variety of family fun and family health resources to enhance the quality of family life for families with disabilities including: arts and crafts, celebrations, children and teens with disabilities, disability community support, cooking, disability rights, employment, budgeting and finances, genealogy, family health and fitness, cooking, family fun and games, grandparenting, inspiration, family safe surfing, family life, medical, music, nature, parenting, pets, recreation, relationships, spirituality, vacations, and more resources for families with disabilities.

Our website offers a place for parents, caregivers and children to meet online, including an interactive chat room, bulletin board and e-Group forum where parents and family can share and support. We invite you to subscribe to our free periodic newsletter, for which we solicit articles from parents and professionals on a variety of relevant topics. Our website also offers a huge directory of well organized links to disability-related resource websites and our family health news makes it easy to view several authoritative resources on family health.

STUDY CIRCLE RESOURCE CENTER
POBox203
Pomfret, CT 06258 USA
Phone: (860)926-2616
E-Mail: scrc@neca.com
About our work

Over the last nine years, study circles have taken hold in dozens of communities across the country, belying the pundits who decry the inadequacy of political participation by America�s average citizens. These communities have found in the study circle model a way of bringing together a broad cross section of everyday people, across customary political and social dividing lines, to deliberate on complex and controversial public issues that affect their lives, and to take action on those issues. Through the commitment and creativity of local organizers, the study circle has become an innovative structure for deliberative democracy. Nationally, study circles have been widely acknowledged as a practice that effectively addresses such issues as race relations, education reform, crime and violence, growth and development, and criminal justice.
What is a study circle?

A study circle is a small, diverse group, usually 8 to 12 participants; meets regularly over a period of weeks or months to address a critical public issue in a democratic and collaborative way; sets its own ground rules for a respectful, productive discussion; is led by a facilitator who is impartial, who helps manage the deliberation process, but is not an 'expert' or 'teacher' in the traditional sense; looks at an issue from many points of view; does not require consensus, but uncovers areas of agreement and common concern; progresses from a session on personal experience of the issue, to sessions providing multiple viewpoints, to a session that looks at strategies for action.
What is the Study Circles Resource Center?

SCRC was established in 1989 to promote the use of study circles on critical social and political issues. It is a project of the Topsfield Foundation, a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan foundation whose mission is to advance deliberative democracy and improve the quality of public life in the United States. SCRC staff members offer their services to community leaders, free of charge, at every stage of creating a community-wide study circle program: giving advice on all the steps in the organizing process; helping to develop strong coalitions within communities; advising on material development; and writing letters of support for funding proposals. SCRC can also provide up to 500 free study circle guides for these large-scale programs. Occasionally, an SCRC staff member can visit a community to participate in organizing meetings and conduct facilitator trainings.
What is a community-wide study circle program?

Study circles can take place within organizations, such as schools, unions, or government agencies. They have their greatest reach and impact, however, when organizations across a community work together to create large-scale programs where many citizens - in some cases thousands - meet in study circles to talk about a public issue such as race relations, crime and violence, or education. These programs have become wellsprings for action - from grass-roots efforts, to change in local or state policy. In so doing, they help to build the bonds that are essential to creating healthy communities.

Community-wide study circle programs are organized by a broad-based coalition of community organizations working to make sure that people from all sectors of the community are included; involve many study circles happening at the same time across a community; provide a basis for problem solving, and lead to action at many levels; create new personal relationships and community networks.
How do community-wide study circle programs come into being?

Typically, a single organization such as a mayor's office, a school board, or a Human Relations Commission takes the lead, and staffs the project. In most communities, an initiating organization takes the first step by approaching other key organizations to build an organizing coalition. Often, coalitions in community-wide programs have at least 20-30 organizations, including, grass-roots organizations such as churches, neighborhood associations, businesses, schools, and clubs.
What are the outcomes of community-wide study circle programs?

By participating in study circles, citizens gain 'ownership' of the issues, discover a connection between personal experiences and public policies, and gain a deeper understanding of their own and others' perspectives and concerns. They discover common ground and a greater desire and ability to work collaboratively to solve local problems - as individuals, as members of small groups, and as members of large organizations in the community.

Community-wide study circle programs foster new connections among community members that lead to new levels of community action. They also create new connections between citizens and government, both at an institutional level and among parents and teachers, community members and social service providers, residents and police officers.
Where are community-wide study circle programs going on?

In 1992, Lima, Ohio, became the first city to create a community-wide study circle program. Since then, more than 65 communities have followed Lima's lead, ranging in size from tiny Alread, Arkansas, to Los Angeles, California. More than 100 other communities are in various stages of planning and organizing community-wide programs.

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USA
Delaware

Kathryn Stout, BSEd., MEd.
408 Victoria Avenue
Wilmington, DE 19804-2124
USA
Phone/Fax: (302) 998-3889
Email: DesignStdy@aol.com
URL: www.DesignaStudy.com

Kathryn offers private consultations and seminars for homeschooling families and is available to speak at conferences. She has written several books which serve as extensive teaching guides so that families and teachers have a framework from which to choose teaching methods and materials that will suit each child's needs, rather than forcing a child to fit a packaged curriculum.

Descriptions of the books, as well as her monthly teaching helps column, are available at the Design-A-Study web site listed above.

Kathryn also offers enrollment in her umbrella school, Academy Adonai, as an option for those homeschooling in Delaware. She meets personally with individual families four times during the school year to offer suggestions and monitor progress.

The New School
812 Elkton Road, P.O. Box 947,
Newark, DE 19715-0947
Contact: Melanie Jago Hiner
E-mail: info@TheNewSchool.com
Url: <http://www.TheNewSchool.com>

The New School was founded on 5 September 1995, when nine of its members, ranging in age from five to thirty-seven years, voted unanimously to "be The New School." Among the roots of the School are:

Everyone wants to know and learn.
Learning is most meaningful when based on personal experience and reflection.
Shared reflection is the best ward against complacency, hypocrisy, and self-deception; and,
education properly conceived concerns all aspects of human experience.

In response to these ideas, the processes of the New School support the greatest possible scope of personal experience and action, a means of asserting equality by its members, and, reflection through interpersonal response and discussion. There are currently 62 members of the School, including students and staff. (May 2003)

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USA
District of Columbia

FIRST CLASS, INC.
Lifelong Learning Center
1726 20th St, NW
Washington, DC 20009
Phone: 202-797-5102
Fax: 202-797-5104
E-mail: takeaclass@aol.com
URL: www.takeaclass.org

First Class, Inc. was founded in 1984 and is located in the heart of Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C. We specialize in short-term programs packed with nitty-gritty information. Our motto: "Learn it on Tuesday; use it on Wednesday." Categories of classes include: business, careers, the arts, body and mind, new awareness, fun and much more.
Price range: $25-$59.

National Cooperative Business Association
National Cooperative Business Center
Leta M. Mach, Director of Cooperative Education
1401 New York Avenue, NW, Suite 1100,
Washington, DC 20005, USA
Phone: (202)638-6222
E-mail: ncba@ncba.org
URL: http://www.cooperative.org

NCBA is a membership association for all types of cooperatives. It offers a number of publications for cooperatives including the video, The ABCs ofCooperative Child Care, which contains valuable information that will help families start and later run their own cooperative child care center or preschool. Featuring member-owned and run cooperative child care centers, the video - describes the various kinds of cooperative child care centers explains how cooperative child care provides high quality, affordable childncare for member families provides tips to create and maintain successful child care cooperatives. The video is available for $19.95 through http://www.cooperative.org/catalog/

Parent Cooperative Preschools International
National Cooperative Business Center,
1401 New York Avenue, NW, Suite 1100,
Washington, DC , 20005, USA
E-mail: pcpi@ncba.org
URL: http://www.cooperative.org/children.cfm

PCPI is a non-profit, service organization dedicated to the family and the community. Membership is open to schools, councils, libraries and individuals who support the cooperative movement in child care. PCPI's goals are to - strengthen and expand the parent cooperative movement as well as community appreciation of parent education for adults and preschool education for children; promote desirable standards for the program, practices and conditions of cooperative preschools, kindergartens and other parent sponsored preschool and child care programs; cooperate with family living, adult education and early childhood educational organizations in the interest of more effective service relationships with parents of young children; study and promote legislation designed to further the health and well being of children and families. PCPI and its members offer a number of publications at varying prices, which are listed in the PCPI Resource Catalog.

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USA
Florida

Creating Preferred Futures
Cole Jackson, Co-Facilitator
Learning Ventures International
4831 Vaughn Ave.
Orlando, FL 32806 USA
Phone: 407-240-8504
E-mail: colej99@earthlink.net
URL: http://www.planet-tech.com/preferred_future
Creating Preferred Futures (CPF), http://www.planet-tech.com/preferred_future, is an international distance-learning initiative for children and youth that is designed to enhance critical thinking, creative problem solving, and decision making through the use of futures-oriented learning themes, methods, and collaborative activities. The project provides resources, tutorials, learning tools, discussion lists, expert facilitation, and interactive forums used to engage students and teachers in cooperative learning activities and share their work worldwide.

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USA
Georgia

Lifetime Learners of Georgia Homeschooling Support Group
Lara Kimber Founder / President of L.L.G.
Phone: 770-419-8680
E-mail: mrslarak@yahoo.com
URL: http://llg.freeyellow.com

Hi everyone!

For those interested, I wanted to send out some updated information about the L.L.G. - Lifetime Learners of Georgia Homeschooling Support Group. We are starting up 4 new Area Groups, bringing us to 10 total area groups that we hope will be of great help to homeschoolers in Georgia! Below is a listing of all our Area Groups including the 4 new ones. The *new* Area Groups will officially be starting up in September though we already have some members for all of them. Also included is a little information about the L.L.G. Group. If you have any questions about our group, please feel free to contact me! :)

Locations of our Current Area Groups:

L.L.G. Area One Group: Covers: North-East Cobb County (Including parts of Woodstock, and Central Cobb County
L.L.G. Area Two Group: Covers: Pickens, Gilmer, and North Cherokee Counties
L.L.G. Area Three Group: Covers: North Central Cobb, South East Bartow, and South Cherokee Counties
L.L.G. Area Four Group: Covers: North Fulton County
L.L.G. Area Five Group: Covers: Newton, Rockdale, and South Dekalb Counties
L.L.G. Area Six Group: Covers: South-West Cobb, North Douglas, and East Paulding Counties
L.L.G. Area Seven Group: Covers: Gwinnett County
L.L.G. Area Eight Group: Covers: North-West Cobb County
L.L.G. Area Group Nine: Covers: Forsyth County
L.L.G. Area Group Ten: Covers: Bartow County (this area is in and around Cartersville)

The L.L.G. Homeschooling Support Group caters to the diverse society we live in, and all homeschooling families are welcome! However, our members prefer their religious and political beliefs not be a part of the group's identity and purpose. We are in no way related with the Secular Humanists, nor are we anti-Christian, or any other religious or political belief, in any way. Our group is an eclectic mix of many personal religious and political beliefs. Our main focus is to support learning lifestyles.

As the group grows, we plan to continue incorporating many resources for our members. These resources include: Weekly Social Days, a Member's Only Website (with Monthly Event Calendars and other happenings within the group), our Monthly Newsletter, an "Older Youth Group", Group 4-H Club, Youth Book Clubs, Monthly Homeschooling Information Night, Special group classes for youth members, field trips, other events and activities, and more! Field Trips are usually geared towards all age groups, however some events will be of more interest to one age group than another. Children of all ages are welcome in our group!

Our group also meets year round so feel free to join us at any time!

Each Area Group within L.L.G. has their own Monthly Calendar of Events that includes Social Days, Field Trips, and Classes, as well as any special events done by that Area Group. The Older Youth Group, 4-H Clubs, Book Clubs, Special Classes, and a variety of other activities, are open to all members of L.L.G. regardless of your Area Group.

To cover the costs of mailings, printings, and other expenses involved with maintaining the Support Group, we do collect a Yearly Membership Fee in the amount of $20. If you are interested in becoming a Member of the Lifetime Learners of Georgia Homeschooling Support Group, you can find an application for the group on our website at: http://llg.freeyellow.com/postalmemin.html , or you may call or email me your postal mailing address to receive one. Again, if you have any questions about our Support Group, please feel free to call or email me.

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USA
Hawaii

KOHALA FAMILIY HOMESCHOOLING LEARNING CENTER
P.O. Box 1617
Kapa'au, HI 96755 USA
Contact Person: Kether Hollabaugh
Phone: (808) 889-1811
Email: kether@aloha.net

The Kohala Family Homeschooling Learning Center is is a resource center offered to homeschooling families and others seeking enhanced learning activities for their children.

The learning center offers activities to children through age 7 - two days a week and activities to children above the age of 8 two days a week. One day a week is dedicated to all age groups sharing in activities together. Parents develop the curriculum, using the Waldorf philosophy, but not exclusively, offering a wide variety of activities, with a wide variety of "teachers" contributing. We are a small group so far, with about ten families participating. We expect to double in size in the first two years and will be offering actvities to public school children.

Homeschooling families pay a yearly $500 and also $150-200 a month for Full Membership. The Learning Center also offers a Limited Membership and Per Use options. We have applied for a locally funded grant for $5,000 to help cover the cost of some building improvements and fencing costs. We are seeking information to apply for more grants. We also have plans for fund-raising activities.

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USA
Illinois

Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection
Daniel F. Bassill, President,
1111 N. Wells, Suite 503
Chicago, IL 60610 USA
Phone (312)573-8851
Fax:312-573-8816
URL: www.tutormentorconnection.org

The Tutor/Mentor Connection (T/MC) has created a data base of more than 13,000 leaders, volunteers and stakeholders in existing tutor/mentor programs in Chicago and around the country. The T/MC uses its database as a "knowledge center", providing referrals to volunteers, donors, parents and social service workers, or planning information to community groups looking to start new programs. It also uses its database to share information and to invite leaders to work together. The T/MC combines its data with computer mapping software, to visually "show" where poverty is concentrated in Chicago, and what tutor/mentor programs serve different areas. It also uses GIS mapping as a planning tool to help identify assets in a neighborhood who might join together to build and sustain great tutor/mentor programs.

The T/MC has also developed a calendar of sequenced events and a media plan to promote the need for effective tutoring and mentoring programs to be in every high poverty neighborhood, to draw visibility and resources to programs already operating in these neighborhoods, and to draw visitors to its www.tutormentorconnection.org web site, which hosts much of this information, along with links to hundreds of tutor/mentor organizations around the country.

JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTERS OF CHICAGO
Address: 1 South Franklin Street,
Chicago, Illinois 60606 USA
Phone: (312) 357-4700

Jewish Community Centers of Chicago (JCC) was founded as the Chicago Hebrew Institute in 1903 by a group of visionary Jewish community leaders living on Chicago's West Side who recognized the need for a place where the Jewish community could celebrate their heritage and spend social and recreational time with people of similar backgrounds.

JCC reaches out to an even larger community. Seven neighborhood-based Centers located throughout the Chicago metropolitan area reflect the distinct personalities of the neighborhoods they serve by offering a rich array of programs for children, teens, adults and families. In addition, the agency operates Camp Chi, an overnight camp in Lake Delton, Wisconsin, the Perlstein Resort and Conference Center, adjacent to Camp Chi, and "Z" Frank Apachi Day Camp in Northbrook, Illinois.

JCC of Chicago plays a central role in the Jewish lives of tens of thousands of members and program participants throughout the year. One of the prominent goals of the agency is to provide Jewish individuals and families increased opportunities for Jewish celebration, learning, and association. Through early childhood education and programs for children, teens, and adults, JCC offers boundless opportunities for people of all ages and interests to enrich and enhance their lives.

THE LEARNING EXCHANGE
Evanstown, IL

In Deschooling Society (1971), Ivan Illich suggested that computers could be used to create "learning webs." Illich wrote, "What makes skills scarce on the present educational market is the institutional requirement that those who can demonstrate them may not do so unless they are given pubic trust, through a certificate. We insist that those who help others acquire a skill should also know how to diagnose learning difficulties and be able to motivate people to aspire to learn skills. In short, we demand that they be pedagogues. People who can demonstrate skills will be plentiful as soon as we learn to recognize them outside the teaching profession." (p. 90). Put simply, in this chapter Illich suggested using computers to match up peers in every field of work or topic with people who wish to meet them as a way to avoid unwanted pedagoguery. Holt writes about the Learning Exchange of Evanstown, IL, that follows Illich's proposal closely. The Exchange was started in 1971 and ended some time in the mid-seventies. Holt writes, "The Exchange began its work in a borrowed office, with a borrowed phone, a small file box and some 3 x 5 cards, and $25 from Northwestern University. Six months and $27 later it had built up a file of two hundered and ninety topics. By the end of 1973 The Exchange had its own office, a staff or four, and the names of fifteen thousand persons interested in two thousand topics."

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USA
Indiana

HEART'N'HOME SCHOOL
3104 Creek Ridge Dr.,
New Albany, IN 47150
Contact: Angela Zimmerman angelaz@mindspring.com
E-mail: sweetland1@juno.com

We number about 150 families (about 400 school age children), and are in our eight year as a group. We have been able to do many things as a group, including some regularly meeting co-ops teaching various topics, a cross country running team, Hebrew & Spanish language classes, partnerships for tutoring, as well as science fairs, drama camp, art classes/fairs, Keepers & Contenders for the Faith groups, field trips, etc. These are things we provide for the children. We also provide support for mothers through monthly meetings where we hire professionals to teach us on various topics of education or we share our curriculum on a given topic in smaller discussion groups. We provide a monthly newsletter & "one-list" to the group as well.

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USA
Kansas

Dr. Eric Flescher
15016 W.150th
Olathe, Kansas 66062 USA
PhoneL913-780-5902
E-mail: KCStarguy@aol.com
URL: http://ada.lesley.edu/faculty/flescher/team1.htm

Presentations and workshops deal with the use of computers, internet, simulations and integration with teaching , learning and thinking skills. "20 + ways for using the internet, for teaching , learning and education " concentrates on a model showing how to use the internet for educational purposes in many ways. "S.I.M.- Simulations, Internet and Metacognitive activities showcases internet based and software based simulations, using the internet and multiple intelligence based alternative assessment forms that I have invented. The "Use of Multimedia in education" showcases software, hardware and internet applications in education. Workshops customized to meet keeds. For further information and brochure contact by email.

The Leadership Project
Kelly Patrick Gerling, Ph.D
5905 Slater Road
Merriam, KS 66202-2839 USA
Phone: (913)724-2400
URL: www.leadershipproject.net

The Leadership Project, Inc. was founded and is run by Kelly Patrick Gerling, PH.D. It is a training and consulting organization that specializes in helping groups develop better leadership skills. This includes inner skills of thinking and outer skills of communicating. The results of these skills being used in an organization are better teamwork, improved employee satisfaction, enhanced organizational effectiveness and the fulfillment of values that are important to the group. The website has more information about the services we can provide for your group, or for you as an individual through leadership coaching.

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USA
Kentucky

Communities by Choice
433 Chestnut St.
Berea KY 40403 USA
Phone: (877)-671-3777
E-Mail: info@CommunitiesbyChoice.org
URL: www.CommunitiesbyChoice.org

A network of people committed to restoring and preserving the economy, ecology and equity of all communities. It provides sustainable decision-making tools and resources to thousands of people and communities around the world.

THE BRYCC HOUSE
1055 Bardstown Road,
Louisville, KY 40205 USA
Contact Person: Liz
E-mail: liz@brycchouse.org
URL: http://www.brycchouse.org

DESCRIPTION: The Brycc House is a non-profit youth and community center. We have had a physical location for three years and have been incorporated longer than that. We grew out of the youth rights zine Brat (now defunct) and offer a space for shows, workshops, conferences, classes, etc. We also have a computer lab, a zine library, a garden space, and an internet radio station that may soon receive a LPFM license. In the past, we have hosted the Southern Girls Convention and the PAZ Conference, not too many festivals and hundreds of local events. We are collectively run by the youth and adults that use the center. These jobs serve to support the collectives, not dictate to them.

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USA
Maine

ELECTRONIC GRANGE NETWORK
RR1, Box1070
Weld , ME; : Maine, ZIP CODE: 04285, uSA
Phone: (207)585-2299
E-mail: egrangenet@yahoo.com
URL: http://www.electronicgrange.net

The Electronic Grange Network, exists to serve the information needs of rural, low-income families. Through building basic computer literacy skills, improving written literacy skills, and enhancing collaboration among its target population, EGN's goal is to reduce geographic and economic barriers to communication and information access by bridging the gaps between people, technology, and resources. We offer a wide range of local "Hands on" and distance instructional consultation services. EGN is a working rural economic development model in the global economy.

Jane Livingston
33 Oak Grove St.
Veazie, ME, 04401 USA
Phone: (207) 947-4117

Independent contractor specializing in cooperative education and promoting the cooperative way of doing business, with strong professional ties to Cooperative Development Institute, the Northeast regional co-op development center, and Cooperative Life, the regional federation of co-ops and credit unions (see www.cooplife.com). Experienced in workshop facilitation, community organizing, study tours, conference planning, writing/editing/publishing, radio production, improvisational theater, popular education, some fundraising. Focus on understanding the economy, sustainabilty, group process, community building, and on discovering and supporting examples of �the good life� that do not involve spending lots of money or consuming lots of resources. Sliding scale fees, open to barter.

Karen Saum
RR 2 Box 1544
Bucksport ME 04416 USA
(207) 469-3946
E-mail: karensaum@aol.com
URL: www.westendwebs.com/ruraltech

Project Rural Tech helps low income families in the Bucksport area to obtain computers and access to the internet.

LIBERTY SCHOOL - A DEMOCRATIC LEARNING COMMUNITY
P.O. Box 857
Blue Hill, Maine 04614
Phone:207-374-2886
E-mail: LIBSCHOOL@Netscape.net
URL: http://ellsworthme.org/liberty
Director: Arnold Greenberg
Description:

Liberty School--A Democratic Learning Community offers students in grades 9-12 a diverse and innovative educational program that merges challenging and creative academic studies with artistic work and other educational opportunities that will enable young people to meet the demands of the 21st Century.

We believe that it is vital for everyone affiliated with the school--students, parents and faculty--to feel that Liberty School is their school, and that each individual feels he or she is an important member of the school community. Students serve on the Community Council in charge of managing the school, are represented on the Board of Directors and are involved in all aspects of running the school with faculty and parents.

Students play a large part in determining their own education rather than being forced to pursue a predetermined curriculum. Students have significant choices available for gaining meaningful knowledge and expereinces ranging from a wide-variety of courses offered by faculty to independent projects to travel and foreign study opportunities. Our objective is to develop responsible individuals, able to use their knowledge to pursue more knowledge and become more fulfilled, self-aware and alert to the surrounding world.

Liberty is an independent school, Approved by the Maine Department of Education to receive tuition from towns that do not have their own high school.

Liberty School is in the process of beginning a 13th year called Homesteading and Community. This program will be a one year experience in growing and preserving food, building solar shelters, living cooperatively and learning to live a more home-centered existence in the 21st Century.

NET SCHOOL OF MAINE
145 Maine St.
Brunswick, ME. 04011
(207)729-6090
URL:
Frank J. Heller, MPA, founder/proprietor

NetSchool of Maine is an internet based, instructional and home education alternative and supplement for parents and learners of all ages. It is a large, well-maintained storehouse of information and resources on distance learning and education. It is partially maintained by advertisers and parents/students who use its consulting services, and partially by its parent, GLOBAL VILLAGE LEARNING of Brunswick, ME. Technical details, 'success' stories, 'how-to' manuals, distance learning scholarships, technology trends, and other extremely useful and hard to obtain information is on this site. With its growing list of tutors & mentors, Netschool is well positioned to apply as a DL based Charter school for Maine.

PINE TREE FOLK SCHOOL
RR 2, Box 7162
Carmel, ME 04419
207-848-2433
Contact: Jan Falk
Fax: 603-825-0341
E-mail: jgfalk@mint.net
URL:: www.mint.net/folkschool
Mission Statement:

Pine Tree Folk School is a non-profit organization founded by Maine activists who are committed to providing education for social change. We bring to our work many years of experience in economic empowerment, labor, peace, and women's issues, as well as skills in group facilitation and adult learning.

Pine Tree Folk School works with Maine people, supporting their efforts to take collective action to shape their own destiny. We seek to create educational experiences that empower people to take democratic leadership towards fundamental change.
Current Work:

Our latest project is the "Computer Help Network," an effort to use popular education principles to help eastern Maine grassroots organizations work together to learn how to make better use of our information technology.

PUBLIC INTEREST FORUM
102 Twitchell Rd.
South Paris, ME 04281 USA
Tom Witner
E-mail: atwhit@megalink.net

The Public Interest Forum is an adult teaching/learning community for our town. We have presentations and discussions of issues such as equality, justice for the excluded, and popular struggle. Topics of local, national, and international interestare examined to stimulate inquiry, dialogue and action.

Meetings 7 p.m on 2nd Tuesday each month.

SHELTER INSTITUTE
873 Rte 1 (corner Montsweag Rd and Rte1)
Woolwich, Me 04579 USA
Founders: Pat and Patsy Hennin
Phone: (207)442-7938 fax 207-442-7939
E-mail; situte@gwi.net
URL: www.shelterinstitute.com
Mission:

To provide clients with information, services, and products for the well-engineered house with competence, good cheer and a breath of fresh air.

Shelter Institute begins its 26th (2000) year of teaching people design and housebuilding by approaching the process as practical problem solving, It�s new home is a 69 Acre site with a self-built timber frame that demonstrates the whole philosophy of "You-can-do-it."

Classes range in length from one day, one week, two weeks, three weeks, or once a week for 15 weeks. At our new campus we are attracting teachers of every aspect of craftsmanship to offer short workshops that allow peop[le to try their hand at a whole new practical "art". In addition to our regular house design and build classes we offer one week timberframe building classes, a fine woodworking tool shop, a book store that offers thousands of skillbuilding books.

Not only do we teach housebuilding but we offer timberframe kits that allow the owner to participate to the extent they wish to achieve this high-quality, high-end house at a reasonble cost.

This year we are offering short hands-on workshops on masonry, chimneys, randiant in-floor heat, plastering, carving, contracting your house, boatbuilding, steambending and more. Our new rural campus offers hikes and trails and encourages a visit to the rocky Maine Mid-coast area. It is our vision to encourage other craftsmen to join our campus atmosphere wnd offer demonstrations and workshops.

THE HOME SCHOOL SOURCE BOOK
Brook Farm Books
Bridegewater, ME 04735 USA
Phone: 1-877-375-4680
or,
Box 101
Glassville NB 37L 4T4. CANADA
Editor: jean@brooksfarmbooks.com
Phone: -877-375-4689.

The Home School Source Book, 2nd edition, by Donn Reed goes well beyond the usual homeschool resource guide, providing self-learning resources for all ages, certainly including adult autodidacs.

Half the book is commentary and essays about 24 years of homeschooling and the Reed�s experiences raising and learning with their four children (now grown and very independent). The other half is a catalog and directory to a vast wealth of materials they�ve found to be creative, challenging, and fun. There�s no pre-packaged curriculum, although you can read about places to get it. You can create your own ideal learning environment using these resources. You'll find most everything you need for a liberal arts education from pregnancy & birth through adulthood, such as- copies of the American Constitution, models from the British Museum, books for adult reading (and education), kits, games, globes, and many books of children�s and classical literature at $1.00 each.

The bias of this book is toward a liberal arts education without a religious soapbox. You may not always agree with Donn, but you�ll always know where he stands, and he�ll challenge you to think about issues. You�ll find cartoons and some freebies (or almost free) too.

Michael Leppert, of The Link, calls this book "the grand-daddy of all homeschool resource books. His (Donn�s) intelligence and sense of humor take the Source Book way beyond being an illustrated listing of products; it becomes a great primer in how to teach your children and be a conscientious citizen." Home Education Magazine calls this book, "a browser�s delight- a veritable smorgasbord of articles, resources, essays, insights, honest (and sometimes scathing) reviews, notes and commentaries on home education. Donn offers some of the most opinionated (and on-target) writing available anywhere on the subject of homeschooling." The Whole Earth Catalog called this book, "A Whole Earth Catalog for homeschoolers

The Sourcebook ( $20 US), and many of the resources mentioned in it, are available from Brook Farm Books.

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USA
Maryland

NATIONAL 4-H CENTER. INNOVATI0N CENTER FOR COMMUNITY & YOUTH DEVELOPMENT
7100 Connecticut Ave.
Chevy Chase MD 20815-4999 USA
(800)368-7462
Contact: Mark Tirpak
E-mail: tirpak@fourhcouncil.edu
URL: www.fourhcouncil.edu

The National 4-H council was established in 1976 as a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to realizing the transformational power of youth and adults learning togther to address challenges and opporutities critical to their communities.

It is clear that youths need opportunities to make meaningful contributions to their communities and their own lives. Colaboration between youth and adults starts at the Board level of the 4-H Innovation Center. Involving youths as full parnters in decision making is a hallmark of their operations down to the community level. Emphasizing the transformational power of youth has developed from the long historry of 4-H service to young people.

4-H was born in the early 1900s in response to young people�s need for better agricultural education. Progressvie educators began extending nature study, agricultural and technological education in families with programs that enabled Youth and adults to learn together. Many communities, organized 4-H clubs, with parents serving as volunteer leaders and Cooperative Extension agents providing educational material.

In 1911, 4-H officially adopted the univerally recognziie four-leaf clover emblem. Symbolizing the four Hs (Head, Heart, Hands, and Health}.

Today the commuity club model still engages young people, ages 9-15 in "learning by doing." Through the years, the overall goal of 4-h has rremained the same the develoment of youn people responsible and productive citizens.

While continuing to serve youth in rural areas, 4-H also works with diverse groups of youth in a variety of urban and suburban locales.

In 1998 the 4-H council created the invoative Center for Community and Youth Development. The core aim of the Center is to propel innovations and build a national movement to involve youth as full partners with adults in meeting community needs. Among the highlights of the activities are the following;

At The Table, a program that aims at building a national movement for youth in government -- a world where young people are invited to the table as full partners wherever decisions are being made that affect them.

Bridging the Gap, of isolation, a project fo inprove youth development in isoladed communities by helping youth and adults to identify local cultural, historialc, geoligcal and organational asssets, and then using that knowlege to promote community development.

THE 4-H Innovation Center hosts an e-mail discussion group you can join at URL www.fourhcouncil.edu/cyd/innovate.htm.

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USA
Massachusetts

GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING
2380 Massachusetts Ave., Ste. 104,
Cambridge, MA 02140 USA
(617) 864-3100
URL: www.holtgws.com
Pat Farenga, Director

Founded in 1977 by the late author and teacher John Holt, GWS is based on the idea that young people are good at learning and that learning happens everywhere. Our stories explore how people of all ages learn and grow and how others can best help them. GWS is an ongoing conversation among its readers, and it allows homeschoolers (and other interested people) to share experiences, thoughts, questions, and concerns. While there are often interviews with authors and teachers, no one is paid to write for GWS - the staff that publishes it is barely paid! Besides supporting homeschooling, GWS is a demonstration of Holt's belief that people can be trusted by the government to learn what they need to learn to be good citizens. It is also an example, to me, of how a small number of people can affect larger social change simply by networking and meeting with one another. The annual Directories of local homeschooling families, Homeschooling groups in and out of the United States, friendly school districts, helpful professionals, Grown-up Homeschoolers, and more have made GWS a tool for social change and inspiration for many homeschoolers.

Jeff Grossberg, Eastways Consulting
72 Baker Rd.
Shutesbury, MA, 01072 USA
(413)259-9100
E-mail: eastways@ic.org

Jeff has been creating, managing and consulting with visionary organizations for 30 years. As a consultant to more than a hundred progressive enterprises, he has led organizational development efforts and has managed numerous successful fundraising campaigns, raising tens of millions of dollars. He was Executive Director of Omega Institute, and of several nationally prominent organizations in the fields of spirituality, and child development.

Jeff provides support with fundraising, visioning, strategic planning, board development, management coaching, tax-exempt applications, etc. He consults extensively with intentional communities, alternative schools, and groups working in the fields of sustainability, peace and justice, holistic health, socially responsible business and spirituality.

LIVING ROUTES - ECOVILLAGE EDUCATIONAL CONSORTIUM
72 Baker Rd.
Shutesbury, MA 01072 USA
Daniel Greenberg, Program Director
Phone: (888) 515-7333 and (413) 259-0025
Fax: (413) 259-1255
E-mail: routes@ecovillage.org (not set up yet)
URL: www.gaia.org/LivingRoutes (also not set up yet)

The mission of Living Routes is to develop and support a diverse, yet coordinated set of ecovillage-based educational programs that empower participants to help build a sustainable future. At its core is a growing set of semester and summer programs that provide deep and direct experiences with the concepts, skills and tools of sustainable living. In these programs, students will create their own "learning communities" within "living communities" as they help design and build ecologicalstructures, learn effective methods of decision-making and conflict resolution, research sustainable strategies, support each other's personal and spiritual growth, and work to enhance the health of wider communities and ecosystems.

An integral part of Living Routes' vision is to develop a network of Research, Development, and Demonstration sites focusing on sustainable technologies, land use strategies, and social patterns. Research projects integrated into Living Routes programs that compare these systems within participating communities and campuses will provide premier educational opportunities for students and interns, vital input for ecovillage development, and excellent venues in which to make these learnings available to the broader public.

Living Routes will work closely with the Global Ecovillage Network and a consortium of ecovillages, academic institutions, and other organizations to create an international "communiversity" that is global in scope, yet bioregional in focus. Programs are currently being developed at the Findhorn Foundation, Crystal Waters, Green Kibbutzim, and North American ecovillages.

Patrick Farenga
Holt Associates,
2380 Massachusetts Ave. Suite 104
Cambridge, MA, 02140 USA
Phone: (617)864-3100
E-mail: Lpatrick@holtgws.com
URL: www.holtgws.com

We offer private consultations, seminars and lectures for conferences, publications and a magazine, all about homeschooling young people and learning outside of school for all ages. Our magazine, Growing Without Schooling, was founded in 1977 by the late author/teacher John Holt.

THE FOLK EDUCATION ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA
107 Vernon St.
Northampton MA 01060 USA
Chris Spicer, Director
E-mail: cspicer@12Sphast.umass.edu

The Folk Educaton Association of America (FEAA) is a grass-roots association of North American folk schools, peoples learning centers, academic community and academic institutions, resource organizations and individuals. The common thread is involvemnt or interest in learning that affirms life and strives to build communites that are just, democratic, and environmentally sustainable. I call it people�s education. Inspired particularly by the Danish and broader Scaninavian "folk" education experience and by Latin American liveratory - or popular - education, the membership is connected to an international network of experimental, community-based and participatory program leaders.

THE PATHFINDER LEARNING CENTER
PO Box 804
Amherst, MA 01004 USA
(413) 253 - 9412
URL: www.pathfindercenter.org

Started in 1996, Josh Hornick and Ken Danford operate, largely on their own, n inexpensive social center for teens open from 9 - 5, that also provides learning opportunities, private tutoring, small classes, connections to local internships, mentors, and college courses. Pathfinder is a model for small-scale, local social change; Pathfinder supports homeschooling by providing teenagers and their families who wish to leave high school homeschooling support. Pathfinder helps families that want to homeschool but who feel they can't unless they had ongoing help and support from a local resource center. In Fall 1999 there are, so far, 40 teens in various self-organizing clusters taking history, math, or other courses, using the omputers or darkroom, doing Odyssey of the Mind activities, hanging out in one of the center's lounges, or joining the band or theater groups; far more goes on, but this is all I observed there in a recent visit! Pathfinder helps parents and teens who feel high school isn't working for them by giving them choices instead of ultimatums.

THE PEOPLE�S INSTITUTE FOR EDUCATION AND ACTION
107 Vernon St.
Northampton MA 01060 USA
(413)585-8755
URL: www.goddard.edu/feaa
E-mail:

The Folk and People�s Education Association of America is a grass-roots association of North American folk schools, popular education centers, community and academic instituions, resource organizations, and individuals. The common thread is involvemnt or interest in learning that affirms life and strives to build communites thar are jsut, democratic and environmentaly sustainable. FEEAWA publishes a newsletter, Converstions, and a journal, Option, and holds periodic national an regioan meetings.

We have a bookstore, provide courses, hold an annual conference, and provide a traveling institute on popular, folk, adult, and other forms of participatory, community-based learning.

TRANSITIONS ABROAD
POBox 1300
Amherst MA 01004-1300 USA
(800)293-0373
URL:www.TransitionAbroad.com

A bimonthly magazine with practical information, and directories, for living, learning, and laboring abroad. For over 20 years Transitions Abroad has helped indpendent-minded readers and self-learners immerse themselves in cultures and learning experinces. Live in an Israeli kibbutz, learn history on a tour to the Mediterranean, WWOOF, be a willing worker on an organic farm in New Zealand, teach English in China, do your graduate work in development studies in the Czech Republic, join other seniors in a semester in Greece, study Buddhism with the monks in Nepal, learn Spanish in the museums of Barcelona. This magazine will tell your how, tell you where, and tell you why you can teach yourself the wonders of the world.
....BE

WELLNESS, INC.
790 Boylston St., Suite 21C
Boston, MA 02199
1-617-267-4714
E-mail: Meantobee@aol.com

Wellness, Inc. (me) is developing an Alphabet Fitness Learning Lab and Training Center (Numbers as well) for pre-school-K. Its programs are an exciting new approach to learning and literacy that teach young children to "learn physically" by adding the body to the learning equation.

Alphabet Wellness and Number Wellness will also be offered, expanding into programs from its soon to be published Kids' Wellness Guide. Kids' Wellness is the first wellness guide that pro-actively brings long recognized body mind practices to young children as it more formally introduces their physically expressive bodies to their active imaginations. Since the chemistries of bodies and minds are interdependent and reciprocal, Kids' Wellness teaches children early the ten pre-requisite Wellness Skills required to coordinate their physical bodies with healthy imagination.

Playfully designed body mind exercise scripts creatively apply children's natural play behaviors, proven sport visualization techniques for optimal performance, and extensive body mind theoretical research to learning and well-being. Aiming to routinely incorporate the positive expression of each child's unique imagination into daily life, at school, at home, and at play, it underscores the increasingly vital role early childhood educators and health professionals, as well as parents, play in making its Wellness Skills part of the future health and well-being of our children and our societies.

Audience: Preschool-K as well as older mentally and physically challanged children.

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USA
Michigan

National Coalition of Alternative Community Schools
1266 Rosewood, Unit 1
Ann Arbor, MI 48104-6205 USA
Contact person: Alan Benard, Director
Phone:(734) 668-9171; (888) 771-9171
E-mail: ncacs1@earthlink.net
URL: http://ncacs.org

"Our mission is to unite and organize a grassroots movement of learners and learning communities dedicated to participant control and the elimination of human and ecological oppression.

"The National Coalition of Alternative Community Schools networks participant-controlled learning programs, including privately and publicly funded schools, homeschooling families and support programs, intentional communities, alternative education publishers and resources. We offer connection to our community of teachers and learners throughout the United States and many other countries through our newsletter, National Coalition News, the National Directory of Alternative School, ncacs.org, our member email list server, and the annual NCACS Conference. We also provide expert consulting to communities wishing to start community-based, participant-directed learning programs. We operate the NCACS Teacher Education Program, and member schools may become accredited through the National Association for the Legal Support of Alternative Schools."

North American Students of Cooperation
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor MI
Phone: (734)663-0889
E-mail: abunce@umich.edu
URL: www.umich.edu/~nasco

NASCO the organization for student cooperative movement, offers worshops on on student run co-ops. And with the Fellowship for Intentional Communities gives workshopson consensu, facilitation, cohousing, organizing new communities, and more.

REACH HOMESCHOOL GROUP
2525 Patrick Henry
Auburn Hills, MI 48326
Contact: April Morris
E-mail: c2morris@oakland.edu

We are an inclusive homeschool group. We are open to anyone homeschooling for any reason with any method. All we ask is that respect is shown for individual's reasons and methods. We meet monthly at the local Public Library for a general meeting and have monthly field trips. We meet weekly for classes.

This is our first year doing this so we are still 'learning as we go'! We meet on Wed. afternoon and alternate each week with science or art. And meeting each week are two German classes and two French classes. We have divided the classes loosely by grade (not always an easy task with homeschoolers. LOL) Approximately K-3 and 4-8. A typical Wed. is:
1:30-2:30 the K-3 meet for art. During this time the older kids will play outside on the playground or inside with games and such (depending on the weather).
At 2:30 we switch for the older kids to do art.
At 3:00 the younger kids will have a half hour language class and at 3:30 the older kids have their language class.

All classes are taught by homeschool moms who were teachers in a former life or have some other professional background in the area taught. Fees were decided on by each teacher and handled individually with each teacher. This will change next year though we have not ironed that out yet. Some teachers just charge for materials others also charge a small fee for their time. We meet at a local church who is allowing us to use their facility free of charge (we have no formal afflication with the church as we are an inclusive group). At this time all problems are handled through me as the contact person.

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USA
Minnesota

Northcountry Cooperative Development Fund
1219 University Av SE
Minneapolis, MN 55414
Phone: 612-331-9103
Fax: 612-331-9145
E-mail: ncdf@ncdf.org
URL: www.ncdf.org

Northcountry Cooperative Development Fund (NCDF) is a member owned and member governed financial intermediary representing a pool of money invested by the co-op community and its supporters in order to act as a catalyst for the growth and development of cooperative enterprises. Our Fund's mission is to promote economic equity and community stability by making loans to cooperatives, thus fostering enterprises owned democratically by the people who use them. Since its incorporation in 1978 as one of the first community development loan funds in the country, NCDF has provided access to capital to a range of small consumer, worker, housing and agricultural producer cooperatives.

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USA
Missouri

EARTHNET INSTITUTE
EarthNet Institute
1904 Frisco Road,
Cabool, MO 65689 USA
E-mail: wolford@eni.edu
URL: http://www.eni.edu
ENI Online Instruction Center
(Continuing Education)
E-mail: bsmith@eni.edu
URL: http://www.ed2go.com/earthnet
Introduction to EarthNet Institute

EarthNet Institute (ENI) is a nonprofit, tax-exempt degree granting institution. ENI actively solicits tax-exempt contributions via grants, endowments and memberships as well as contributions that are intellectual, and emotional.

EarthNet Institute represents a new concept in distance education, research and global cooperation which aims at the amelioration of world problems. EarthNet Institute is different from a traditional college or university. This effort works through the four primary branches of ENI's organization, namely: 1. The six educational Colleges , 2. Continuing Education Courses through the ENI Online Instruction Center, 3. ENI's Research Division, and 4. ENI Affiliates. EarthNet Institute Model of Education is detailed later.

The six educational Colleges offer degree programs via distance learning that are learner and project specific. These specially designed educational programs are self directed, unique and flexible. Undergraduate and graduate degrees are offered in numerous areas of study by the following six colleges: Agriculture, Environmental Science, Health and Welfare, Global Economics, Education, and Political Science. ENI boasts an International faculty.

Our unique degree programs are dedicated to the amelioration of major world problems through global scale education, research, and cooperation. ENI strives for a world filled with greater peace, balance, cooperation, sharing, gentleness, concern, and the promise of human brotherhood. We firmly believe that although the tasks before us are immense, they are attainable with the full participation of the global community.

The Continuing Education Division directs the ENI Online Instruction Center. The Online Instruction Center offers over 120 low cost career development courses in computers, Internet training, small and large business, nursing. legal and personal enrichment courses. In addition, course are offered for preparation for the ACT, SAT, GRE and LSAT exams. Certain career courses may also lead to certificate programs.
EarthNet Institute Model of Education

The EarthNet model of education demands that an effective program of instruction be customized for each student, empowering the student to become a major force in the amelioration of the problems confronting mankind. Ideal candidates for student enrollment at EarthNet Institute are altruistic and charitable individuals who have deep commitment to finding meaningful solutions and bringing about lasting change with regard to the most pressing problems in their home country or within the wider global community.

Individuals accepted as EarthNet Institute students are also admitted as junior members of the Institute. Junior members are those who have real potential to make meaningful lifelong contributions to the amelioration of starvation and homelessness, the reduction of poverty and ignorance, the control of sickness and disease, and suffering in diverse places, war, slavery, terrorism, mental illness, environmental devastation, human rights violations, and economic inequities. Following an orientation to the essential objectives of EarthNet Institute, junior members are guided through a three stage apprenticeship style program. First, the program begins with foundational studies and core competencies needed for success in combating major world problems. Second, upon completion of the core academic studies, students pursue field studies on site in cooperation with organizations affiliated with EarthNet Institute. Third, as the final assignment of their degree studies, junior members undertake major projects that demonstrate excellence and contribute in a genuine manner to the amelioration of major world problems. All junior members who successfully complete their program of studies will be considered for active membership in EarthNet.
Core Academic Studies

At the initial stage of the program, junior members undertake foundational studies in the core competencies, investigating the fundamentals, principles, and practices that underlie the global systems under investigation. They explore thoroughly, the theoretical, historical, cultural, and philosophical perspectives that inform the field, and survey carefully, the organizations, model projects and processes that have contributed effective solutions worldwide.
Field Study Apprenticeships

Junior members participate in field study apprenticeships under the direction of ENI faculty and personnel of affiliated organizations in appropriate locales worldwide. As ENI students, junior members are involved in the exploration of global problems and barriers to human betterment, confronting the causes and solutions first hand. Junior members are mentored in making effective contributions within the milieu of the placement site.
Major Field Projects

At the culmination of their programs, junior members are required to undertake major field projects of their own design in cooperation with their faculty advisors and placement site coordinators, drawing upon the expertise of the full ENI membership and staff from and ENI affiliated organizations. Through their projects, junior members must demonstrate excellence in the field of inquiry by exhibiting a capacity to contribute to the betterment of the human condition. Projects will be of proportionally increasing depth and breadth with advanced degrees. They may take the form of planning projects or activities that are more action oriented, involving networking among organizations working toward resolution of common problems, building of new partnerships, putting new systems in place, building needed infrastructures, testing replicable nature of model projects or traditional research. Projects may also guide the establishment of essential businesses or service programs, alter harmful cultural or ecological systems, expand global networks, identify action solutions and reveal problems requiring amelioration.
Calendar

At EarthNet Institute, the educational programs run continuously, year around, allowing students to complete their degree programs in an accelerated manner and get on with their service to humanity. The rigorous educational programs follow a quarter term system, beginning with a two week registration period on the first day of January, April, July, and October each year.

Following the registration period students pursue academic studies, field studies, and major projects through ten week long modules. These ENI modules represent the equivalent of two comprehensive companion courses from the same academic field for the duration of each quarter. Both courses within the modules are offered and taught by a specialized member of the faculty from the school offering the module.
Course Equivalency Determination

In the Carnegie system, one quarter credit is offered for each class contact hour per week together with each two hours of follow-up study time each week over a ten week period. Consequently, for each thirty hours of contact time spent by a student during a term in distance learning or in field or project activities per quarter, students are awarded one quarter credit. The EarthNet module system of two courses each term results in the awarding of 15 quarter credits per module per term.
Degree Requirements
The ENI Bachelors program requires 12 quarter terms or 180 quarter credits including the following:

seven modules in general education equaling 105 quarter credits
three modules of advanced studies in one college equaling 45 credits
one module in field studies equaling 15 quarter credits
one module in major projects equaling 15 quarter credits

NOTE: possibility of allowance of up to 60 credits awarded for appropriate outside undergraduate study equivalent to required ENI studies.

The ENI Masters program requires six quarter terms or 90 quarter credits at graduate level including:

three modules of advanced studies in one college equaling 45 credits
one module in field studies equaling 15 quarter credits
two modules in major projects equaling 30 quarter credits

NOTE: possibility of allowance of up to 30 credits awarded for appropriate outside graduate study equivalent to required ENI studies.

The ENI Doctoral programs require twelve quarter terms or 180 quarter credits at graduate level including:

six modules of advanced studies in major college equaling 90 credits
two modules of advanced studies in minor college equaling 30 credits
two modules in field studies equaling 30 quarter credits
two modules in major projects equaling 30 quarter credits

NOTE: possibility of allowance of up to 60 credits awarded for appropriate outside graduate study or Masters completion equivalent to required ENI studies.

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USA
Nebraska

Center for Rural Affairs
Attn: Jon Bailey
P. O. Box 406
Walthill, NE, 68067 USA
Phone: 402-846-5428
E-mail: jonb@cfra.org
URL: www.cfra.org

Established in 1973, the Center for Rural Affairs is a private, non-profit organization working to strengthen small businesses, family farms and ranches, and rural communities through action oriented programs addressing social, economic, and environmental issues. The Center provides lectures, discussions and publications on issues concerning the future of rural America and agriculture.

Steven Larrick
UNL College of Architecture
210 Architecture Hall
Lincoln, Nebraska 68588-0112 USA
Phone: (402)-472-9217
E-mail:
URL:

Steven Larrick is community development coordinator for Nebraska's Urban Community Improvement Program (UCIP). The UCIP providestechnical assistance and recognition to neighborhood associations acrossNebraska. A wide range of printed materials are available on various elements of neighborhood development. Through the UCIP webpage, a history of grassroots neighborhood involvement in Nebraska is documented over the last 10 years. Mr. Larrick also serves as book review editor for the JOURNAL OF THE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT SOCIETY, which can be accessed at: http://www.comm-dev.org

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USA
New Hampshire

Granite State College
8 Old Suncook Road
Concord, NH 03301 USA
Phone: 603-228-3000
E-mail: ask@granite.edu.
URL: www.granite.edu
Mission & History
"A College education is within your reach�"
Granite State College, part of the University System of New Hampshire, empowers adults throughout the state to pursue professional and personal growth through flexible, affordable, and accessible higher education. The College is committed to serving our communities through student-responsive curriculum, innovative instruction, assessment of learning outcomes, and collaborative workforce development.
Granite State College has nine campus locations throughout the state as well as online courses and degree programs.
The Regions
Connecticut Valley Region
Merrimack Valley Region
North Country Region
Seacoast Region

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USA
New Jersey

CENTER FOR INTERIM PROGRAMS
195 Nassau St, Suite 15, Princeton, NJ 08542
Phone: 609/683-4300 Fax: 609/683-4309
E-mail: HollyBull@interimprograms.com

Founded in 1980, with offices in Massachusetts, New Jersey and California, Interim is a service that enables people to pursue structured alternatives to formal education or work by matching clients' interests with over 2,800 internships, volunteer positions, and apprenticeships worldwide, to create "time off" that can give new direction, sharpen hazy career goals, rejuvenate those on the verge of burnout, and give a much needed break between high school and college. Since 1980 we have tailored creative time off for over 3,000 young people between the ages of 15 and 70.

Creative Educational Systems (CES)
P.O. Box 6659
East Brunswick, NJ 08816
Phone: (732) 698-9885
Fax: (732) 698-9886
E-Mail: creativeed@home.com
URL: www.creativeeducationalsystems.com

"The outcome of education must not be a foregone conclusion; rather it must be an unending quest for enlightenment. An enlightened education is, by its very nature, neither rigid nor undefined, but flexible, as it must serve as the given context of our society, while accommodating the ever-expanding universe of our children." It is on this premise that CES has, for twenty-five years, presented professional staff development for teachers, performed arts residencies in hundreds of K-12 schools, and published seven books for teachers: manuals on teaching curriculum through the arts, how to produce a school play, curriculum guides and a collection of plays for young people. In this, CES� Silver Anniversary year, the company�s most significant program is being launched: Change of Heart: Artistic Alternatives to Violence. CES is also preparing two new books for Spring publication�a novelized version of Change of Heart and a manual on teaching children at home. The CES website provides discussion forums on issues relevant to education.

Power to the Youth
615 Little Silver Point Rd.
Little Silver, NJ 07739, USA
Phone: (732)530-1128
E-mail: info@youthpower.net
URL: www.youthpower.net

Power to the Youth is an organization of, by and for young people dedicated to helping other young students take action in their schools. We believe that the current model of traditional schooling is disempowering, wasteful, and in the end, anti-learning. Furthermore, we believe that the students are the most crucial ingredient to any real change in the state of education and society. We are currently acting as a resource base and information clearinghouse for anyone interested.

ROAD SCHOLARS
7 Florence Road
Harrington Park, NJ 07640
Phone: (201)768-8961
Leslie Van Gelder, Director

Founded in 1998 by educators who believe that people learn best through experience, Road Schoars, Inc. provides one and thee week long courses for college age and adult participants. Curriculum is made to come alive. Ellis Island, Eastside Tenements, the Lewis and Clark expedition, and other real life experience are coouple with academic study. Course in Literature, History, Urban Studies, Socioleogy Ecololgy and Economics are included in the curricula. Classrooms may be around campfires, on city stree corners, under an canopy of old growth trees, and may include local experts or story tellers as will as the faculty and students in the group. To build solidarity and give a sense of belonging to each member the courses are limited to 15 participants each.

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USA
New Mexico

Southwest Intentional Community Coalition (SWICC)
PO Box 911
Santa Fe, NM 87504-0911 USA
E-mail: info@swicc.org
URL: www.swicc.org

SWICC was formed to facilitate the exchange of information and resources and facilitate communication and networking between intentional communities, community organizations and individuals interested in community in the Southwest. SWICC's area of coverage includes Arizona, New Mexico, southern Colorado and southern Utah.

SWICC will accomplish its mission through the publication of a quarterly newsletter, through the organizing and hosting of local and regional discussion groups, gatherings, and other events, and through its web site - www.swicc.org - which includes listings of Communities, Community-Seekers, and community-related information and resources. Membership is $10/year, and includes a subscription to our quarterly newsletter and free community and seeker listings on our website and in our newsletter. Visit our web site or contact SWICC for more info or to join today!

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USA
New York State

AllLearn - Alliance for Life Long Learning
Office Address: 420 Lexington Avenue
Suite 2820
New York, NY 10170
Tel: 646-825-5200
Customer Service: 866-524-1502
General Inquiries: info@AllLearn.org
Help Desk: help@AllLearn.org
Who We Are

AllLearn offers top-quality, non-credit distance learning programs to students of all ages. Programs combine elements of taking classes in person with the advantages of learning at your home or office. Our programs offer online access to an instructor and encourage interaction with fellow students while accommodating the busy schedules of our students. AllLearn classes utilize traditional elements, such as books and expert teachers, as well as electronic media such as audio CDs, CD-ROMs, videotapes, streaming media, message boards, and live chats. Classes repeat year round and range from 90-minute faculty forums to 10-week courses - and a lot more in between.

We also offer free online library of Academic Directories and Learning Guides. Created by academic specialists, the AllLearn library is an indispensable tool for online research and self-guided learning.
Background

AllLearn, an online learning consortium among Oxford, Stanford, and Yale universities, was formed in September 2000 to provide the highest quality, college level online courses and educational offerings. Our students are from all over the world and have diverse backgrounds, representing over 30 countries and all age groups. By October 2002, AllLearn offered over 50 online courses, 20 academic directories, and 40 learning guides.

All of our courses have been developed by faculty from Oxford, Stanford, and Yale universities. Online forums feature faculty members from the three institutions as well as faculty members from affiliate institutions. Day-to-day course activities are led by Online Instructors, experienced subject-matter experts, who facilitate online discussions and the overall course experience.
Affiliate Program

AllLearn invites other academic institutions to be a part of its learning community by offering AllLearn programs to their alumni. No financial commitment is required from affiliate institutions. Many affiliate institutions serve on AllLearn's advisory board. For further information on the affiliate program, please contact Affiliate@AllLearn.org.

ALTERNATIVES FEDERAL CREDIT UNION
Joe Cummins; Community Development Educator
301 West State Street
Ithaca, NY 14850-5431 USA
Phone: (607) 273-3582 ext 829 fax (607) 277-6391
URL: www.alternatives.org

There are several dozen Youth Credit Unions in the United States. Youth CUs may be CU branches, clubs or projects. Some Youth CUs have offices in their host CUs while others have branches in schools. In each case they are run by and for youth - the staff and tellers and loan officers are aged 18 and under.

Youth CUs exist to serve youth by offering them access to all the benefits of credit union membership as well as helping youth learn financial responsibility and business management.

The purpose of the Youth-CU Listserv is to provide an area for coordinators of Youth Credit Unions to discuss issues, ideas, successes, failures, etc. The list will provide a new forum for Credit Unions wishing to start a YCU, as well as ongoing support for those Credit Unions already offering a YCU. Youth-CU is a free service of Alternatives Federal Credit Union.

If you want to subscribe to the Youth-CU mailing List, send email
TO: listserv@alternatives.org BODY: subscribe youth-cu yourname

Jerry Mintz
417 Roslyn Rd,
Roslyn Hts, NY 11577 USA
Phone: (516)621-2195 (800)769-4171
E-mail: jerryaero@aol.com
URL: www.edrev.org

Jerry Mintz is the director of the Alternative Education Resource Organization (AERO), considered by some to be the primary hub of communications for educational alternatives around the world. He edited the Almanac of Education Choices which lists over 6000 alternatives, many of which he knows about from personal experience, and is editor of the Education Revolution Magazine. He also founded and directed for 17 years Shaker Mountain School, in Vermont, an has helped people start many others. His consults with people searching for educational alternatives or who wish to create them.

Katharine Houk
c/o Longview Publishing
29 Kinderhook Street
Chatham, NY 12037 USA
Phone: (518)392-6900
E-mail: allpiekjh@aol.com

Katharine Houk is author of the book Creating a Cooperative Learning Center: An Idea-Book for Homeschooling Families, a resource for those interested in creating community based centers for learning. She is co-founder of The Alternative Learning Center, a parent-run cooperative for families educating their children outside school. Katharine is available for consultation and for speaking about home education and starting cooperative learning centers.

Youth Venture
75 Maiden Lane, Suite 334
New York, NY 10038 USA
Phone: (212) 402-4204
E-mail: yvnewyork@yahoo.com
URL: www.youthventure.org

Youth Venture is a national organization (headquartered in Washington, D.C. area) that invests in young people as changemakers by giving them the foundation they need to create, lead, and launch their own community minded organizations, clubs, or businesses. Youth Venture enables young people between the ages of 12 and 20 to create, lead, and launch their own organizations, and through these organizations, to take greater responsibility for their own lives and communities.

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USA
North Carolina

Rick Smyre
Center, Communities of the Future
Box 3508
Gastonia
North Carolina, 28054-0020 USA
Phone: 704 864-9196
E-mail: rlsmyre@aol.com
URL: www.communitiesofthefuture.org

Rick Smyre is a national recognized futurist specializing in helping local communities develop "capacities for transformation" to help communities prepare for a constantly changing society. He provides seminars and guidance in how to integrate trends of the future and transformative thinking into the activities of local citizens. He is President of the Center for Communities of the Future and the author of several published papers to include, "Rewiring a Community's Brain" in the book, Creating Learning Communities.

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USA
Ohio

Home Educators' Cooperative Learning Community, Inc (HECLC)
P.O. Box 141458
Columbus, OH, 43214, USA
Contact Person: Christi Wildman
Phone: 866-206-9073 ext 2052
E-mail: info@heclc.org
URL: www.heclc.org

To provide information, resources and support to home educators, their families, and those interested in home education.

To co-ordinate educational and social opportunities in a co-operative, nurturing and multigenerational environment for adults, teens and children. To promote an open and inclusive community for home educators to interact in an atmosphere of respect and dignity. Participation is open to anyone of any belief system, creed, race, gender, age, national origin, or educational philosophy or family type.

HECLC is a non-profit incorporation with 501(c)3 designation. HECLC is funded from a combination of donations, membership fees, activity fees, and charitable grants.

THE RAINBOW DRAGONS
35 Vermont Avenue;
Youngstown, OH 44512-1122
Contact: Deborah Harding
Phone:(330) 782-8982 E-mail: musik1@earthlink.net

We are homeschoolers related to a 4 H group. We have 1st grade through 11th grade kids. Some of the things we have implemented this year is a borrowing library of resources including textbooks, a newsletter that the kids write, a newsletter for the parents, field trips (we just got back from a llama farm today) and study groups. The study groups are age specific. An example of this is we take a different country every month and find web pages for the kids to read. We put up multiple choice questions on a quiz page just for reinforcement. Then we might find someone from that country to come and speak to the kids. We are doing Japan right now and we have a speaker, the kids will get together to do some origami projects and calligraphy projects. The last night of the project we will all join to make a Japanese meal and eat it on the floor with bathrobes on (kimonos). These projects really involve the kids.

We had a 7th grade team of three kids compete in the local eco fair this October. For this contest they had to know what made up trees and plants and identify different ones. They had to know the local animals and their tracks. They had to know about the aquatic animals and some of the problems that effect waterways in our area. They had to be up on conservation events. The other school teams had 7 members. We had 3 and our kids one with 15 points between them and the second place winners. That only goes to prove that homeschool kids aren't just sitting on their rears watching TV all day.

I guess you can tell we've had some problems here with the local school system. Recently they agreed to let our homeschool kids participate in Science Fair and a few other educational activities and contests.

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USA
Oregon

BLUE MOUNTAIN SCHOOL
P.O. Box 907,
76132 Blue Mountain School Road
Cottage Grove, Oregon, USA
Laura Stine
Phone: (541) 942-7764 (Main Office), (541) 767-0115 (Laura's office)
E-mail: lstine@televar.com, blue_mtn@pop.efn.org, admissions@bluemountain-school.org
URL: http://www.bluemountain-school.org

Blue Mountain School is publicly funded K-12 learning center with state funds coming for every student through a contract with our local school district. We must purchase space (buildings and property) out of our operating funds, unlike the public schools. We need to find funds for that purpose and can use all the help we can get doing so. Also, our funding does not provide us with enough financial resources to support our democratic learning community as we would like.

HOME SCHOOL VILLAGE
243 Fifth Street
Silverton, Oregon 97381 USA
URL:www.homme-school-village.com
Ronald Johnson, Founder

Home School Village is like a piece of clay that is constantly being molded and created by its members......

It is the mission of Home School Village to be a place for children and adults, in school or out of school, homeschooled or unschooled to freely share ideas, experiences and knowledge (practical or impractical, possible or impossible) and communicate with like-minded people concerned with the wonder of learning. By communicating with other people and sharing, thinking about and accepting ideas and experiences on Home School Village, we believe people can be inspired to direct their own learning. We encourage kids and teens to participate in Home School Village.

HOMESOURCE
1110 Fairfield Ave.,
Suite 100,
Eugene, OR 97402
(541) 689-9959, FAX 689-1051.
E-mail: homesource@betheltech.com
URL:www.betheltech.com

A program serving 600-700 K-12 pupils with a 1/5 teacher'student ratio. and contracts with off campus community resources for other activiities, including tennis, horseback riding, symphony, etc.. They offer computer technology--have 20 computers on site, 'Hands on Math Manipulatives' classes, etc., etc. The math manipulatives, et al, may be resources families find are too expensive to purchase for their home use and instead make use of them at the center. Some students take classes at HomeSource and also are enrolled in another public school program. Apparently there is some sharing of funds between districts in that case. See their web page for all their many offerings. It says on their web site that families have to be careful that the student is not enrolled in multiple programs that add up to more than full time.)

LINKUP - A PARENT DESIGNED AND MONITORED PROGRAM FOR HOMESCHOOLING FAMILIES
Eastham Community Center
1404 Seventh Street
Oregon City, OR 97045
Contacts: Larry Didway, 503.650.5491, didwayl@orecity.k12.or.us
or Becky Taylor: 503.657.2407, taylorbe@orecity.k12.or.us
Phone: 503.657.2434,
Fax: 503.657.2536

Linkup is a tax supported public program for homeschooled students grades K-12. Linkup's mission is to assist homeschooling families by offering educational opportunities including math, science, communications skills and access to the tools of technology in a safe, professional and "family friendly" environment. Linkup has proven to be popular with parents, growing from fewer than one hundred students in 1996-1997 to nearly five hundred students in 1999-2000.

Linkup enables homeschooled students to access Oregon City School District as part-time students under the direction of their parents, and develops customized programs to enhance homeschooling educational opportunities. Linkup teaches technology as a tool to help students in their acquisition of the skills, information, and processes needed in math, science, and communication. Parent participation is required at varying levels in all classes.

The Linkup Manager and Parent Advisory Team are responsible for the direction and staffing of the program. The PAT is made up of homeschooling parents whose children attend Linkup. Parents are selected to serve for rotating two-year terms.

Three basic programs are offered. The Parent-Partnered program works with parents to design a combined program of home and classroom instruction in academic content areas of Language Arts, Math, Science, or Second Language, for grades six and up. The Home Teaching Mentor Program pairs experienced home-based instructors with K-6 students and parents to help provide an individualized education program for each student. Time is divided between basic skills and integrated unit studies. Attendance and district testing are required. The Elective Program offers a selection of classes in a variety of subject areas.

OREGON UNSCHOOLING CHAUTAUQUA
5125 SW MaCADAM Avenue, #200
Portland.OR, 97202 USA

A September "kick-off" even for about 25 unschooling families. The Chautauqua takes over a Campfire Camp at the Oregon coast, an exquisite and private environment for discovery, exploration, growth, and natural beauty. During he five day temporary community, families work and play together, share meals, activities, and rustic cabins. Families bring favorite games, crafts, and activities to share. Exploring activities, ideas, forest and beach occupies all. Relaxing, visiting and loafing are very popular. Key words: networking; discusions; the nitty gritty of homeschooling; retreat; play; work; sharing. Oregon Chautauqua is a nonprofit organizastin. Expenses are paid by fees.
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Portland Family Freeschool
636 NE Ainsworth
Portland, OR 97211 USA
Phone: (503) 287-4447
Contact Person: Emily Troper
E-mail: Info@familyfreeschool.com
URL: http://www.familyfreeschool.com

[...The Freeschool classroom climate is one of invitation, not force. An organic flowing of offering and receiving from adults to children, children to adults; each community member actively choosing their own learning, and contributing to the learning of others.

The materials necessary for children to explore writing, reading, math, science, art, drama and music- - whether independently or with adult support- are always available.

Adult and child inspired activities are woven together to create a rich, diverse tapestry of opportunity. Always present is an eagerness to connect with what is alive for each child.

Parents are thrown into the work of parenting without much preparation, information, or support. Through trial and error, wading through mounds of misinformation, and led by our own best instincts and commitment to and love for our children, we struggle to parent and live in ways that bring us and our families joy. ...]

The Micro School Project
Don Berg, Director
P.O. Box 8972
Portland, OR 97207 USA
Phone: 503-231-2583
E-mail: donberg@bigplanet.com
URL: http://www.myplanet.net/donberg

The Micro School Project is a nascent organization that will support communities and teachers to develop small neighborhood based educational programs that can be operated as home-based businesses or store front community learning centers. Program development will be guided by the goal of creating models that can be duplicated reliably at low cost in many other neighborhoods and communities.

THE TEACHER-FAMILY SPACE
2705 E. Burnside St., #108
Portland, OR 97214-1767
Phone: (503)233-0151
Fax: (503)233-0185
E-mail: atspace@teleport.com
URL: www.teleport.com/~atspace
Contact: Robin Linsley

Non-profit. "The place for adults who raise, teach and interact with children and young adults." Funding is from fees or gransts.
Sample programs:

Scholarship tutoring: Grant money provides free tutoring, Teens as Tutors.

Summer program: Tenaged volunteers lead landguage enrichment activities for young children. Teens work for pizza; younger children attend free.

Family Learning Picnics: A free Program for children 0-5. Children and their care giver join the staff for a "learn-through-play" experience at a park or other neighborhood location. 2x weekly meetings. Parent/Teacher Workshops, such as: Guides for Loving Discipline; Supporting Children in Grief, How to Help Your Child, Learn to Read.

Tree Bressen
1680 Walnut St.
Eugene, OR., 97403 USA
Phone:(541)484-1156
E-mail: tree@ic.org

Tree Bressen offers meeting facilitation and workshops on consensus decision-making for cooperatives, nonprofits, schools, political groups, and other organizations. She has helped numerous groups find solutions that meet everyone's needs. She is particularly experienced at assisting groups going through organizational restructuring. Other areas she can support your group in include working with emotions, dealing with underlying conflicts, planning agendas, listening well, building community, and coming to agreements. Don't settle for frustrating meetings--learn skills that bring people together and make your meetings productive and upbeat.

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USA
Pennsylvania

ACADEMY OF ENHANCED LEARNING
460 Clover Lane,
Hanover, PA,
Phone: (717) 632-1709
Bobbie Hertzfeldt, Director

AEL has been operating for 30 years with an individualized (K-8) teaching approach and does not believe in grades nor employ them. Heavy emphasis is put on on reading skills, math, participatory learning and current events. It has a wealthy client base of area professionals and others who want their kids to bechallenged and instilled with good values. The school averages 35 learners a year in a one floor building 3000 square feet built in 1991 and has a 16 car par