How to Become an Engaged Neighbor and Why Your Health and Your Community Demand It

We do not need more good neighbors. Instead, we need engaged neighbors! By making this change, and moving against the tide of our culture of isolation and loneliness – you will see the difference it makes in your life, your neighborhood and your community. This introduction to the engaged neighbor principles is perfect for anyone wanting to be more active in their neighborhood or for a new homeowner. Laugh and learn from the speaker’s personal stories of how he progressed from a disconnected resident to an engaged neighbor. Then accept the challenge to have a positive impact on your neighbors and neighborhood every single day.

Reading, Writing and Community: The Legacy of Missouri’s One-Room Schools

A few historic one-room schools still dot the Missouri landscape, and their history still teaches us lessons about successful communities and working together. This presentation is based on hundreds of interviews, which were conducted by the presenter. He says one-room schools are still revealing valuable historical, educational and cultural lessons. As part of this presentation he will present the five most important lessons we can take away from the one-room school experience. Today, the one-room schoolhouse with its smoky stove, water bucket and outhouse is a fading memory. The emergence of a statewide road system made it possible for schools to consolidate and transport pupils to larger, more centralized schools. Whatever its shortcomings may have been, the one-room school served a vital function in the evolution of Missouri’s public education system and in the overall social and economic development of the state. David Burton is also the author of “A History of One-Room Schools in Greene County, Missouri” and the “Missouri Directory of Historic and One-Room Schools.”