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Transforming Communities: How People Like You Are Healing Their Neighborhoods
The world around us is a wreck. When there's so much conflict around the country and around the corner, it's easy to feel overwhelmed, powerless, and helpless. What can one person do to make a difference?
Here's the good news. Millions of everyday people are ready to step into their power to transform their communities. And you are one of them. Take heart and be inspired by real stories of ordinary people who took action and changed their corner of the world, one block at a time. Equal parts inspiration, education, and Do-It-Yourself, Transforming Communities by veteran community activist Sandhya Jha will open your eyes to the world-healing potential within you, and give you the vision, the tools, and the encouragement to start transforming your neighborhood, one person at a time.
Here's the good news. Millions of everyday people are ready to step into their power to transform their communities. And you are one of them. Take heart and be inspired by real stories of ordinary people who took action and changed their corner of the world, one block at a time. Equal parts inspiration, education, and Do-It-Yourself, Transforming Communities by veteran community activist Sandhya Jha will open your eyes to the world-healing potential within you, and give you the vision, the tools, and the encouragement to start transforming your neighborhood, one person at a time.
144 pages, Paperback
Published November 7, 2017
33 people are currently reading
347 people want to read
About the author
Sandhya Jha
5 books21 followersSandhya Jha serves as founder and director of the Oakland Peace Center, a collective of 40 organizations creating access, equity and dignity for all in Oakland and the Bay Area. She also serves as Director of Interfaith Programs for East Bay Housing Organizations, where she organizes faith communities to advocate for housing as a human right and spiritual mandate throughout California’s Bay Area. Former pastor of First Christian Church of Oakland and former regional staff with Christian Churches of Northern California-Nevada, Sandhya is the author of Room at the Table, the history of people of color in the Disciples of Christ, and Pre-Post-Racial America: Spiritual Stories from the Front Lines on the subject of race and spirituality in America. She serves as a consultant with Hope Partnership and an anti-racism/anti-oppression trainer with Reconciliation Ministries for the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). She is a faith-rooted organizer with Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity (formerly Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice – CA) and is particularly proud of her podcast, Hope from the Hood, available on iTunes and at http://sandhyajha.com
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
May 4, 2025
“We have seen the myth of individualism leave too many people isolated and struggling. (I believe that this myth of individualism is one of the original sins of this nation, creating a lie that isolates us and leaves us either feeling like failures when we can't achieve perfection on our own or making us believe that our successes are all our own instead of the result of a community carrying us.)” (p.142).
A great introduction to community-based change. Several helpful tools and frameworks. One key take away was asset-based community development: “asset-based community development begins by looking at what gifts exist within a neighborhood” (p.12). Instead of entering a community with a plan to “fix” their problems, it is far more effective and dignifying to begin a conversation with community members and stakeholders about what issues they want to address, how they want to address them, and what assets they bring to the table.
A great introduction to community-based change. Several helpful tools and frameworks. One key take away was asset-based community development: “asset-based community development begins by looking at what gifts exist within a neighborhood” (p.12). Instead of entering a community with a plan to “fix” their problems, it is far more effective and dignifying to begin a conversation with community members and stakeholders about what issues they want to address, how they want to address them, and what assets they bring to the table.
April 13, 2018
This book highlights 10 different strategies that are being used to transform our communities. It is a good high level overview but there are a lot of references to more materials to learn more about each area at the end of each chapter.
August 18, 2022
Exceptional. Really great pithy collection of vision, tools, skills, affirmation, permission, wisdom, guidance, 🫀. Fantastic. Used this as a team read for college students and it was absolutely perfect for what I want them to read and hold as it connects to building their sense of possibility as change makers via relationships of mutuality.
September 9, 2025
A beacon of hope in these bleak times (I did think some chapters were ~too American~).
December 24, 2017
Sandhya Jha’s newest book is a brief but hopeful discussion of tactics for community organizing for positive change. It’s one of the most realistic, but also one of the most hopeful, books I have read about life in the current moment.
Jha’s book is not a blueprint for what sorts of policy positions or ideas one should adopt. Rather, it’s a helpful guide to the variety of actions and procedures that numerous diverse communities have adopted to make positive local change, some of which stem from the work Jha is currently doing in Oakland, CA. Jha notes that there is a history in the “non-profit industrial complex” of non-profits bringing their money and donors to communities and imposing whatever programs and solutions they think those communities need, frequently without consulting the members of the community themselves. Jha’s book is intended to encourage members of communities themselves to name the problems they feel need attention in their communities, develop ways of deliberating about solutions and developing solidarity among community members and others, and work towards change.
Through it all, Jha focuses more on process than on product. As she herself relates, she was once more focused on product—on policy positions and substantive outcomes—while the procedure for obtaining those outcomes was less important (as long as it worked). She says, though, that over time she came to realize that product, while important, needed less attention than procedure, since it is in the procedure—the process of communicating and building solidarity—that enduring community happens.
Transforming Communities is an optimistic and reference-filled resource for anyone who wants their own community to flourish justly.
Jha’s book is not a blueprint for what sorts of policy positions or ideas one should adopt. Rather, it’s a helpful guide to the variety of actions and procedures that numerous diverse communities have adopted to make positive local change, some of which stem from the work Jha is currently doing in Oakland, CA. Jha notes that there is a history in the “non-profit industrial complex” of non-profits bringing their money and donors to communities and imposing whatever programs and solutions they think those communities need, frequently without consulting the members of the community themselves. Jha’s book is intended to encourage members of communities themselves to name the problems they feel need attention in their communities, develop ways of deliberating about solutions and developing solidarity among community members and others, and work towards change.
Through it all, Jha focuses more on process than on product. As she herself relates, she was once more focused on product—on policy positions and substantive outcomes—while the procedure for obtaining those outcomes was less important (as long as it worked). She says, though, that over time she came to realize that product, while important, needed less attention than procedure, since it is in the procedure—the process of communicating and building solidarity—that enduring community happens.
Transforming Communities is an optimistic and reference-filled resource for anyone who wants their own community to flourish justly.
December 28, 2017
While government has an important role to play in providing social equilibrium, there is also a great need for grassroots community engagement. Religious communities play a central role in efforts to build communities of healing and justice. The question is, will they answer the call, and if so, what will this involve?
Sandhya Jha is a Disciples of Christ minister and Executive Director of the Oakland Peace Center. She has spent many years involved in various forms of community organizing, including a form known as "faith-rooted organizing." She believes that the needs of our communities require a commitment that will likely take fifty years to accomplish. While there is a place for protests, which she has engaged in, they are not, she believes, sufficient. For progress to be truly made, communities themselves will need to take the lead. She believes that they have the skills and wisdom to do this, but there is need for regular people to discern those skills, and then find ways to implement them to solve issues in that are specific to those communities.
The book's ten chapters begin with a discussion of "the power of recognizing assets." What she has
in mind here is a movement beyond charity. There is a recognition her of the danger of efforts to serve that dis-empower. What is needed is solidarity (strength-based organizing) and then discernment of assets, such as leadership skills within the community, to begin building a community of hope. This leads to a discussion of the value of community conversations. She points to the effort on the part of First Christian Church of San Jose to utilize their building to form the Recovery Cafe, which provides meals, job training, and more to the people living in the community. This effort emerged due to the church listening to the community. One of the tools they used was a basic tool of community organizing -- the "one-to-one." These efforts preceded larger community meetings, which made those meetings more productive.
Jha next introduces us to restorative justice as an alternative to the traditional punishment-based justice system, a system that often leads to recidivism. There is a chapter on housing issues, which so many communities deal with. I always wonder how there can be homelessness and vacant housing. I realize that there are often mental health/drug issues related to homelessness, but that is not true of all, or even most. Is not housing a human right that we need to find ways of addressing? There is a chapter on overcoming hate, a chapter that emphasizes the importance of building connections. There is a chapter on building community and one on reconciliation. The latter is an important work that is directed at ministering to veterans, many of whom not only suffer PTSD, but more specifically a sense of moral injury. This is a very interesting chapter that deals with an issue that pertinent to our communities after nearly seventeen years of war that has not ended (let alone the continued fallout from Vietnam). It is important to note that one of the key leaders in this effort is Disciples theologian Rita Nakashima Brock, who has been an outspoken opponent of engaging in war efforts. There is also a chapter on community gardening, which addresses the issue of urban food deserts.
Early in the book she speaks of community organizing efforts, which often involved congregations. But there is another model, known as faith-rooted organizing. She discusses this effort in terms of the idea of salvation. It recognizes that faith-communities often bring distinct gifts to the organizing effort. It also differs from traditional community organizing, which focuses on self-interest and emphasizes common good. There is in this effort a sense of solidarity, whether one is directing impacted or not.
The final chapter serves as a summary, inviting us to consider how faith communities can be bases of healing movements in the community. The message here is that the myth of individualism has undermined community, but that myth can be deconstructed, and a new effort set in motion that can bring justice and healing to the communities we inhabit.
This is an insightful book. Sandhya Jha is first and foremost a story-teller. She introduces us to a variety of community efforts that might be replicated elsewhere. She recognizes that every community is different, with different needs and different required responses. She has enough experience with these kinds of efforts to give us wisdom that can help empower efforts of transformation. The book is an easy read, which makes it great as a catalyst for faith-community conversation, that will open eyes and enable engagement. It is a book for our times.
Sandhya Jha is a Disciples of Christ minister and Executive Director of the Oakland Peace Center. She has spent many years involved in various forms of community organizing, including a form known as "faith-rooted organizing." She believes that the needs of our communities require a commitment that will likely take fifty years to accomplish. While there is a place for protests, which she has engaged in, they are not, she believes, sufficient. For progress to be truly made, communities themselves will need to take the lead. She believes that they have the skills and wisdom to do this, but there is need for regular people to discern those skills, and then find ways to implement them to solve issues in that are specific to those communities.
The book's ten chapters begin with a discussion of "the power of recognizing assets." What she has
in mind here is a movement beyond charity. There is a recognition her of the danger of efforts to serve that dis-empower. What is needed is solidarity (strength-based organizing) and then discernment of assets, such as leadership skills within the community, to begin building a community of hope. This leads to a discussion of the value of community conversations. She points to the effort on the part of First Christian Church of San Jose to utilize their building to form the Recovery Cafe, which provides meals, job training, and more to the people living in the community. This effort emerged due to the church listening to the community. One of the tools they used was a basic tool of community organizing -- the "one-to-one." These efforts preceded larger community meetings, which made those meetings more productive.
Jha next introduces us to restorative justice as an alternative to the traditional punishment-based justice system, a system that often leads to recidivism. There is a chapter on housing issues, which so many communities deal with. I always wonder how there can be homelessness and vacant housing. I realize that there are often mental health/drug issues related to homelessness, but that is not true of all, or even most. Is not housing a human right that we need to find ways of addressing? There is a chapter on overcoming hate, a chapter that emphasizes the importance of building connections. There is a chapter on building community and one on reconciliation. The latter is an important work that is directed at ministering to veterans, many of whom not only suffer PTSD, but more specifically a sense of moral injury. This is a very interesting chapter that deals with an issue that pertinent to our communities after nearly seventeen years of war that has not ended (let alone the continued fallout from Vietnam). It is important to note that one of the key leaders in this effort is Disciples theologian Rita Nakashima Brock, who has been an outspoken opponent of engaging in war efforts. There is also a chapter on community gardening, which addresses the issue of urban food deserts.
Early in the book she speaks of community organizing efforts, which often involved congregations. But there is another model, known as faith-rooted organizing. She discusses this effort in terms of the idea of salvation. It recognizes that faith-communities often bring distinct gifts to the organizing effort. It also differs from traditional community organizing, which focuses on self-interest and emphasizes common good. There is in this effort a sense of solidarity, whether one is directing impacted or not.
The final chapter serves as a summary, inviting us to consider how faith communities can be bases of healing movements in the community. The message here is that the myth of individualism has undermined community, but that myth can be deconstructed, and a new effort set in motion that can bring justice and healing to the communities we inhabit.
This is an insightful book. Sandhya Jha is first and foremost a story-teller. She introduces us to a variety of community efforts that might be replicated elsewhere. She recognizes that every community is different, with different needs and different required responses. She has enough experience with these kinds of efforts to give us wisdom that can help empower efforts of transformation. The book is an easy read, which makes it great as a catalyst for faith-community conversation, that will open eyes and enable engagement. It is a book for our times.
April 9, 2020
I loved this book and so will anyone else who is looking around at the world and wondering how to make a difference. Sandhya Jha’s book is astonishing in how many stories, research, concrete suggestions and resources were able to be put into 144 pages. After reading this book, the reader will have plenty of great ideas for how to start a movement in her or his community with others or how to join one that is already established and has started the work.
For me, there were a few important “takeaways” that resonated with what I feel that I need to do. First, as is stated in the title, the focus is on creating and building community. Jha rightly argues that the myth of individualism has destroyed too many people’s lives with it’s constant focus on competitiveness and profit. Instead, if we want our communities to thrive, we have to look around at who is benefiting from our present state of affairs and who is not. As we see who is not benefiting, it can become more clear where we can join with one another to bring this into the light and help those not benefiting find their own voice to begin to make change.
Second, the book reminds well-meaning people such as myself that community organizing is not about rushing in and saving people. Over and over Jha reminds the reader that listening is the first step to any community change. People who are poor, people who have been hurt by racism, people who are homeless, people coming out of the prison system and many others know what they need. They have their own visions and hopes for the future. For people like me who want to help, we have to listen first and let our gifts and talents fit in with the gifts and talents already in place.
Finally, Jha reminds us that while the work is hard and slow, it is work that we are called to if we believe in the life-saving grace of a community where every member has a voice and is welcome at the table. One of her mentors reminded her, and by quoting him she then reminds the reader, that this work is not about who likes whom. It’s about the greater vision of a community where people have their basic needs met and their rights respected.
I would highly recommend this book to any person, church or other organization who wants to make a difference in the lives of people living around them.
For me, there were a few important “takeaways” that resonated with what I feel that I need to do. First, as is stated in the title, the focus is on creating and building community. Jha rightly argues that the myth of individualism has destroyed too many people’s lives with it’s constant focus on competitiveness and profit. Instead, if we want our communities to thrive, we have to look around at who is benefiting from our present state of affairs and who is not. As we see who is not benefiting, it can become more clear where we can join with one another to bring this into the light and help those not benefiting find their own voice to begin to make change.
Second, the book reminds well-meaning people such as myself that community organizing is not about rushing in and saving people. Over and over Jha reminds the reader that listening is the first step to any community change. People who are poor, people who have been hurt by racism, people who are homeless, people coming out of the prison system and many others know what they need. They have their own visions and hopes for the future. For people like me who want to help, we have to listen first and let our gifts and talents fit in with the gifts and talents already in place.
Finally, Jha reminds us that while the work is hard and slow, it is work that we are called to if we believe in the life-saving grace of a community where every member has a voice and is welcome at the table. One of her mentors reminded her, and by quoting him she then reminds the reader, that this work is not about who likes whom. It’s about the greater vision of a community where people have their basic needs met and their rights respected.
I would highly recommend this book to any person, church or other organization who wants to make a difference in the lives of people living around them.
June 26, 2018
This is a book that I am sure I will come back to again and again. It is almost a handbook, if you will, on ways to begin and sustain ministries that have the power to transform communities. It is written in such a way that it doesn't read like a text, instead sharing examples of ministries that worked and the stories of how they came into being and what it took to form them. So it is not a 'how to' but more of a 'what if' we tried this approach to that ministry. The stories she shares are relevant and offer ideas and insights that could be pertinent in a variety of situations. Well done.
April 29, 2018
Fantastic resource for faith leaders, especially pastors and others who are seeking to get outside of the box on church and to partner with the community in transforming. In every chapter, what I learned is the importance of listening to the community's needs and to give up/share power in decision making. Each chapter is a different model of community transformation. not all will make sense for every context, but I learned from each one.
June 14, 2020
Solid examples and very informative
Great read and leaves you with a call to action. Love that she provides so many references at the end of each chapter so you can dig deeper with each concept.
Great read and leaves you with a call to action. Love that she provides so many references at the end of each chapter so you can dig deeper with each concept.
April 27, 2022
An inspirational and hopeful book about groups of people doing good work in their communities.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews