Building cultural capacity

Cultural Capacity or Cultural sustainability is defined by Jennings and Newman as:
"Creating a political and community culture that sustains itself in such a way that active citizen participation is seen as an ever-present feature of the policy process," (161). Of course, there is some foundational work that must be done before a community has the potential, skill set, and sustainable network to apply programs of pressure or even social uplift to any other population. This process is far harder than it sounds because it requires that every member of active communities be educated and empowered. More, if a community is organized around focus points, then once those focus points are either deemed solved or insolvable the organization will collapse. If you ask why, why wouldn't the organization collapse? What holds communities of people together? More to the point, what binds people and maximizes their effectiveness as political and social players? The connections made between people bind them; not necessarily single-issues like healthcare, war, or the economy. Thus, community organizations working to solve systemic problems within the community and abroad must first establish the community. They must establish a strong cultural network within the organization. The question then becomes how do we create strong cultural foundations that can act as jumpoffs for future actions?