The Network Center for Community Change (NC3) is all about empowering communities. They take it seriously and do it with a smile, even when it means knocking on doors day after day to learn about neighborhoods and the residents that occupy them.

So NC3 is rather pumped that a new initiative called Community Engagement Mapping recently received some national exposure. Community mapping takes volunteers out into struggling neighborhoods where they take stock of vacant and abandoned properties. Neighbors will then utilize that data to push for solutions they see fit.

Fast Company, a magazine focused on “innovation in technology, ethonomics (ethical economics), leadership and design” highlighted NC3′s community mapping on its website, specifically the Co.Exist page, a page dedicated to projects they deem will change the way people live.

Here’s a link to the article. Anthony Smith, NC3′s director of network organizing, tells LEO urban planners from around the country have shown interest in NC3′s approach. Below is a video on Community Engagement Mapping in the Shawnee neighborhood.