Culture Shapes Community

The Culture Shapes Community listserv is a public discussion forum for all those interested in using arts and culture for community development. www.cultureshapescommunity.org is based on "Shifting Sands Communities - Art, Culture, and Neighborhood Change," an initiative of the Asset and Community Development program of the Ford Foundation. This initiative recognizes and encourages neighborhood based arts and cultural organizations as unique stakeholders in poor neighborhoods experiencing economic and demographic shifts. This is accomplished through programs that search out and make use of neighborhood identity and public space, that promote social integration among mixed-income and mixed-race residents, that offer opportunities for upward economic mobility and that empower all to have a strong voice for fair and equitable neighborhood change.