What Times News readers are concerned about regarding connecting with the community

Through the Times News, readers specified what concerns them most about connecting with the community.

What most concerns readers, personally, about connecting with the community

The crux of my inquiry project is the goal of having people in our community connect with each other. One way is through Full-Service Extended Schools, which Lehighton Area School District is implementing beautifully; the educational stakeholders I've met with abroad are impressed with what our schools are doing.

Another way is through Community Use of Schools, for which I've created a Toolkit and am building two websites.

Why relationships? This Ted Talk may explain it:
Summary: What keeps us happy and healthy as we go through life? If you think it's fame and money, you're not alone – but, according to psychiatrist Robert Waldinger, you're mistaken. As the director of a 75-year-old study on adult development, Waldinger has unprecedented access to data on true happiness and satisfaction. In this talk, he shares three important lessons learned from the study as well as some practical, old-as-the-hills wisdom on how to build a fulfilling, long life.

My undergraduate degree is in Cultural Anthropology so I've thought about all of this since 1990 and over the years coalesced ideas about implementing strategies to help all facets of a community feel valued and engaged in life. My Inquiry Project is ambitious, but I feel it can be successfully put into action.

It's good for people to know what others are thinking and feeling. To that end, some feedback given via the survey on the website for Times News included:

• Everyone is connected via technology so it takes away the personal touch and people tend to not be interested in local events, if they even have them... sometimes it seems like people just put together “community events” just for something to do and don’t gauge actual interest or applicability.

• Lack of real world compassion.

• The political scene- it’s becoming more polarized. Tough decisions aren’t made because politicians want to be reelected and keep kicking the can down the road. Little gets done except in the name of self image.

• Police and community relations.

• Getting to know new people.