Introduction by Ed Preneta, Retired Director, Connecticut Council on Developmental Disabilities

Anyone interested in successfully including people on the margins into neighborhood and community life needs to listen to John McKnight and study asset based community development. John is a community organizer, an academic and a brilliant story-teller. He is deeply committed to promoting the ability and capacity of people, their neighbors and their associations. He believes every community has welcoming places and people and that every person has a gift, ability or skill to share. It is a matter of finding these gift-focused people and connecting them with people on the margins. Gift-focused people can see the gifts and capacities in others and know where and how to connect them so that those gifts and capacities can be shared... John McKnight (continued)