The collection documents the history, organization, mission and principles of The Foundation for Community Encouragement. It presents the FCE through the eyes of both Sister Ellen Stephen and Dr. M. Scott Peck. The collection contains a series of publications – pamphlets, flyers, circulars - describing mission and vision of the FCE; articles related to the FCE; a large series of institutional and organizational documents and correspondence; written and recorded FCE history; reports of activities, with special mention for Community Building Workshops Leaders Reports; educational and training material for FCE’s leaders and for workshop participants; and materials related to publicity and memorabilia.

The mission of The Foundation for Community Encouragement Inc. (FCE) was “to encourage people in a fragmented world to discover new and better ways of being together.” Founded in December 1984 by Scott and Lily Peck and eleven others, the organization came into existence with the purpose of providing resources for the formation of communities by teaching principles through which they can be built and sustained. During the first semester of 2002, after reflecting on the mission and purpose of the FCE, the board of directors concluded that the foundation was no longer serving its purpose according to its established criteria and decided that FCE would end its activities. In July 2002, FCE organized The Foundation for Community Encouragement Final Gathering with the objectives of reflecting on FCE work and of planning for continuing communication among community builders. Community Crossroads was established as an informational web site maintained for the use of community builders around the world. Materials and resources from the FCE are made available to community builders through the web site http://fcecommunity.org/

7 Boxes, 3.0 linear feet

Supervised use only. Scholarly use within parameters of copyright law.