Session 1 of Welcoming Communities – an Online Course of Exploratory Discussions

This is the first session of a weekly, 6-session online course of exploratory discussions on the topic of “Welcoming Communities” that the Interactivity Foundation is facilitating in partnership with the Diversity Relations Council and the Center for Lifelong Learning at Leisure World in Silver Spring, Maryland.  In this course, registered participants from Leisure World meet weekly online via Zoom.

The six class discussions for this course are participatory, interactive, and additive—they build on the ideas discussed and developed in prior sessions by the participants.  In this first session, participants will start with an initial exploration of the term “community” as they consider questions like the following, as well as their different answers.

• What does “community” mean to you?
• What different kinds of communities are you part of—and why?
• What communities have you joined and/or left and why?
• What are different positive or negative aspects of community?
• Let’s start to form a sense of some of the key features or dimensions that come into play for “community”