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There’s never been a more important time for a new edition of Building Community.
After the challenges we’ve faced over the past few years and the hostility community associations continue to face today, we need to take the time to rebuild relationships, bridge divides, and bring people together again.
Twenty-five years ago, CAI members were introduced to the concept of building community with an article in Common Ground magazine and follow-up sessions at CAI’s annual conference. They learned about how community associations should prioritize service and community building over the day-to-day efforts on rules enforcement, facilities maintenance, and assessment collection. At the time, it was a foreign philosophy. Community associations were focused solely on assets and the protection of property values.
The article and education sessions turned into a book, Community First!, in 1999. A subsequent edition, Building Community, debuted in 2004. Each edition featured a collection of essays from the brightest minds in community associations. Practical, strategy-oriented advice turned an idea into action. CAI and community associations haven’t looked back.
Today, building community principles are integral to how community associations are governed, operated, and managed. We’ve learned the value of thinking about community associations as a people-management business and the importance of customer service.
This new edition of Building Community again offers a collection of essays from more than a dozen leaders to introduce and further the concept of “building community” for the next generation of managers, board members, and business partners. The project, just like the first and second editions, was spearheaded by Bill Overton, PCAM, the executive director of Toscana Homeowners Association in Indian Wells, Calif., and a manager with Desert Resort Management in Palm Desert.
Overton helped introduce CAI to the concept 25 years ago and continues to champion the cause today.
Legendary jazz musician Miles Davis is quoted as saying, “The real music is between the notes.” Overton describes the concept of building community similarly.
“Our notes are the technical things we do such as meetings, financial statements, community maintenance, and such,” he says. “Our music, the beauty, lies in the extras we do and provide from a human perspective to serve our members and, in the process, bring our communities together. It is important to recognize and appreciate these spaces between the notes, the music, as that is where the magic happens.”
I’m confident you’ll find practical strategies and ideas in the pages of this book to create harmony, make some music, and create a little bit of magic in your community and business.
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