Thriving Neighborhoods!
A Grant Proposal For the Case Foundation www.casefoundation.org
Submitted on Aug. 8, 2007 Thanks to everyone who gave feedback on this proposal. Your feedback continues to be invaluable, for I will be refining this to submit to other possible sources of funding.
What: Helping every neighborhood in Fayetteville (and eventually the world) become a thriving, self reliant community where every voice is heard and all needs are met.
How: By helping neighbors and/or churches produce a Community Gathering which is described below.
Imagine the most fun festival or holiday you can think of. If you love your family reunions–picture that in your mind. You just know you won’t miss it because it is so enlivening. Add the vision that people can collaborate on their personal and socially conscious projects and goal and get lots of support so achieving goals becomes easy.
Imagine that participants, just by having conversations and networking, create a shared vision for their neighborhood and strategic plan to carry it out. People who aren’t so sure they want to be involved in any formal projects can come to have fun with music, dance, art, classes and other creative endeavors. By being around the positive energy of cooperation and people making a difference in changing the world for a better—even the most apathetic want to get involved.
Imagine folks who are hungry or too busy to cook come to eat the yummy, healthy meal. Parents who are overwhelmed or want enriching family activities bring their children and teens who find fun and serviceful things to do.
Imagine diversity. People who are often left out get special invitations, rides, and are made welcome. Human beings of all ages who want to teach and learn useful things like music lessons, spiritual truths, parenting, fixing things, gardening and more can share and partake. We will make every effort to find some uplifting way to help everyone get some basic need met.
That is the Community Gathering! Using social capital—trust filled relationships and sense of belonging—and helping people to connect to their passion–to the max!
What will happen at the Community Gathering?
People will identify and address issues that are important to them when they come together in weekly Community Gatherings where an atmosphere of learning, trust-building, connection, creativity and fun is fostered.
Open space technology and Non-Violent Communication are some methods utilized so that people can easily bring their talents, dreams, and goals to the table. People can more easily work to achieve the goals that they determine are valuable. Their passion is motivating force for helping them to keep going.
We will create a collaborative atmosphere where people take great joy in helping each other with their projects for at least these reasons:
1. They are getting helped in turn
2. They have more energy because of the positive environment
3. They feel the joy that comes from contributing to other’s well being
4. There is a space to meet every week to carry on the conversation.
5. The Community Facilitator and team who sponsors the event will use their gifts to help make it easy for the energy of the community gathering to expand to the whole week.
For example, if someone wants to start a community garden, it will be easy to find others who want the same thing. They will receive help from mentors who have some experience, expertise, or resources about community gardens. Through networking opportunities, a community garden coordinator and team can find a space to garden, a source of funding, and maybe even some free tools. At every stage of the project there can be announcements and celebration of the success.
A steering committee for community gardening can make decisions and decide how to encourage larger participation by those who may want to work. They will be encouraged to create a strategic plan and carry it out. I can just taste those luscious ripe tomatoes now!
In this positive, encouraging atmosphere, hope is rekindled, and people are willing dream big and manifest their goals.
What is Fayetteville like?
Fayetteville is a city of about 68,000 people in Northwest Arkansas nestled in seven hills which are part of the Ozarks. It is home to the University of Arkansas, where many dedicated students study in order to build a better world.
We have a large number of deeply caring residents who want Fayetteville to be a sustainable city, but people have different ideas of what sustainable means. There is constant tension between developers, city council, and residents–all who say they want an improved quality of life.
Over and over, I have seen people rally together when there were big issues that they cared about. But we need something to bring us all together more often, and bring more diversity to the table.
I see a huge need in Fayetteville for the creation of a shared vision.
How will you collaborate and include as many voices as possible?
By implementing community gatherings in every neighborhood we take great care to make it easy for all of the different voices to be present and heard. My heartfelt desire is that we can have reconciliation and harmony by seeing that we all want the same thing, and that there are creative ways to get all of our needs met.
City council, city administration, businesses, churches, schools, and non-profits will be encouraged to join the conversation with residents in order to share resources and talents.
One of the keys is meeting those who are different from us face to face. Using methods that help people focus on their commonality, conflicts are lessened and collaboration is increased.
As people have an opportunity to use time-tested methods of creative problem solving, goal setting and strategic planning, they gain skills to help themselves and others achieve their individual and collective goals.
What’s your plan?
1. I am in the process of researching the best neighborhood to work with, and have identified several that would be ideal.
2.I will find someone who is a leader in the neighborhood who is willing to be a sponsor. I will work with the neighborhood sponsor to identify who the various voices are in the neighborhood. We will invite people who represent those voices to be part of a planning team.
3. I will work with the planning team to create a strategic plan to promote the Community Gathering in such a way that a large and diverse group can come. With all the voices inviting people they have affinity with, it will be easier to get many people to come together
4. I will use my skills in Open Space Technology and Non-violent communication to help create a welcoming space where a shared vision can be created and carried out at the weekly community gatherings.
5. I will document the entire process so that a training program and inspiring DVD can be produced, so we can inspired the other neighborhoods in Fayetteville to start hosting community gatherings, and community facilitators can be trained to help that process be easier.
6. I will support inter-neighborhood collaboration so that they can create a shared vision for Fayetteville.
We want to know about you.
Ever since I traveled alone for 13 months in third world countries such as Iran, Pakistan, India and Afghanistan at the age of 19, I have had a deep desire to help alleviate suffering in the world. I realized early on that healthy community was an anecdote to many problems.
After studying and living in communities for 30 years, I decided that it was possible for neighborhoods to become thriving, sustainable communities. Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative was the most inspiring example for me.
I have taken extensive training from world renown teachers, Jack Canfield (Chicken Soup for the Soul Series) and Marshall Rosenberg (Non-Violent Communication). From an early age I have had a natural ability to organize projects and engage people.
One of my most successful efforts was when I spearheaded the upholding of the Fayetteville tree ordinance which resulted in a 33 day tree sit after all attempts at legal efforts failed. Two hundred people showed up at the city council meeting to request our government to uphold our laws.
I lead an effort that saved a second generation apple orchard from being taken over by the Springdale School Board in order to build a high school. In each case, I encouraged people by helping them be aware of what was happening and having meetings which encouraged people to act.
I realized very profoundly that it would be more effective to get lots of people working to create what they want, rather than fighting what they didn’t want.
Recently, I used my organizational efforts to organize and start numerous Ron Paul for President Meetups. I found that there were many people eager to do things to promote the cause of freedom, and that I was able to mentor and guide people in ways that really helped them to achieve their goals. I was thrilled to try out a very simple version of the Community Gathering, where often 30 people would show up to connect and offer support.
I work in my own neighborhood to help us all connect and build community.
After living just outside the city limits of Fayetteville for over 10 years, I want to help this town become the best it can be.
Here are some additional thoughts I have had since submitting this grant:
1. It is very important to envision this happening at a large facility, probably a school or church with many rooms. Eventually every room will be utilized. The art room, the band room, the shop, –we would have qualified people who the school approves, teaching classes, facilitating a jam session, or just holding the space so that people can be creative.
2. Recovery groups such as 12 step programs and Celebrate Recovery ( a Christian group) could be taking place in many rooms. There can be three different sessions so people can go to a support group, attend an planning team meeting, and do some fun music. Even during the meal we can have tables which have topics of discussion for people who want to converse about various things—anyone could put a sign on a table for a topic, such as “how can we make our park safer”. If this is held at a church, there will most likely be worship, youth group activities, and Bible studies going on simultaneously.
3. The role of the community facilitator is very important. Although we are going into communities to help them create a shared vision, we do have influence, and what we value is important. For example, having experience in Non-violent communication sets a tone for helping everyone get their needs met. Having an attitude for sustainable living helps us inspire the planning team to have an ecological meeting. A community facilitator has the ability to invite people who support sustainable living to lead workshops, conversations and classes.
4. I envision that every person who wants to will be part of an small group which meets for a time during the gathering, and creates a sense of extended family. We can make opportunities on line and elsewhere to do a kind of match making service so that people can find others who are similar enough in values to be in a closer relationship. We can offer classes and facilitator to help these small groups be healthy. Non-violent communication would be a foundational tool that is made available.
5. Encouraging a green production of the community gathering is important. Demonstrating the power of eating food grown mostly locally; zero waste; recycling; even having a portable solar panel and system which can run the lights is important.
6. We will find out what people want to get involved in by having a survey/questionnaire. We can actively seek out people who have experience in these areas to come to the gathering to offer classes, or facilitate interest groups.
7. A sample schedule:
4:30-6 People come to set up and prepare soup. This can be the foundational meal. Those who want can bring additional food, but it is not required. This can also be a time where people pray for the success of that nights community gathering.
6-7PM Dinner and Open space circle: People very briefly share what meetings they want to convene, a schedule is made for the rest of the evening. With the one law of mobility, people are free to attend structured events or they can just hang out.Tables will be numbered so that conversations can be had at certain tables during dinner as well. There can be two twenty minute sessions, or 3 fifteen minute sessions, 4 or 8 five minute sessions. This will encourage broad networking. People will get to know a lot people in a short amount of time. They can move every time the bell is rung–or stay in same place. Digestion will be great with all the laughter and warm connections.
7-7:15 Break—children go to childcare, everyone finds their place. Clean up after meal.
7:15-8:15 First session (includes cleaning up after meal)
8:30-9:30 2nd Session (will include some clean up)
9:30-10:30 3rd Session: will include a session on reflection so that we can keep improving on the Community Gathering
10:45-11:15 Closing and celebration
11:15-12 midnight: Clean up
Ways of helping the meeting be more effective:
1. People will make reports either in writing or on a computer available—to post on the wall for all to see. All public reports will be compiled and put online.
2. People can come or leave any time. The agenda is placed on the wall for all to see.
3. Some meetings will be closed—therefore not necessarily announced—for example, where confidentiality is needed, or planning of a project where a small team who is familiar with each other want to focus, or an on-going class which builds on skills.
4. There will be lots of activities for children and teens—and child care will also be available as well as a teen room.
5. Everyone who wants can be part of a social networking on-line group so that they can connect and collaborate off line.
6. We will reach out to meet-up groups who need a space.
7. We can ask for donations from everyone in order to pay expenses.
8. Anyone can sponsor a community gathering using these ideas.
9. We will have a wiki where we can continue to fine tune the concept of the Community Gathering until it gets to be as easy to do as falling off a log! A hand book will be developed.
10. The community facilitator and a team is skilled in using Open Space Technology and will be present to help prevent and resolve conflicts, and make sure that people are safe.
11. We will create simple agreements so that people coming will feel safe—like no alcohol,designated outside smoking areas, no drugs, etc.
12. The law of two feet as taught by Open Space Technology prevails: if someone is not contributing or happy with where they are, they can choose to either change their attitude, or just leave.
13. We will make sure that there are creative individuals who are good at facilitation in rooms designated for music, art, etc.
An extensive volunteer organizing will take place so that all the needs of the community gathering can be met, and we will use some method like Time Banks in order to insure that people can feel more comfortable in asking for what they need since they have given to the community.
The following exerpt was taken from this Case Foundation website: an interview with Af Allison Fine’s author Momentum: Igniting Social Change in the Connected Age. My comments are in italics.,
Allison is a successful social entrepreneur and writer dedicated to helping grassroots organizations and activists implement and sustain social change efforts. She is a senior fellow at Demos, a network of action and ideas based in New York City. She is the founder of Innovation Network, Inc. (InnoNet), and the former CEO of the E-Volve Foundation. Currently she serves on the board of directors of Just Vision. She lives on the banks of the Hudson River with her husband, Scott, and three sons, Jack, Zack, and Max. Join her interactive conversation on social change in the digital age at http://afine.us
Allison: When I’m talking to people in an organization to see how they’re doing with social media, I don’t look just at the technology. More important to me is how they talk about the way that they work. For instance, are they having a two-way conversation with people outside the organization, or are they just broadcasting messages? Is their website a place for real, open, side-to-side conversations between people inside the organization and outside, or is it just brochureware? And even blogs, which allow for comments, can be just pretty words that are meant to tell the world how great and invincible the group is, not letting people inside help figure out strategy and even struggle with the hard questions all organizations face.
Patricia: I agree totally. We want to get as much input as possible in whatever we do.
Allison: Technology is not a panacea for the hard work of developing relationships face to face. Social media, interactive digital tools, are very inexpensive, and when used well are great ways to enhance, deepen, and strengthen those relationships. Imagine that a group meets locally to discuss a clean water strategy. They can then go online and create a wiki to share documents and lists together. They can also create a listserv and a blog to keep everyone informed of progress and discuss strategy. All of these tools are cheap and easy to use. Now think back to the pre-social media days when everything had to be done by snail mail. Which way do you think connects people more to one another and the cause? Some folks make an assumption that using social media is a zero-sum game, that it replaces face-to-face relationship building. That’s absolutely not true. But again, leaders have to want real, meaningful participation to involve people in solving problems regardless of whether it is happening mainly online or on land.
Patricia: This is so important! And the community gathering will provide the face to face contact—make it much easier than trying to make appointments with people with busy schedules. For example, since all community gatherings will be open to anyone—although they will be attended mostly by their own neighborhood—there could be one going on every night of the week, and even some during the day. People can more easily meet—using the gathering as a foundation. Also, if someone meets on line, then they have a safe place to meet. This is also going to be a great place for Meet Up groups or even folks who want to meet in person who are on myspace, facebook, zaadz, tribes, or other social networking.
Allison:“It is counterintuitive but true; the more decision making we push away from the center, the more powerful our social networks become. That’s the power-to-the-edges concept. We need to let go of the message and the messenger and encourage activists to participate in real, meaningful ways in shaping and implementing strategies.”
Patricia: If you study Open Space Technology, you will see that people are empowered to self-organize and follow their passion and inclinations. Strategies reveal themselves as small groups come together to plan their part of the puzzle, and communication takes place between groups.
Leveraging Social Networks:
Allison:”Social change happens through social networks. Social media provides the fuel to reach out and activate these networks at a scale and speed never seen before. We need to think about our ’stickiness’ within our ecosystems. Who are we connected to and how? How can we create stronger, more authentic, connections within our network?”
Patricia: Authentic is a key word here—that is why Non-violent Communication is going to be so important. This consciousness of honest, empathic communication will help people connect on a deeper level. We will also encourage in various ways a culture of trust building. People will learn the importance of, and being empowered to-be in integrity so that we have a culture of trust worthiness.
Also, we want to make it safe and easy for people who meet online. If someone meets on line to deepen the relationships and help build trust. This is also going to be a great place for Meet Up groups or even folks who want to meet in person who are on myspace, facebook, zaadz, tribes, or other social networking.
Trust builds stronger, more authentic relationships.
Allison: I use a cooking analogy in the book to say that social change using social media is cooking and not baking. By this I mean that success can’t be prescribed for activists — there are some core ingredients that need to come together, like a big gumbo, to make something delicious. Technology, both the gadgets and the know-how, is one key ingredient. But so are leadership, planning, and meaningful participation by a community of people. We need all of these things, but how they come together, in what order, and in what combination, are unique to every organization.
Patricia: The Community Gathering is designed so that leadership is mainly focused on helping people create a shared vision and carrying it out, as well as defining personal goals, and getting help to carry them out. I feel hopeful that this format can be easily applied to any organization in order to enrich their participation.
Allison: In order to be successful, activists need to move from a state of powerlessness, of doing what others want them to do, to a place of powerfulness or what I call “self-determining” in the book. The balance comes from creating plans for measuring that everyone agrees on that have short-term and long-term mileposts to tell us where we are and how we’re doing along the way.
Patricia: We will develop a strategic plan as small groups define their goals, and then communicate with other small groups. As momentum builds, and people become familiar with the Open Space approach, we will also schedule longer events, including 2 ½ day Neighborhood Visioning using techniques such as Open Space Technology or Future Search
A big part of the leadership comes from the Community Facilitator who has been trained by Livable Future Project trainers. Community Facilitators will learn to build a team of the diverse people in their neighborhood and community who can oversee the community gathering and help make it fulfill the mission. Livable Future Project will have a board of directors and advisory board which reflects and supports the mission. Our main purpose will be to develop participitative democracy—something along the lines of sociocracy. I am familiar with the sociocracy principles, but I have not studied it extensively—one of my next priorities is to establish if this is the “ocracy” will be appropriate
Allison: When I’m talking to people in an organization to see how they’re doing with social media, I don’t look just at the technology. More important to me is how they talk about the way that they work. For instance, are they having a two-way conversation with people outside the organization, or are they just broadcasting messages? Is their website a place for real, open, side-to-side conversations between people inside the organization and outside, or is it just brochureware? And even blogs, which allow for comments, can be just pretty words that are meant to tell the world how great and invincible the group is, not letting people inside help figure out strategy and even struggle with the hard questions all organizations face.
Patricia: We will be all about inclusiveness and getting input from people, helping them more easily decisions which affect them directly—as always, creating a shared vision as well as individual visions.
Allison: “Nonprofit organizations aren’t going to become extinct, but they do need to transform themselves. In order for change to happen in large-scale, meaningful, and sustainable ways, activist organizations must change the way they view themselves and their constituents; they must start to act as part of networks of activists not as soloists.”
Patricia: I am so glad to see this statement. I have long felt a sense of helplessness when I try to work with established organizations. It is so discouraging to try to present something to a board of directors, or try to get an individual to present something to a steering committee—to get permission or support. Boards are usually overwhelmed anyway, and new ideas are just time consuming. I gave up working with boards and groups—but then I felt isolated, and couldn’t figure out how to get involved and get others involved. When I learned about the concept of helping people get in touch with their passionate vision, and then support them in carrying it out—it was like a revelation. It seems that we are taught in school that we can’t follow our dreams-we have to fit in like a cog in a wheel to the socio-economic order that needs us to be robots. J
Even though we consciously believe differently, our upbringing/training often keeps us from believing that we could do what we love and we could thrive by doing that.
I hope and pray that people will develop an alternative economy in their neighborhoods based on alternative currencies, credit systems, barter, and Time Banking so that people can be encouraged to find their right livelihoods which could include paid (or traded for) services such as being a facilitator—making it easy for people to create community gardens, learning centers, coop child care sytems, building sustainable systems, and more. The sky is the limit!
Although the Livable Future Project is not officially a non-profit organization—we are still in the process of deciding if this is the step we will take—we want to do as Allison says is beneficial—“ start to act as part of networks of activists not as soloists.”
Ultimately it is my dream that the job of Community Facilitator will be a respected role in the neighborhood, and so valued that people will contribute a monthly fee in order for a Community Facilitator to devote their full time to this work. CF’s will live simply and sustainably, and perhaps people will share freely food, reduced rent, rides, etc. If only 150 people paid $20 a month, a CF could have $3000 a month.
There is so much more that can be done besides the Community Gathering. The CG alone is a huge job but more could be done to help people, such encouraging people to become Community Weavers or a Family Advocate Volunteers so that even more can happen in between community gatherings.
When every neighborhood in a city has a Community Facilitator, and a Community Gathering, there will much more sharing, collaboration, and interweaving among neighborhoods. Community Facilitators will meet and share notes, and facilitate larger gatherings where delegates from the various neighborhoods can come together to create a shared vision for the city—and include scale methods where thousands and even millions can give input to help create a shared vision for a city, state, country, and even the world. Using a method. According to the Forum Foundation website, “the essence of over 25 years research in social science for us is the realization that big meetings at often remote distances are the Achilles’ Heel of the democratic process which undergirds our society, public and private.” Dick Spady and
Other than those ten dynamics, the essence of over 25 years research in social science for us is the realization that big meetings at often remote distances are the Achiilles heal of the democratic process which undergirds our society, public and private. P People today do not have time to go to big meetings, especially at remote distances. They are too busy earning a living. Besides they remember the last time they went; the sheer logistics are such that only a few people can speak, most can only listen. People today are often accused of being apathetic in their responsibilities as citizens in their communities, their schools, and their churches. Our research indicates that people are not apathetic; it is just that they have concluded that such big meetings at often remote distances are not worth their time and effort, and they drop out. The Forum Foundation has concluded that in order to get at the organizational and societal problems in society better, leaders must enable their members or constituents to meet in small groups, normally 8 to 12 persons, at times and places convenient to themselves during a one or two month window period in interaction with their leaders using audio or video cassettes and “Opinionnaires®.” But what is gained through interpersonal communication by being in small groups is simultaneously lost among the participants as a whole which is something greater than the mere sum of the parts. To restore this “lost sense of touch,” we have developed the Fast Forum® technique. It is a part of “Many-to-Many Communications” and exists at a degree of complexity below the Delphi Technique and below typical random sample polling but above letter writing, telephoning, or big meetings yet makes the same contribution to system solutions as they do but does it more systematically and economically. Furthermore, since all data generated is objective showing percentages of responses to various survey-type questions by demographics of gender, age, geographic, ethnic family etc., the reports generated never get bigger they just get better as more people participate. We can easily compare the opinions of groups of 200 with 2,000, or 20,000–thus there is no information overload for officials, planners, teachers, students, and parents involved. Communication and understanding are enhanced. In addition the process is never dependent on the media which can be involved as much or as little as it wishes.
The following is an excerpt from the book, We the people: Consenting to a deeper democracy by John Buck and Sharon Villines
Creating More Perfect Organizations
One of the struggles in building effective organizations whether they are associations, businesses, or governments is finding an effective decision-making method. In democratic organizations, majority vote is the accepted standard. Majority rule, however, automatically creates a minority. This encourages factions and divisiveness rather than harmony. Majority rule encourages people to build strategic alliances and to trade favors rather than to think in terms of the best direction for the organization.
In business, decisions are generally made autocratically by the owner or manager or by a Board on behalf of investors. This can lead to poor decisions because those who execute them may not be free to express their views and critical information is thus not available in the decision-making process. As in majority vote, those who are not included in the decision making may also feel less comitted and thus will not enthusiastically support the organization. Autocratic decision-making also does not encourage leadership
Sociocracy was developed to correct the deficiencies in both these methods. Sociocratic businesses and organizations set policy by consent and use a governance structure in which each person in the organization is appropriately engaged in making and evaluating the
policies that affect their domain of responsibility. Working in self-organizing, semi-autonomous circles, they decide how they will meet the aims of their organization most effectively. This creates more effective, productive, and harmonious organizations — both businesses and associations.
1. Consent governs policy decision-making. Consent means there are no argued and paramount objections to a proposed decision.
2. Circles are the primary governance unit. Circles are semi-autonomous and self-organizing. Within their domain, they make policy decisions; set aims; delegate the functions of leading, doing, and measuring to their own members; and maintain their own memory system and program of ongoing development.
3. Circles are connected by a double-link consisting of the functional leader elected by the next higher circle, and two or more representatives elected by the circle, all of whom participate fully in both circles.
4. People are elected to functions and tasks by consent after open discussion.
Not all decisions in a sociocratic organization must be made by consent. The group can decide by consent to use majority vote for some decisions (when to hold the next meeting) or autocratic decisions for others (letting the shop supervisor assign daily tasks). But everyone must consent before another decision-making method is used and everyone must consent to the policies that determine the parameters for such decisions (who must be included in meetings and how daily tasks are defined).
Self-Organization and Governance
“To govern” means to steer. Everyone wants an organization with lots of energy but an energetic organization needs good steering so its energy is directed and not dissipated. The analogy used to describe how to design and manage a sociocratic organization is to “steer chaos.” To steer, not stifle, energy.Most of us think of chaos as a negative state, but chaos is a very powerful and energetic condition, not to be confused with random or purposeless activity. In chaos, each element is full of energy and freely pursuing its aim without restraint. Free, uninhibited energy creates good conditions for self-organization. In a sociocratic organization, each person and each cluster of persons is encouraged, even required, to self organize and to steer their energy toward their shared aims as energetically as possible. By establishing shared aims, and steering everyone toward them, the sociocratic structure uses all the available energy to move forward quickly and efficiently.
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