[carver]

Originally Posted by ShawnDow

I guess what I really meant to ask.. is can one depend on or convince ones small community to become a small defended "civilized" compound. Or will it become one small group watching their own back from another?

If you start now with just one of your neighbors, you can prepare for just about anything. Never show them what you have, but show them what they can have. There really is safety in numbers! If I were you, and I wanted to see if I could get this going. I would start by just talking to the folks that live around me. Find out if they think there is a catastrophe coming, or not. Don't waste your time on those that think there is nothing that's going to happen. Work with like minded people.

Have a cook out, invite a neighbor, or two, just to get things started. Have some one else host the next meeting. Any excuse to get together is a valuable tactic for recruiting volunteers and building a team. Home meetings allow community members to come together to share their concerns, and join together, to work for progress. Within the room, on in your yard, you already have all the tools you need to enact ideas on a local level. Every attendee can contribute time, resources, or leadership abilities.

Your house/yard meeting will help you identify your leadership team. The people that are committed enough to come to your house meeting should be considered potential leaders of the initiatives being implemented.

As a house/yard meeting host, invite people from your neighborhood to participate in a discussion about your community, pressing needs for a SHTF seniro, and the potential solutions.