study, action, discernment.

About Us

Striving for Community Progress and Education (SCOPE) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the generation, application and diffusion of knowledge for the betterment of society. We work with youth, families and communities in neighborhoods across North Carolina.

For the last ten years, a process of community-based social development, using the materials and methods of the Ruhi Institute, has taken root in several neighborhoods in Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill. Networks of individuals and families are now laboring together for the progress of their communities, striving to reshape society in light of the principle of the oneness of humankind.

In order for community members to develop new institutional systems and patterns of community life, a vast expanse of knowledge is needed at the grassroots. The kind of knowledge that is required will need to be integrated from various disciplines in order to effectively develop the diverse patterns of social and economic activity that we hope will characterize the future of our neighborhoods. The capacities developed by the programs of Striving for Community Progress and Education (SCOPE) aspire to equip a new generation of youth to read social reality and develop meaningful processes and initiatives of social action. This growing cadre of human resources will need to be able to analyze the social forces at work in society with a coherent conceptual framework and generate new ways of thinking about social change in light of relevant scientific and spiritual knowledge.

Framework

“The honor and distinction of the individual consist in this: that he among all the world’s multitudes should become a source of social good.”

-Baháʼí Writings

There are several philosophical convictions that guide the organization’s endeavors. One such conviction concerns the nature of ‘progress.’

We believe community progress has both material and spiritual dimensions. Material advancement is clearly vital to the progress of our communities. All peoples should have access to sufficient material means for human flourishing. However, true prosperity cannot be measured, nor true happiness attained, in wealth or consumption alone. It is equally important that we learn to unite in service to the common good without prejudices of gender, race or class; that we discover new modes of functioning that build unity, shared prosperity and cooperation; that individuals give freely of their time and resources to realize change. True progress in any society relies upon the selfless service of its members. Learning how to release these powers of the human spirit is a core mission of the SCOPE.