Harlem4Community is a new listserv developed and supported by Harlem4Kids in direct response to recent community events and discussions.

The demand for holistic dialogue about community well-being, quality of life and safety is clear. Harlem4Community will aim to focus that demand on discussion that is constructive -- on ways to increase opportunities for our youth; on publicizing access to all kinds of services; on efforts to create more thriving and constructive learning environments for our children; and on ensuring that we all can feel engaged and at peace in our home. It will be a bold extension from the limits previously defined by the focus on kids and parenting, and a deliberate attempt to turn conversation into opportunities for action. It will, we hope, ultimately become a virtual village working to strengthen multiple facets of our real-life village of Harlem.

Harlem4Community will depend on the energies of all who use it to realize its goals. Our hope is to be in operation in 2012. When it is ready, we hope that it will be a place to publicize events, to call for volunteers, to find help, to track developments, to discuss respectfully, to question thoughtfully, to find common ground or parallel precedent, to build upon what’s come before and to strengthen the village of Harlem.

If you are interested in building community in the ways described here, we will have more information soon on the specifics of Harlem4Community, and we will welcome you to join us.