Catalytic Communities

Catalytic Communities - CatComm - is creating a world where community-generated solutions are just a mouse-click away, where anyone, anywhere, confronting a local problem, can find the inspiration and tools they need to implement the solution, learning from their peers.

Catalytic Communities uses technology to link grassroots community groups so they can learn from each other's successes, and support one another's work. When community organizations tackle local problems, their work would be easier if they knew about successful programs in similar neighborhoods around the world. CatComm realizes people solve crises in their communities every day, and the Internet is the perfect tool to replicate these successes. We collect and posts how-to examples in our Community Solutions Database. These real-life stories address a wide range of issues, from HIV prevention to spurring economic growth, providing effective care for children and the elderly, and much more. The database of 200 projects inspires people to make a difference around the world.

Boston Resource Net

ResourceNet is a free, one-of-a-kind web tool providing a wide range of information about human services—the kind of information you can’t get from a phone book!

ABCD and BPHC (Action for Boston Community Development and Boston Public Health Commission) are jointly sponsoring BostonResourceNet. ResourceNet maintains the site to enhance the public’s access to information about human services in Boston.

How "Good" is the Information on the Internet?

You can do research about almost any topic by searching the Internet. But how good is the information you find? Sometimes you can find very good information but there is also a lot of "misinformation disguised as fact" mixed in. There are a few sites that provide you with more reliable results because professionals have reviewed the sites they link with.

One of these is the Librarians' Internet Index, a publicly-funded website that lets you search and browse its website for the best of the Web. The site contains more than 20,000 entries, maintained by their librarians and organized into 14 main topics and nearly 300 related topics.